IT is ‘empowering the disempowered’

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Paul Flatters, managing partner, the Trajectory Partnership reveals the findings of new research that shows how IT is empowering the disempowered and explains the implications for marketers

Conventional wisdom often assumes that IT has a positive economic impact on society (via increased productivity and earnings), but that this comes at a social cost in terms of decreased life satisfaction (via stress from being ‘always on’). However new research not only found that IT has a direct positive impact on life satisfaction, but that much of the improvement flows to those who are less well-placed in society (those on low incomes or with fewer educational qualifications). So, IT appears to empower the disempowered.

Generally, respondents from poorer backgrounds commented on the general ‘empowering’ role of IT in their lives. For example, the online arena was the one place where they had access to the same information as everyone else and could have the same experiences as everyone else.

In addition, a number of very specific benefits of IT access and usage were reported from positive emotional impacts on family and social contacts to the practicalities of arranging medical appointments. However, two benefits of IT emerged as particularly important. The first was the way in which IT was facilitating a second chance at education for our respondents who had left school with no or few qualifications.

“I left school with no qualifications as my little boy is starting school I am thinking about getting GCSEs in English and Maths. I want to be able to confidently help my son so I am looking through that side to do it on the internet as I haven’t got time to go to College”
(female, Midlands)

“(IT) allowed me to progress in my job with the ‘AIMS’ training online. Without it I might not have my job.”
(male, Midlands)

Second, was the access to cheaper deals when shopping online. All our respondents had low disposable incomes and the savings that they made by shopping online made a huge difference to their family budgets. The savings that could be made by shopping on comparison websites were significant, particularly in the current economic climate. For example, they might mean the difference between being able to afford a family holiday or not.

 “I wouldn’t like to lose the purchasing power of the internet…..Something like flights, I’m  not sure how you would buy them without it…..”
(female, London)

“Bought my computer and camcorder online, found it much cheaper online. The comparison websites are also marvellous.”
(male, London)

A similar picture of the positive, equalising effects of IT access among people with differing levels of educational attainment. For example, the chart below shows that those with no educational qualifications are as likely to report the positive impacts of IT on their social lives as any other group.

The research has important wider implications for marketers. For example, it suggests there are opportunities for some brands to build affinity based around the previously unrecognised social and practical benefits they are delivering to these groups of consumers. Skype would have to be a good example of this – free to use, with benefits absolutely associated with promoting family, friendship and social networks that were so important to participants in our research – and increasingly accessible to all. There may be many other brands who are delivering subtle and, as yet, unrecognised life satisfaction benefits to consumers without realising it.

Finally, the research also sheds new, compelling light on why relatively expensive items of IT hardware and software are taken up in surprisingly large numbers by poorer people. For example, if you are the mother of a young baby, on a low income, feeling cut off from friends and family members, the money you spend on a smart phone that allows you to keep in touch via Facebook might understandably be described as ‘worth it’.

 The BCS – The Chartered Institute for IT commissioned the Trajectory Partnership to properly to assess the impact of IT access and usage on ‘happiness’.

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Posted: November 10th, 2010 | Author: Glen Dower | Filed under: Think | Tags: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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