Idiosyncratic deals, Organizational Justice and Innovative work behaviour among Life Insurance Agents in Kenya

Abstract

Innovative Work Behavior (IWB) has recently become a global concern for many firms as it enables the creation, promotion and implementation of new ideas, processes, products and services in organizations that enable them operate effectively, particularly during times of high competition. However, for IWB to be displayed in organizations, employees need to be motivated through granting of idiosyncratic deals (I-deals) in a fair way. For I-deals to enhance IWB, its granting should be perceived to be fair by employees. However, an important message from past studies is that little is known on the role of perceived organizational justice (POJ) on the relationship between I-deals and IWB. In view of the foregoing, the objectives of the study were as follows: first to determine the relationship between development, flexibility, tasks and responsibilities, and financial I-deals and to determine the moderating effect of POJ on the relationship between I-deals and IWB among tied life insurance agents in Kenya. The study is grounded on the social exchange theory and supported by idiosyncratic deals and equity theories. The study followed quantitative paradigm and employed explanatory design. The targeted population comprised 1954 tied life insurance agents from among life insurance firms in Kenya. It used primary data collected from a sample of 498 tied life insurance agents using structured questionnaires. Simple random sampling was used to select the sample for the study from the list of the insurance agents. The reliability of the data collection instrument was tested using Cronbach Alpha while factor analysis was used to validate the instrument. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to determine the relationship between the independent and the dependent variables. Standard multiple and hierarchical moderated regression analysis were used to test the hypotheses. The study findings showed a positive relationship between development I-deals and IWB (β= 0.151, ρ< 0.05), between flexibility I-deals and IWB (β= 0.168, ρ< .05), between task I-deals and IWB (β=0.113, p< 0.05) and between financial I-deals and IWB (β= 0.476, p< 0.05). The moderating variable POJ had a positive significant relationship (β= 0.108, ρ< 0.007) with IWB. Subsequently, when independent variables were moderated with POJ the findings indicated that there was a significant effect of both flexibility I-deals (β= 0.122, ρ= 0.04) and financial I-deals (β= 0.272, ρ= 0.02) interactions with POJ, hence presence of moderating effects on the same variables on IWB. The finding that financial I-deals accounted for the highest significant variance on IWB as compared to the other I-deals and that at higher POJ both financial and flexibility I-deals had a higher effect on IWB than at low POJ presents major contributions of this study as they extend both idiosyncratic, social exchange and equity theories. The study recommends that life insurance firms should be fair in motivating their employees through granting flexibility and financial incentives I-deals to enhance IWB. Further research should focus on the moderating effect of POJ on the relationship between task and development I-deals and IWB.