MEASURING THE EFFICIENCY OF INDIVIDUALS WORKING IN THE FINANCE AND INSURANCE INDUSTRY
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
School of Business |
Master's thesis
Ask about the availability of the thesis by sending email to the Aalto University Learning Centre oppimiskeskus@aalto.fi
Author
Date
2017
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Information and Service Management (ISM)
Language
en
Pages
169
Series
Abstract
This thesis brings new insights to efficiency analysis by extending the research to the lowest level of aggregation in economics; the individual. The thesis is part of a bigger, interdisciplinary research project entitled “The linkages between employee well-being, social networks and productivity in services. Case: Nordea Life”. The research project is rooted in the “Healthy financial industry” –project, a joint effort of employers and employees whose goal is to increase the well-being, productivity and competitivity of the finance industry. The thesis employs a cross-sectional dataset on over four hundred anonymized individuals working in a case company, operating in the finance and insurance industry. The data was collected within a nine-month period between June 2016 and May 2017 and contained data on the working time, sales, customer satisfaction scores, location, sales channels, as well as other relevant information. The dataset consists of individuals working in four distinct work roles across four regions in two separate sales channels. The dataset was a preliminary dataset delivered to initiate the research project and consequently exhibited quality-issues that are also discussed. Due to the publicity and confidentiality of the work, the data and results are obfuscated. The service delivery process is assessed through the Service Profit Chain. A framework and procedural methodology for measuring the efficiency of the individuals is adapted from the COOPER-framework. The method employed to calculate the efficiency scores is a 2-stage network Convex Nonparametric Least Squares (CNLS) regression solved as a Quadratic Programming (QP) problem in an additive form. The thesis constructs an Efficiency Matrix to assess the efficiency scores in conjunction with other potentially relevant attributes. The thesis’ major findings can be summarized as follow. Evidence is found efficiency varies based on operating unit, region and branch in the different work roles. There is strong evidence the channel has a major effect on the efficiency of individuals within the roles. Additionally, there is some evidence customer satisfaction and efficiency are positively connected and that distance from the mean efficiency correlates highly with the dispersion of the customer satisfaction scores. This empirically corroborates linkages in the Service Profit Chain between employee efficiency and customer satisfaction. Similar datasets have rarely been accumulated. My thesis benefits the Nordea Life –research project and serves a seminal study for future research focusing or tangent to the efficiency analysis of individuals in a working context.Description
Thesis advisor
Kuula, MarkkuVoutilainen, Raimo
Keywords
efficiency analysis, convex nonparametric least squares, CNLS, work well-being, finance, DEA, banking, insurance, efficiency matrix, individual productivity