Study of the digital transformation adoption in the life insurance sector in South Africa

Abstract

The Life insurance sector is one of the oldest industries in South Africa. This industry has evolved significantly since the beginning. This evolution is not only unique to South Africa but varies across world. This study aims to understand one of the resent evolutions, digital transformation, the digital transformation adoption in the Life Insurance sector in South Africa. This study is similar to a study was done in Nepal by Niraula and Kautish (2019), and the Nepal study aimed to understand digital transformation adoption in the Life Insurance sector in Nepal. However, due to the difference in context between South Africa and Nepal, it became necessary to replicate this study in South Africa. The South African study surveyed employees from Life insurance companies out of which 169 participants responded. These respondents were from some of the big Life Insurance companies in South Africa, such as Old Mutual, Sanlam, Liberty, Discovery and Hollard to mention a few. Leadership and Culture as well as New Technology were found to be important in the success of digital transformation adoption in the Life Insurance sector in South Africa. Contrary to this finding, the study results also revealed that Regulations and Skills do not have a significant impact in digital transformation adoption in the Life Insurance in today's world. Even though Regulation is identified to be a moderator between digital transformation progress and technology interest.