New Age Digital Tools and Marketing Performance of Life Assurance Companies In Southwest Nigeria
Keywords:
Digital Transformation, Marketing Performace, Life Assurance, Southwest NigeriaAbstract
This study examines the influence of New Age Digital Tools such as Social Media Integration (SMI) and Mobile App Adoption (MAA) on the Marketing Performance (MP) of Life Assurance Companies (LACs) in Southwest Nigeria. Grounded in the Dynamic Capabilities Theory and the Technology Acceptance Model, the research adopts a quantitative, cross-sectional survey design. Data were collected through structured questionnaires administered to employees across top management, information technology, and marketing departments. The sample comprises 374 valid respondents drawn from fourteen (14) licensed life assurance companies operating in the region, employing stratified random sampling with proportional allocation. Findings reveal that both factors significantly influence marketing performance. Social Media Integration (β = 0.537, p < 0.001) emerges as the most influential determinant, explaining 28.8% of the variance in marketing performance, suggesting that strategic social media engagement is the primary driver of brand awareness, customer acquisition, and retention. Mobile App Adoption (β = 0.458, p < 0.001) also demonstrates a significant positive effect, accounting for 21.0% of the variance, indicating that mobile-enabled self-service and engagement platforms are essential for sustained customer relationships. The combined deployment of both strategies yields a synergistic effect that substantially enhances marketing outcomes. Diagnostic tests confirm model validity, with Durbin-Watson statistics within acceptable ranges (2.218 and 2.321) and Variance Inflation Factor values of 1.000, indicating no multicollinearity. These results highlight the imperative for life assurance companies to institutionalise data-driven social media governance and redesign mobile applications around omnichannel customer journeys. The findings contribute to the growing body of knowledge on digital transformation in emerging-market insurance sectors and offer actionable policy recommendations for regulators, practitioners, and professional bodies seeking to enhance marketing performance through strategic digital adoption.
References
Aina, J. (2025). Digital transformation in life insurance marketing: examining new age advertisement strategies adoption in Nigeria’s insurance sector. JABU International Journal of Social and Management Sciences, 9(2), 53-66.
Aina, J., Ganiyu, K., & Oloriegbe, K. S. (2023). Cloud-based collaborative suite and employee enablement as digital transformation strategies for achieving organisational sustainability among insurance companies in Nigeria. ESUT Journal of Social Sciences, 8(1).
Ajemunigbohun, S. S., Oreshile, S. A., & Alli, N. G. (2018). Internal marketing, salesforce performance and service delivery: Empirical evidence from the Nigerian insurance industry. Annals of the University of Craiova, Economic Sciences Series, 1(46), 146.
Akweongo, P., Gadeka, D. D., Aryeetey, G., Sumboh, J., Aheto, J. M. K., & Aikins, M. (2023). Does mobile renewal make health insurance more responsive to clients? A case study of the National Health Insurance Scheme in Ghana. British Medical Journal of Global Health, 7(6).
Alhawari, S. (2012). Evaluating customer process to contribute to customer acquisition: A quantitative study in Jordanian banking sector. IBIMA Business Review, 2012, 1.
Alli, N. (2025). Customer-centric innovation and competitive advantage in the insurance sector https://www.preprint.org
Alli, N. G. (2026). Marketing Intensity And Financial Performance Of Listed Insurance Companies: An Ex Post Facto Analysis. Management and Marketing Journal, 24(1), 103-129.
Alli, N. G., & Ganiyu, K. (2021). Knowledge, attitude and perception of artificial intelligence and its application in the key operations of insurance in Nigeria. Nigerian Journal of Risk and Insurance, 11(1), 1–19.
Alli, N. G., & Ganiyu, K. (2025). Empowering insurance consumers in Nigeria: Exploring the interplay between financial literacy, trust, and decision-making. The Journal of Risk Management and Insurance, 29(1), 17–46.
Anuolam, M. O., & Ajagu, C. (2022). The effect of corporate governance practices on life insurance penetration in Nigeria. International Journal of Innovative and Advanced Studies, 9, 31–39.
