The effect of information systems management on core competencies in Tehran insurance companies

Dissertation for Master Degree

(M.A)

Information Systems Management Orientation

Abstract

Today, insurance companies play an important role in the distribution of financial resources. Meanwhile, insurance companies try to make the most of information systems in order to gain a competitive advantage. The main goal of this research is to determine the impact of information systems management on core competencies in insurance companies in Tehran province. Therefore, the research community is the insurance companies of Tehran province. The number of these people is 800 people, according to the use of Cochran's formula, the research sample size is 256 people. The tool for collecting information in this research is a questionnaire, which is designed and implemented based on the questionnaire and conceptual model presented in Bacha's (2012) research. In this research, investment, management skills, technical skills, user expertise and user influence have been selected as information system variables. The hypotheses of this research examine the relationship between these variables and core competency. In this research, regression tests were used to investigate the relationship between research variables. The results of this analysis showed that there is a significant relationship between managerial skill and investment in information systems with core competence.

Keyword:

Core competence, information systems, insurance companies

Introduction

With the emergence of information technology in recent decades and its rapid growth in the past years, information technology has been one of the tools that organizations have used widely, and it has been used at a high speed. is increasing For the proper use of information technology solutions, most organizations have established a unit called information technology or similar names that are responsible for identifying business needs in the field of information technology and solving these needs. With the rapid growth in the field of information technology, if all these functions are realized within the organization and by the information technology unit, it will lead to the excessive expansion of this unit, and since the work area in most organizations is far from the information technology field, the excessive expansion of the information technology unit will cause a lack of integration and impose a lot of overhead costs on the organization. Based on this, organizations are trying to outsource as many of these functions as possible, in order to avoid the mentioned problems and to use the capabilities of organizations that operate in the field of information technology (Nahavandi et al., 2017). Meanwhile, in today's changing environment, to be present and grow in the competitive market, one must have a competitive advantage over the competitor. Outstanding products, advanced technology and the like, if they are not effective in creating a competitive advantage, they will have no effect on the success of the company, and strategy is an approach that seeks to create a competitive advantage (Ghaffarian, 2013). For this reason, companies need to always use their capabilities as a core competence and competitive advantage to surpass their competitors. In this chapter of the general research, the research plan is examined. Statement of the problem, thematic importance, goals and assumptions of the research as well as the conceptual model and methodology are presented in this part of the five chapters of the research plan. Information technology has affected many aspects of our daily life and today, we are forced to use all kinds of information technology (Sarlak and Javadian, 2019). Information technology is a key element in removing time and place restrictions, better and faster access to information, being up-to-date and so on. is In other words, technology has changed the way of doing things and has caused the platform that was based on paper to become electronic platforms, which is called electronic exchange of information (Etamidi et al., 2015). In fact, increasing environmental challenges have significantly affected business. Challenges such as rapid changes, the emergence of the Internet, the diversity of the workforce, globalization, changes in laws and regulations, the lack of required skills and the emergence of service sectors have not only affected organizational structures, but also the nature and role of all business sectors.. Challenges such as rapid changes, the emergence of the Internet, the diversity of the workforce, globalization, changes in laws and regulations, the lack of required skills and the emergence of service sectors have not only affected organizational structures, but also the nature and role of all business sectors.  It should be stated that information systems are systems that provide decision makers with the necessary information for decision making. Information that information systems provide to users is called information systems services. In order for information systems to be able to provide appropriate services to users, they need to have appropriate hardware and software and trained and motivated human resources, which in any case involve high costs for the organization (Mahdavi, 2014). In today's changing environment, to be present and grow in the competitive market, one must have a competitive advantage over the competitor. Outstanding products, advanced technology and the like, if they are not effective in creating a competitive advantage, they will have no effect on the company's success, and strategy is an approach that seeks to create a competitive advantage (Ghaffarian, 2013). In this situation, organizations are faced with changing the current strategic approaches to the company's internal resources, along with the justification of its benefits in the company's performance (Barney [1], 2001).  Meanwhile, for an active presence in today's competitive markets, companies need to develop their core competencies. Core competencies are identified as the expertise of a company, which allows companies to create value and offer distinctive and unique products to the market. While these practices are very difficult and sometimes impossible for competitors (Bacha [2], 2012). Various dimensions are provided in the field of information systems. In this research, based on Bacha's research (2012), the dimensions of information systems in the field of investment, management skills, user expertise, and technical skills of the information system have been examined. It should be stated that a lot of research has been done in the field of examining the relationship between information systems on the performance of companies (Sirkar [3] et al., 2000). Meanwhile, investigating the relationship between information systems management and core competencies has received less attention. On the other hand, in the insurance industry, due to the expansion of the attention of the officials of the financial and insurance system, we see a high expansion in the relevant market. This increases the necessity of using information systems in order to better control agencies and more integration in them, and insurance managers have faced a serious challenge. In this research, we try to examine the dimensions of this relationship with a more comprehensive approach.

1-2 Importance of the subject

Today, the use of information technology and information systems is expanding rapidly both at the level of organizations and at the level of people. Organizations use different information systems to perform their management and staffing activities. It is rare to find an organization that does not use a special information system. The development and improvement of the performance of financial systems, communication with customers, production and project management and hundreds of other activities are due to the use of information systems. Meanwhile, it is necessary for managers to consider these systems as a competitive advantage and use them in such a way that they become a core competence for organizations, in this case, information systems can be used to differentiate the organization from its competitors. Despite the high importance of this issue, so far there is no comprehensive research that has investigated the dimensions of this relationship. This has caused a research vacuum. The researcher is trying to provide a new path for further research by examining the relationship between these two variables in the academic and industrial fields.

1-3 research objectives

Main objective

Explaining the impact of information systems management on core competencies in insurance companies in Tehran province

Sub-objectives

- Explaining the impact of investment in the field of information systems on the core competencies of insurance companies Tehran province.

- Explaining the impact of information systems management skills on the core competencies of insurance companies in Tehran province.

- Explaining the impact of technical skills in the field of information systems on the core competencies of insurance companies in Tehran province.

- Explaining the impact of users in the field of information systems on the core competencies of insurance companies in Tehran province.

- Explaining the impact of user expertise in the system field. information systems on the core competencies of insurance companies in Tehran Province.

- Providing solutions to improve the core competencies of insurance companies in Tehran Province through information systems.