The Moderating Effect of Business Category on Investment Management Structure Choices among Insurance Companies in Kenya

Abstract

Insurance business is conducted in two broad categories namely general insurance and life insurance. A firm's business category is an important consideration in making key decisions. This paper examines the moderating effect of firm business category on investment efficiency, firm size and market influence as antecedents of the choice of the investment management structure to adopt. The study adopts a descriptive approach relying on a binary logistic regression model. The study sample consisted offorty-six (46) companies licensed to undertake insurance and reinsurance business in Kenya in 2017. Both primary and secondary data were collected.  Data processing and analysis was undertaken using STATA. The study findings indicate that business category is not a statistically significant factor moderating the influence of the other predictor variables in the investment management structure choices of firms although it had the effect of amplifying or diminishing their importance. It is recommended that insurance companies must be cognizant of their business category effects but need not factor it in their decisions on the investment management structures to adopt.