Influence of Relationship Management on Organizational Performance among Insurance Companies in Kenya

Abstract

Over the years most insurance companies have experienced a steady decline in their performance.Others have bowed to pressure and exited the market while some have collapsed due to poor management of their employees and lack of relationship management. This study sought to establish the influence of relationship management on organizational performance among insurance companies in Kenya. The study was anchored on competency theory. The research philosophy adopted for the study was positivism. Descriptive and explanatory cross-sectional research designs were adopted with the study population comprising of the management staff of all the 55 registered insurance companies in Kenya and a sample size of 208 participants drawn from lower, middle and top level management using stratified sampling technique. Data was collected with the help of semi-structured questionnaires. Analysis of collected data was conducted using descriptive statistics and inferential analysis. The findings indicated that: (i) Relationship management was adopted to a moderate extent in insurance companies in Kenya as shown by a mean score of 3.152, (ii) There was a strong positive correlation between organisation performance and relationship management (0.823), (iii) Relationship management had significant influence on the performance of insurance companies in Kenya as shown by a P-Values of 0.000 and a coefficient of determination (R2=0.677) suggesting that relationship management predicted 67.7% of all variations in organizational performance. The study concluded that relationship management has a significant influence on organizational performance. Based on this conclusion, the study recommends that the management of insurance companies should always seek to establish the ability of the employees and management staff in terms of relationship management. The study suggests that other studies be conducted based on other organisations other than those in the insurance industry to determine if similar results would be obtained.