Effects Of Operational Management Practices On The Performance Of Health Insurance Companies In Kenya

ABSTRACT

The main objective of the study was to examine the effects of operational management practices on the performance of health insurance companies in Kenya. The study was guided by the following specific objectives: To establish the effects of process and capacity design on the performance of health insurance companies in Kenya; To determine the effects of layout design on the performance of health insurance companies in Kenya; To examine the effects of service design on the performance of health insurance companies in Kenya and; To establish the effects of quality management on the performance of health insurance companies in Kenya. Descriptive research design was chosen for the study since it was appropriate for the review of the research questions. This study only focused on five health insurance companies which included: AAR, Jubilee, UAP, Heritage, and Resolution insurance companies. These insurance companies focus mainly on providing health insurance services. The population for the study comprised of employees working in various departments in the health insurance firms such as audit, claims, underwriting, operations, sales & marketing, legal, accounting & finance, customer service, and human resources departments. The study used purposive sampling technique to sample 130 respondents. Primary data was collected using self-administered questionnaires while secondary data was sourced from the websites of the Insurance Regulatory Authority such as AKI insurance websites, the Capital Markets Authority addressing overall performance of insurance companies in Kenya. The data was coded into SPSS 22 for subsequent data analysis through descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The findings of the study revealed that process and capacity design, layout design, service design and quality management aids in diminishing times for new item's improvement and commercialization, and also ensures flexibility of organization in adapting to different operational capacity thereby in overall improvement in the performance of the firms.