The Role of Innovative Climate on Employee Creativity at Jubilee Insurance Company Kenya Limited

Abstract

This research endeavoured to determine the role of innovative climate on employee creativity at Jubilee Insurance Company Kenya Limited and was anchored on Social Exchange Theory as well as Organizational Support Theory. The study utilized descriptive survey design. Jubilee Insurance Company Kenya Limited had a total of 1,122 employees based at the head office of which a representative stratified sample of 113 from the population was picked and simple random sampling was applied to choose the participants. Structured questionnaires were utilized to gather primary data which was scrutinized using descriptive statistics and simple linear regression analysis. The findings showed that Jubilee Insurance Company Kenya Limited had a conducive innovative climate that was good for the organization since it translated to increased employee creativity. Jubilee Insurance Company Kenya Limited had in place strategies aimed at meeting the changing needs of its clientele with diverse levels of earnings by providing a wide range of value-added services which supported their core services. In order to remain competitive, the company set out to foster a positive innovative climate and rolled out strategies to entice and hold on to top creative talent within the insurance industry. Favourable innovative climate in the organisation was depicted by senior management and leadership support, organizational support for innovation, team work and organizational structure that was suitable for innovation. Employee creativity was achieved when the members of staff came up with novel ideas that contributed to the creation of new products and efficient work process. Employee ingenuity was witnessed when the company launched two mobile applications, JubiAgent motor app and JubiAgent medical app to be used by their sales agents to renew existing motor and medical insurance policies and also generate quotations for prospective customers. The application also utilized the capability of predictive analytics to establish customer needs which enabled their actuaries to innovate products that reflected the expectations of the clients. This was achieved by having synergy amongst the employees and was demonstrated in the organization through creative and collaborative culture, appropriate work environment, use of suitable technology and knowledge sharing. The study recognised that innovative climate had a positive regression coefficient with employee creativity thus implying that a conducive innovative climate was beneficial to the organisation. This research recommends that organisations that want to motivate their employees to be creative should emulate Jubilee Insurance Company Kenya Limited by inculcating a conducive innovative climate. This can be done by having a management team that supports employee creativity. This study proposes that similar research ought to be undertaken on other influencers of workforce creativity within Jubilee Insurance Company Kenya Limited. This will aid in determining how different influencers of workforce creativity such as psychological and organizational support can be used to promote innovation in the organization. Research also ought to be done on other organizations other than Jubilee Insurance Company Kenya Limited so as to determine how innovative climate impacts employee creativity in different organizations and sectors. In undertaking additional research, scholars will identify conducive work structures and environments that enable employees to be innovative.