Arora, N., Malik, G., & Chawla, D. (2020). Factors affecting consumer adoption of mobile apps in NCR: A qualitative study. Global Business Review, 21(1), 176–196.
Babbie, E. (2011). Introduction to Social Research. Belmont: Wadsworth.
Balogun, O. (2024). Exploring the impact of e-insurance as a distribution platform to improve sales of third-party motor insurance in Nigeria. Journal of African Advancement and Sustainability Studies.
Bernardo, R. D. C. S. (2022). User adoption of mobile insurance apps (Master's thesis, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Portugal).
Davis, F. D. (1989). Technology acceptance model: TAM. Information Seeking Behaviour and Technology Adoption, 205(219), 5.
Delafrooz, N., Zendehdel, M., & Fathipoor, M. (2017). The effect of social media on customer loyalty and company performance of insurance industry. International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, 7(3), 254–264.
Dolega, L., Rowe, F., & Branagan, E. (2021). Going digital? The impact of social media marketing on retail website traffic, orders and sales. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 60, 102501.
Edogor, I. O., Jonah, A. A., & Ojo, L. I. (2015). Nigerian users' evaluation of credibility of social media sites. New Media and Mass Communication, 40, 139–150.
Eling, M., Lehmann, M., & Schaper, P. (2022). Optimal labor and capital utilization by financial firms: Evidence from the German property and casualty insurance industry. Journal of Business Economics, 92(5), 853–897.
El-Monstaser, S. (2021). An investigation about the role of customer relationship marketing in customer acquisition and customer retention. Journal of Marketing Studies.
Fadun, O. S., Isimoya, O. A., & Ugwuoke, A. O. (2024). Socio-economic determinants of life assurance purchase in Nigeria. International Journal of Management and Development Studies, 3(1).
Field, A. (2018). Discovering Statistics Using IBM SPSS Statistics (5th ed.). Sage.
Ganiyu, K. (2019). Impact of Risk Management on Organization Performance: Evidence from Selected Insurance Companies in Lagos Metropolis (Master's thesis, Kwara State University (Nigeria)).
Ganiyu, K., Aina, J., & Oloriegbe, K. S. (2023). Impact of digital transformation on the skills and workforce requirements of the Nigerian insurance industry. ESUT Journal of Social Sciences, 8(2).
Ganiyu, K., Aina, J., & Oloriegbe, K. S. (2023). New Generation Technology and Digital Accounting Tools as a Digital Transformation Strategy for Nigerian Insurance Companies' Organizational Sustainability. ESUT Journal of Social Sciences, 8(1).
Gbenga, A. N. (2025). Risk Perception among Commercial Drivers and Compliance with Third Party Motor Insurance Policy. International Journal of Social Science and Business, 9(3), 624-643.
Gyasi, B. E. (2012). Customer relationship marketing and customer retention: The perspectives of customers of Access Bank Ghana Limited (Doctoral dissertation).
Homburg, C., & Wielgos, D. M. (2022). The value relevance of digital marketing capabilities to firm performance. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 50(4), 666–688.
Inyang, U., & Okonkwo, I. V. (2021). Information and communication technology in Nigeria insurance industry: Developments, challenges and prospects. Journal of Economics, Finance and Management, 4(07), 1159–1171.
Irfandi, N., Halim, E. H., & Wijayanto, G. (2025). The impact of market orientation, product innovation, and competitive advantage on the marketing performance of culinary enterprises. Golden Ratio of Marketing and Applied Psychology of Business, 5(1), 79–94.
Ishan, L. (2023). The use of mobile application to buy insurance: An AHP-based study. International Journal of Operational Research, 46(3), 323–342.
Israel, G. D. (1992). Determining Sample Size. University of Florida Cooperative Extension Service.
Jain, R., Khandelwal, P., Chaturvedi, A., & Kumar, A. S. (2025). ICT applications and customer satisfaction in the life insurance industry: A PRISMA-based analysis. In Knowledge Sharing and Fostering Collaborative Business Culture (pp. 413–440). IGI Global.
Jucaitytė, I., & Maščinskienė, J. (2014). Peculiarities of social media integration into marketing communication. Procedia – Social and Behavioural Sciences, 156, 490–495.
