Effect of innovative practices on operational performance of the National Hospital Insurance Fund, Kenya
Date
2022
Authors
Omerikwa, Consolata Imade
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Strathmore University
Abstract
Many developing economies lack a driving force for innovation and research and development spending. The driving force towards innovation is further hampered by the fact that many companies encounter internal and external barriers or inhibitors that get in the way of developing the right practices to support the innovation process. One of the key mandates of National Hospital Insurance Fund is attaining the operational targets on performance and for this to be achieved, the National Hospital Insurance Fund must embrace innovative practices service delivery, to reduce in operational cost, to increase scope of health coverage and to promote quality health care offered to the Kenyan population. The general objective of this study was to establish the effect of innovative practices on performance of the National Hospital Insurance Fund in Kenya. The study focused on product, process, market, and technology innovations. A quantitative descriptive research design was adopted. The population of interest comprised 148 employees from NHIF headquarters in Upper hill Nairobi from the ICT department, operations, finance, and marketing department. Stratified random sampling technique was used and primary data which was collected through close ended questionnaires. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used in analysing the data and a multiple regression model was applied to establish the relationship amongst the studied factors. There existed a moderate positive relationship (p-0.031) between product innovation and operational performance of the National Hospital Insurance Fund in Kenya, between process innovation and operational performance(p-0.001), between market innovation and operational performance (p-0.013) and between technological innovation and operational performance (p-0.014).Consequently, in terms of recommendation, the government may consider implementing policies that enable the NHIF to develop and innovate it products concurrently protecting the interests of the members. The government should also provide marketing regulations and policies to ensure that the NHIF products are fully marketed to reach the entire population since it is the primary health insurance provider in Kenya. Finally, the management of NHIF should ensure the use of the technological innovations as it has been found useful in promoting the fund performance.
Description
A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters in Public Policy and Management in Strathmore Business School
Keywords
Product innovation, Process innovation, Market innovation, Technological innovation on operational performance