Perceptions on Implementation of Gender Mainstreaming In a Public University in Ghana

Abstract

ABSTRACT The existing literature on drivers of performance have been tilted toward non financial corporations with the few in emerging economies that looked at financial institutions focusing on banking, yet the insurance industry is one of the major contributors to the Gross Domestic Product of Ghana and the role insurance plays in sustaining economic growth and development cannot be overemphasised due to the inevitability of risks and uncertainties associated with modern economies and businesses. In this study, the resource-based, agency and life cycle theories were employed to ascertain the determinants of performance of both life and non-life insurance firms in Ghana. The study in addition evaluated the likelihood of performance persistence in the insurance industry in Ghana. The study employed panel data of forty (40) insurance firms over a six year period from 2012-2017. The study relied on the two-step System Generalised Method of Moments technique to examine the determinants of financial performance. The findings of study confirmed the dynamic nature of insurance firms’ financial performance and revealed that cost efficiency, claims ratio, retention ratio, audit fees, board size and independence and firm size are the most vital determinants of performance of life insurance firms in Ghana whereas claims ratio, cost efficiency, firm age and firm size are the determinants of performance for non-life insurance firms in Ghana. The study recommends that insurance firms should resort to cost control strategies such as activity-based costing to track and control overhead costs. Besides, the study recommends that managers of non-life insurance firms should cut down investments in long term tangible assets such land and building due to the inverse association discovered between firm size and performance.