Top Management Team Characteristics and Strategic Orientation of Insurance Companies in Kenya

Abstract

The objective of this study was to establish the relationship between Top Management team characteristics and strategic orientation of insurance companies in Kenya. This study was grounded using the upper echelons theory and the contingency theory. The predictions of these theories were found to be consistent with the hypothesized relationship. This study was a cross- sectional descriptive survey. The population in this study comprised of all insurance companies in Kenya. There was a total of 54 registered insurance companies in Kenya as at 31st December, 2019 according to the Insurance Regulatory Authority of Kenya. This study adopted a census approach since all registered insurance companies were involved in the study. Primary data was collected by use of a Likert scaled questionnaire. Data analysis was performed with the aid of SPSS. The output was descriptive statistics which included the mean and standard deviation. Descriptive statistics give the researcher an idea about the manner in which the variables are laid out. To test the relationship between TMT personalities and strategic orientation, the researcher used simple regression analysis. The descriptive statistics was analyzed for top management team characteristics and strategic orientation. The findings showed that top management team characteristics returned an average score of means and standard deviations of 2.59 and 1.099 respectively. This implied that majority of the respondents agreed with the measures of top management team characteristics. The analysis of strategic orientation returned average scores of means and standard deviations of 3.13 and 1.556 respectively, an indication that the respondents largely agreed with the statements concerning strategic orientation. The regression results findings lead to the conclusion that top management team characteristics is not a statistically significant factor in strategic orientation of the insurance industry in Kenya. It is recommended that top management teams need to comprehend their role in strategic orientation of their organizations. An organization should guide its top managers to appreciate the need for strategic orientation in an organization. A similar study based on longitudinal survey design was also recommended to enable an in-depth analysis of the relationship between variables