IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/gpprii/v44y2019i1d10.1057_s41288-018-0109-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Digital agendas in the insurance industry: the importance of comprehensive approaches†

Author

Listed:
  • Alexander Bohnert

    (Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU))

  • Albrecht Fritzsche

    (Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU))

  • Shirley Gregor

    (Australian National University (ANU) College of Business and Economics)

Abstract

With a growing awareness of the potential of innovation provided by digital technology, insurance companies have increasingly adopted digital agendas in their business activities. Our paper studies the relationship between the expression of a digital agenda in annual reports and the business performance of 41 publicly-traded European insurance companies for the time period from 2007 to 2017. Our findings show a positive relationship, which is particularly strong in cases where companies take a comprehensive approach by addressing digital technology both in the context of internal activities within their own organisation and external activities in connection with customers and business partners.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexander Bohnert & Albrecht Fritzsche & Shirley Gregor, 2019. "Digital agendas in the insurance industry: the importance of comprehensive approaches†," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 44(1), pages 1-19, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:pal:gpprii:v:44:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1057_s41288-018-0109-0
    DOI: 10.1057/s41288-018-0109-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41288-018-0109-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41288-018-0109-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rajiv Kohli & Sarv Devaraj, 2003. "Measuring Information Technology Payoff: A Meta-Analysis of Structural Variables in Firm-Level Empirical Research," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 14(2), pages 127-145, June.
    2. Bernardo Nicoletti, 2016. "Innovation in Insurance," Palgrave Studies in Financial Services Technology, in: Digital Insurance, chapter 1, pages 6-46, Palgrave Macmillan.
    3. Desyllas, Panos & Sako, Mari, 2013. "Profiting from business model innovation: Evidence from Pay-As-You-Drive auto insurance," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 101-116.
    4. Peter Mertens & Martin Wiener, 2018. "Riding the Digitalization Wave: Toward a Sustainable Nomenclature in Wirtschaftsinformatik," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 60(4), pages 367-372, August.
    5. Marie-Claude Boudreau & Daniel Robey, 2005. "Enacting Integrated Information Technology: A Human Agency Perspective," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(1), pages 3-18, February.
    6. Hess, Thomas & Matt, Christian & Benlian, Alexander & Wiesböck, Florian, 2016. "Options for Formulating a Digital Transformation Strategy," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 81032, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    7. Matt, C. & Hess, Thomas & Benlian, Alexander, 2015. "Digital Transformation Strategies," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 75002, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    8. Brian T. Pentland & Martha S. Feldman & Markus C. Becker & Peng Liu, 2012. "Dynamics of Organizational Routines: A Generative Model," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(8), pages 1484-1508, December.
    9. Riedl, René & Benlian, Alexander & Hess, Thomas & Stelzer, Dirk & Sikora, Hermann, 2017. "On the Relationship Between Information Management and Digitalization," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 89963, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    10. Ritu Agarwal & Guodong (Gordon) Gao & Catherine DesRoches & Ashish K. Jha, 2010. "Research Commentary ---The Digital Transformation of Healthcare: Current Status and the Road Ahead," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 21(4), pages 796-809, December.
    11. Heckman, James J, 1978. "Dummy Endogenous Variables in a Simultaneous Equation System," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(4), pages 931-959, July.
    12. Martin Eling & Martin Lehmann, 2018. "The Impact of Digitalization on the Insurance Value Chain and the Insurability of Risks," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 43(3), pages 359-396, July.
    13. Andrea Beltratti & Giuseppe Corvino, 2008. "Why are Insurance Companies Different? The Limits of Convergence Among Financial Institutions*," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 33(3), pages 363-388, July.
    14. Christian Matt & Thomas Hess & Alexander Benlian, 2015. "Digital Transformation Strategies," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 57(5), pages 339-343, October.
