Service Delivery in Selected Insurance Firms in Kenya: What is the Value of Channel Distribution?

Abstract

: The current level of service delivery coupled with market penetration is a clear illustration that there exist innumerable market opportunities available for insurance service providers; thus, necessitating the need for identifying avenues of increasing profitability and service delivery for insurance firms. To remain competitive and meet the growing demands of clients, insurance firms are bombarded with the need to foster good service delivery, yet this has not happened. Further, it’s also emerging that most of the insurance service providers have not yet embraced channel distribution to improve their service delivery and performance. The study’s general objective was investigating relationship between channel distribution and service delivery in Jubilee Insurance Limited in Nairobi City County, Kenya. Michael Porter’s Competitive Forces and Service Quality Model were the theories in which the study was based on. The descriptive design was adopted. Study’s target population comprised of the employees of Jubilee Insurance Limited, APA Insurance Company and GA Insurance Company. The total unit of population was 338, whereby stratified sampling design was used to arrive at a sample size of 100 respondents. The collection of research data was done using structured questionnaire. Quantitative data were analyzed using statistical software for social science to get inferential and descriptive statistics. The presentation of the results was done through figures, tables and graphs. Findings established that channel differentiation has a positive influence on service delivery (r = 0.818, p = 0.000). The study concluded that channel distribution significantly affected service delivery among selected insurance firms in Nairobi City County, Kenya. Given the positive correlation between channel and service delivery, the study recommended that more should be done to keep up with the ever changing trends in distribution like the use of digital platforms to ensure clients get connected with the services offered by the insurance companies. Companies should also try and shorten the distribution channel. Other than that, efforts should be made to keep track of the distribution process.