E-Commerce Adoption By Insurance Companies In Kenya

Abstract

E-commerce helps companies establish stronger relationships with business partners and suppliers, as it enhances the process of selling and buying products by both the company and the consumer, which essentially affect the overall performance. Several opportunities of e-commerce for companies encompass access to new, untapped markets, overcome distance, work together with governments and contribution in value chains (Business to Business); while opportunities for users comprise of access to goods and services at lower prices, knowledge, technology and more competition. Indeed there exists a rich benefit of e-commerce adoption as opposed to the traditional commerce. The recognition given to e-commerce all over the world is flourishing intensively. However, the adoption of e-commerce in the insurance industry has been slow. There is slow uptake of e-commerce among insurance firms in Kenya. This is attributed to certain e-commerce adoption factors which have not been fully developed in Kenya context. Therefore, a perspective study to explore the factors that affect e-commerce adoption in Kenyan insurance companies is necessary to fill in the gap. The main objective of this study was to explore the factors that affect e-commerce adoption among insurance firms in Kenya. The target population was the insurance companies in Kenya where 50 insurance companies were the sample size. Multiple regression analysis was done and the results shows that technological factors, organizational factors and environmental factors all have influence on the rate of adoption on e-commerce among insurance firms in Kenya. Key words: Adoption, e-commerce, insurance, IT Adoption and TOE.