    15. René Riedl & Alexander Benlian & Thomas Hess & Dirk Stelzer & Hermann Sikora, 2017. "On the Relationship Between Information Management and Digitalization," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 59(6), pages 475-482, December.
    16. Indranil Bardhan & Viswanathan Krishnan & Shu Lin, 2013. "Research Note ---Business Value of Information Technology: Testing the Interaction Effect of IT and R&D on Tobin's Q," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(4), pages 1147-1161, December.
    17. Max Taylor, 2001. "Technological Changes in IT and Their Influence on Insurance: The Change Ahead (II)*," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 26(1), pages 89-104, January.
    18. Guido W. Imbens & Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2009. "Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(1), pages 5-86, March.
    19. Lee, Lung-Fei, 1978. "Unionism and Wage Rates: A Simultaneous Equations Model with Qualitative and Limited Dependent Variables," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 19(2), pages 415-433, June.
    20. Lindenberg, Eric B & Ross, Stephen A, 1981. "Tobin's q Ratio and Industrial Organization," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 54(1), pages 1-32, January.
    21. Christine Legner & Torsten Eymann & Thomas Hess & Christian Matt & Tilo Böhmann & Paul Drews & Alexander Mädche & Nils Urbach & Frederik Ahlemann, 2017. "Digitalization: Opportunity and Challenge for the Business and Information Systems Engineering Community," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 59(4), pages 301-308, August.
    22. M. Lynne Markus & Daniel Robey, 1988. "Information Technology and Organizational Change: Causal Structure in Theory and Research," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 34(5), pages 583-598, May.
    23. Vasant Dhar & Arun Sundararajan, 2007. "Issues and Opinions---Information Technologies in Business: A Blueprint for Education and Research," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 18(2), pages 125-141, June.
    24. Esther Gehrke, 2014. "The Insurability Framework Applied to Agricultural Microinsurance: What Do We Know, What Can We Learn?," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 39(2), pages 264-279, April.
    25. Martin Eling & Werner Schnell, 2016. "What do we know about cyber risk and cyber risk insurance?," Journal of Risk Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 17(5), pages 474-491, November.
    26. Henning Schulte-Noelle, 2001. "Technological Changes in IT and Their Influence on Insurance: The Change Ahead (I)*," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 26(1), pages 83-88, January.
    27. S. Hun Seog, 2009. "Insurance Markets With Differential Information," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 76(2), pages 279-294, June.
    28. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    29. Matt, C. & Hess, Thomas & Benlian, Alexander, 2015. "Digital Transformation Strategies," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 75202, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    30. Robert E. Hoyt & Andre P. Liebenberg, 2011. "The Value of Enterprise Risk Management," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 78(4), pages 795-822, December.
    31. Youngjin Yoo & Ola Henfridsson & Kalle Lyytinen, 2010. "Research Commentary ---The New Organizing Logic of Digital Innovation: An Agenda for Information Systems Research," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 21(4), pages 724-735, December.
    32. Hess, Thomas & Matt, Christian & Benlian, Alexander & Wiesböck, Florian, 2016. "Options for Formulating a Digital Transformation Strategy," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 82423, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Martin Eling & Martin Lehmann & Philipp Schaper, 2022. "Optimal labor and capital utilization by financial firms: evidence from the German property and casualty insurance industry," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 92(5), pages 853-897, July.
    2. Nadine Gatzert & Philipp Reichel, 2022. "Awareness of climate risks and opportunities: empirical evidence on determinants and value from the U.S. and European insurance industry," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 47(1), pages 5-26, January.
    3. Jorge Andrés-Sánchez & Jaume Gené-Albesa, 2024. "Not with the bot! The relevance of trust to explain the acceptance of chatbots by insurance customers," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-12, December.
