Agile Strategies and Project Performance among Life Insurance Firms in Kenya: Case of Britam Holding PLC

Abstract

In today’s rapidly changing and technology-driven business environment, the ability of insurance firms to remain competitive has become increasingly dependent on their agility and adaptability. Despite the adoption of agile strategies and their relevance, Kenya Association of Insurers in 2023 noted that the industry's overall gross premium grew marginally by 4.2% in 2022, down from 8.1% in 2021 signalling stagnating project performance amidst increasing project costs and delays. As such, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of agile strategies on project performance among life insurance firms in Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were to: examine the effect of iterative planning on project performance of Britam Holding PLC; assess the effect of cross-functional teams on project performance of Britam Holding PLC; investigate the effect of continuous feedback on project performance of Britam Holding PLC and evaluate the moderating effect of regulatory compliance on the relationship between agile strategies and project performance among Britam Holding PLC. The study was underpinned by the Contingency Theory Fiedler as the anchor theory, which is supplememnted by the Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) Theory, Goal-Setting Theory and Institutional Theory. This study employed a cross-sectional-explanatory research design. The study target population included 112 senior and mid-level managers at Britam Insurance Holding PLC. The research used primary data, collected using a structured questionnaire. To ensure reliability and validity, a pretest was conducted on 13 senior and mid-level managers at SANLAM PLC, Head Office in Nairobi City County, Kenya. Data collected was analyzed with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 29.0. Data was analysed descriptively using mean and standard deviation to summarize, and inferentially using correlation and regression analyses. The findings revealed that iterative planning had a strong and statistically significant effect on project performance, explaining 43.1% of the variance (R²=0.431, p<0.05). Cross- functional teams also demonstrated a significant effect, accounting for 49.5% of the variance (R²=0.495, p<0.05), while continuous feedback contributed 47.5% of the variance in project performance (R²=0.475, p<0.05). These results affirm that agile strategies are critical drivers of project success, enhancing timeliness, quality of deliverables, resource utilization, and client satisfaction. In contrast, regulatory compliance, though positively associated with project performance (r=0.523, p<0.05), did not yield a statistically significant moderating effect on the relationship between agile strategies and project performance. The study concludes that agile strategies are significant predictors of project performance in the insurance sector, while compliance serves more as a contextual necessity rather than a moderating influence. The study recommends institutionalizing iterative planning cycles, strengthening cross-functional team structures, and embedding continuous feedback mechanisms to improve project outcomes. It further suggests maintaining compliance practices as supportive governance measures. Future research should explore alternative moderators such as organizational culture, leadership, or digital infrastructure, and extend the study to other sectors through longitudinal and comparative designs.