Explicating the role of emerging technologies and firm capabilities towards attainment of competitive advantage in health insurance service firms

•Quest for competitive advantage in health insurance is a priority in financial services.•Understanding emerging technologies is essential for sustaining competitive advantage.•Expert interviews and Delphi technique provided major themes for competitive advantage.•Technical Expertise is a source of competitive advantage.•Emerging technologies exert a gravitational effect on firm competencies. Competitive advantage of firms has been a dynamic notion evolving with changing business realities. Emerging technologies have entered the gamut of resources which firms need to actively forecast and manage for competitive advantage. This study explored the idea of competitive advantage in the context of health insurance firms and how emerging technologies can augment existing capabilities towards this goal. The critical nature of health insurance as a social necessity and the application of emerging technologies in healthcare justified the need to theoretically establish what competencies were required for health insurance firms for technology driven competitive advantage. A qualitative method using modified Delphi technique in sequential combination to 43 in-depth expert interviews was used to explicate the factors. Data was analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative content and thematic intensity analysis. Organizational people orientation and service delivery capabilities emerged as foundations of a contemporary competitive advantage framework for health insurance firms supported by technical expertise, knowledge management practices and product innovation strategies. Results indicated that management of emerging technologies exerted a gravitational effect on firm competencies to create a contemporary competitive advantage framework. This study enriched the knowledge on competitive advantage by integrating new day technological imperatives with traditional firm competencies.