Kaiser, H. F. (1974). An index of factorial simplicity. Psychometrika, 39(1), 31–36.
Kilei, P., Iravo, M., & Omwenga, J. (2016). The impact of brand awareness on market brand performance of service brands. European Journal of Business and Management, 8(10), 92–103.
Kim, E., & Kim, Y. (2025). Determinants of user acceptance of digital insurance platform service on InsurTech: An empirical study in South Korea. Asian Journal of Technology Innovation, 33(1), 45–75.
Knoesen, H. (2018). A process for managing benefits of mobile enterprise applications in the insurance industry. South African Journal of Information Management.
Krejcie, R. V., & Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 30(3), 607–610.
Lee, C. Y., Tsao, C. H., & Chang, W. C. (2015). The relationship between attitude toward using and customer satisfaction with mobile application services. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 28(5), 680–697.
Mondal, P., & Mehra, P. (2022). Social media platforms and customer engagement. Special Education, 1(43).
Morgan, N. A., Whitler, K. A., Feng, H., & Chari, S. (2022). Research in marketing strategy. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 47(1), 4–29.
Mueni, F., & Angima, C. (2022). Effects of digital adoption on performance of insurance companies in Kenya. International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science.
Musaigwa, M. (2024). From traditional to digital: Transforming business models in the insurance sector. International Journal of Development and Sustainability, 13(1), 68–86.
Naicker, V., & Van Der Merwe, D. B. (2018). Managers' perception of mobile technology adoption in the life insurance industry. Information Technology & People, 31(2), 507–526.
NAICOM. (2023). Annual Report of the National Insurance Commission. Abuja: NAICOM.
Ndeudjeu, N. J. (2021). The influence of social media promotion mix on the car insurance purchasing of residents in Mahikeng (Doctoral dissertation, North-West University, South Africa).
Nunnally, J. C. (1978). Psychometric Theory (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Ojo, L. O., & Saidu, F. A. (2024). Effect of financial factors on earnings management of listed insurance company in Nigeria. MJSS, 4(1).
Olaitan, O. (2021). The impact of social media (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram) on consumer behaviour in Nigeria (Doctoral dissertation, Dublin Business School).
Sağlam, M., & El Montaser, S. (2021). The effect of customer relationship marketing in customer retention and customer acquisition. Journal of Marketing Management.
Smith, K. T., & Smith, L. M. (2021). Analysis of social media usage and relationship to profit margin among insurance companies. Services Marketing Quarterly, 42(1-2), 108–123.
Swaminathan, V., Gupta, S., Keller, K. L., & Lehmann, D. (2022). Brand actions and financial consequences: A review of key findings and directions for future research. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 50(4), 639–664.
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2014). Using Multivariate Statistics (International ed.). Pearson.
Teece, D. J., Pisano, G., & Shuen, A. (1997). Dynamic capabilities and strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 18(7), 509–533.
Unachukwu, J. C., & Ladokun, I. O. (2023). Digital marketing and performance of Nigerian insurance industry: Mediating role of organisational culture. Journal of Economics, Management & Business Administration, 2(2), 14–23.
Verhoef, P. C., Broekhuizen, T., Bart, Y., Bhattacharya, A., Dong, J. Q., Fabian, N., & Haenlein, M. (2021). Digital transformation: A multidisciplinary reflection and research agenda. Journal of Business Research, 122, 889–901.
Wanyeri, A. M. (2023). Effects of social media marketing on consumer brand engagement among insurance companies in Kenya (Doctoral dissertation, Africa Nazarene University).
Warner, K. S., & Wäger, M. (2019). Building dynamic capabilities for digital transformation: An ongoing process of strategic renewal. Long Range Planning, 52(3), 326–349.
Xu, W. (2023). Mobile application sales channel and insurance market: Performance, information asymmetry and technology risk (Doctoral dissertation, University of Limerick).
Zhao, S., Pan, G., Tao, J., Luo, Z., Li, S., & Wu, Z. (2020). Understanding smart-phone users from installed app lists using Boolean matrix factorization. IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics, 52(1), 384–397.