Presenting the maturity framework of digital transformation in Iran's insurance industry

Purpose: Considering the role and importance of the insurance industry in the economy of countries, in this study, the design of the maturity model of digital transformation in Iran's insurance industry was discussed. Designing a digital maturity model in the insurance industry by providing a comprehensive guide to strengthen capabilities, targeting and repeating successes plays a vital role in the successful establishment of business issues and reducing uncertainties in this industry. On the other hand, in recent years, the number of researches in the field of digital transformation and maturity has increased. However, considering the role of the insurance industry in the development of countries, unfortunately, in the country, especially in the insurance industry, few researches regarding the design of digital transformation maturity models have been carried out in the mentioned industry, and therefore it is considered relatively new in this respect.

Method: Considering its nature, this research is applied-developmental. In this research, first, articles related to digital evolution and maturity in the insurance industry were studied using a systematic background review approach. In the following, the selected articles were coded using the grounded theory (three steps) and after labeling the data and coding the concepts, analysis and classification of the concepts was done. Systematic review of the background is a method to identify, evaluate and understand all the research related to a research question or phenomenon of interest and is used in order to summarize the available evidence, identify gaps in current research and provide the final framework. The background systematic review of the current research was a qualitative review in which it focuses on textual data instead of numerical data that are examined in general systematic review and meta-analysis. According to the model of Wolfswinkel et al. (2013), five stages of definition (definition of research questions, definition of inclusion criteria, determination of suitable databases), search (search for identified sources), selection (limitation of samples), analysis (open, central, selective coding) and presenting a report. Also, in order to increase confidence, forward and backward search was performed. In the backward search, the references of the obtained articles were examined and if appropriate and repeated in the sources, they were added to the selected articles. In the forward search, the sources that cited the key articles obtained were searched. In order to select the most appropriate and important articles, inclusion and non-inclusion criteria were determined based on the research of Abdelmaboud et al. (2014). According to the background search engine statistics and experiences reported in previous reviews, the databases of authoritative articles such as: Scopus, Springer and Science Direct were used. According to the publication process of articles, the search for articles was conducted in the period from 2019 to 2023. In the first search stage, 101 articles were retrieved and 3 and 1 more articles were extracted using backward and forward methods. After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 29 articles were finally selected. After searching and selecting the selected articles, their analysis was done in order to extract the dimensions of digital maturity in the insurance industry. For this purpose, foundational data theory, which is one of the recommended methods for use in the analysis phase, was used (Berthelsen & Frederiksen, 2018).

Findings: In general, the results of open coding led to the identification of 140 concepts, 35 sub-categories, 15 main categories and 4 dimensions (enablers, background builders, barriers and achievements). In the selective coding stage, based on the results of the previous two stages of coding, the final model framework or superimage was presented. Therefore, the final model of digital maturity in Iran's insurance industry was presented. After identifying the conceptual elements, the results of the coding process were evaluated in the form of checking the agreement of two coders based on the Kappa coefficient. Considering that the significance level for the Kappa coefficient was less than 0.05, it was concluded that the coding findings have sufficient reliability and the presented model of maturity of digital transformation in Iran's insurance industry is reliable.

Conclusion: The designed digital maturity model knows the equipping of insurance industry by digital enablers including: governance and leadership, strategy, culture and skills, technology, innovation and digital resources is a condition for achieving achievements such as: ecosystem business, process, customer digital experience and the digital experience of the organization. Also, human capital management, business resources and digital ecosystem can be the basis for the transformation of digital enablers into digital achievements, and factors such as: organizational resistance and obstacles to transformation act as obstacles to the transformation of digital enablers into digital achievements.