    4. Blume, Maximilian & Oberländer, Anna Maria & Röglinger, Maximilian & Rosemann, Michael & Wyrtki, Katrin, 2020. "Ex ante assessment of disruptive threats: Identifying relevant threats before one is disrupted," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    5. Chang, Vincent Y.L., 2023. "Do InsurTech startups disrupt the insurance industry?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    6. Simon Fritzsch & Philipp Scharner & Gregor Weiß, 2021. "Estimating the relation between digitalization and the market value of insurers," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 88(3), pages 529-567, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Teubner, Alexander & Stockhinger, Jan, 2020. "IT/IS strategy research and digitalization: An extensive literature review," ERCIS Working Papers 34, University of Münster, European Research Center for Information Systems (ERCIS).
    2. Gong, Cheng & Ribiere, Vincent, 2021. "Developing a unified definition of digital transformation," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    3. André Hanelt & René Bohnsack & David Marz & Cláudia Antunes Marante, 2021. "A Systematic Review of the Literature on Digital Transformation: Insights and Implications for Strategy and Organizational Change," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(5), pages 1159-1197, July.
    4. Florian Wiesböck & Thomas Hess, 2020. "Digital innovations," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 30(1), pages 75-86, March.
    5. Abdul Karim Feroz & Hangjung Zo & Ananth Chiravuri, 2021. "Digital Transformation and Environmental Sustainability: A Review and Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-20, February.
    6. Robert Keller & Philipp Ollig & Patrick Rövekamp, 2022. "Pathways to Developing Digital Capabilities within Entrepreneurial Initiatives in Pre-Digital Organizations," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 64(1), pages 33-46, February.
    7. Swen Nadkarni & Reinhard Prügl, 2021. "Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities for future research," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 71(2), pages 233-341, April.
    8. Coskun-Setirek, Abide & Tanrikulu, Zuhal, 2021. "Digital innovations-driven business model regeneration: A process model," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    9. Li, Min & Liu, Na & Kou, Aiju & Chen, Wenchuan, 2023. "Customer concentration and digital transformation," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    10. Jan Jöhnk & Philipp Ollig & Patrick Rövekamp & Severin Oesterle, 2022. "Managing the complexity of digital transformation—How multiple concurrent initiatives foster hybrid ambidexterity," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 32(2), pages 547-569, June.
    11. René Riedl & Alexander Benlian & Thomas Hess & Dirk Stelzer & Hermann Sikora, 2017. "On the Relationship Between Information Management and Digitalization," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 59(6), pages 475-482, December.
    12. Zhang, Zhengyi & Jin, Jun & Li, Shijing & Zhang, Yuanmin, 2023. "Digital transformation of incumbent firms from the perspective of portfolios of innovation," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    13. Blanka, Christine & Krumay, Barbara & Rueckel, David, 2022. "The interplay of digital transformation and employee competency: A design science approach," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    14. Chun-Liang Chen & Yao-Chin Lin & Wei-Hung Chen & Cheng-Fu Chao & Henry Pandia, 2021. "Role of Government to Enhance Digital Transformation in Small Service Business," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-24, January.
    15. Siachou, Evangelia & Vrontis, Demetris & Trichina, Eleni, 2021. "Can traditional organizations be digitally transformed by themselves? The moderating role of absorptive capacity and strategic interdependence," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 408-421.
    16. Ritala, Paavo & Baiyere, Abayomi & Hughes, Mathew & Kraus, Sascha, 2021. "Digital strategy implementation: The role of individual entrepreneurial orientation and relational capital," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    17. Key Pousttchi & Alexander Gleiss, 2019. "Surrounded by middlemen - how multi-sided platforms change the insurance industry," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 29(4), pages 609-629, December.
    18. Tijan, Edvard & Jović, Marija & Aksentijević, Saša & Pucihar, Andreja, 2021. "Digital transformation in the maritime transport sector," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    19. Ander, Veronika & Cihelka, Petr & Tyrychtr, Jan & Novák, David, 2022. "Towards Compromise User Experience Design in Ambient Intelligent Environment," AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Economics and Management, vol. 14(2), June.
    20. Severin Oesterle & Arne Buchwald & Nils Urbach, 2022. "Investigating the co-creation of IT consulting service value: empirical findings of a matched pair analysis," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 32(2), pages 571-597, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:gpprii:v:44:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1057_s41288-018-0109-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.