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Digital Empowerment Dr Kathryn Waite, Assistant Professor in MarketingSchool of Management & Languages (SML), Heriot Watt UniversityProfessor Tina Harrison, Business School, University of Edinburgh

Friday 23rd September 2016

‘Pensions Online? Producer, Distributor and User Attitudes and Behaviour’ project, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council as part of the E-Society programme. Grant No. RES-335-25-0031.

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Providing scientific thinking and research into engineering solutions since 1821

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Learning is Transformation

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Empowerment- process, outcome and action

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Digital Empowerment

• Digital empowerment is where digital technology enables individuals to do things that they found difficult and which they were unable to achieve before

(Amichai-Hamburger 2008).

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Implications for Education and Training Technology

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We need a finer-grained approach not a broad brush• Greater control = greater

responsibility

• Not all individuals enjoy the same outcomes

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Important questions

• How do we know that the users of our technology are empowered?

• Are all users becoming equally empowered?

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Our research

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Choice of pension context

• Complex

• Unattractive

• Risky

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Step 1: How do users define digital empowerment? • “One of the reasons I feel empowered with the internet, it is

very useful all these search engines, these comparative ones that compare prices … if one searches through several then you feel this greater knowledge and you are better equipped as a consumer, even if you go to a shop at the end of the day instead of doing it online”

• “I would hope, that in 5 years time, I will be able to hop online and look at my pension, and see from one month to the next, how projections are changing. Which in turn might encourage you to try and manage your funds better”.

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Step 2: Do these statements resonate? • Case organisation, with a defined contribution

pension and a pension website.• Online survey sent to 2700 employees/pension

scheme members.• 7% response rate, 198 usable questionnaires.• 94% were active members of the pension

scheme; 88% had used the pension website.

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Dimensions of Digital Empowerment • COGNITIVE

– I have access to more information on my pension – I have more control over my own pension – I am taking more of an interest in my own pension – I know how much my pension is worth – I have a better understanding of how my own pension works – I am better informed about pensions in general – I am more confident in my ability to make enquiries about my pension

• AFFECTIVE– I am in a better financial situation regarding my retirement – I have been able to make the most of being in the pension plan – My satisfaction with the pension plan has increased

• CONATIVE – I feel less of a need to rely on the advice of financial experts/advisors– I have saved more towards my retirement – I feel more confident about making my own pension decisions

• DISEMPOWERED– I feel more confused about pensions – I have more control than I want

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So what?

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Diagnostics% of sample Cognitive

empowermentAffective

empowermentConative

empowermentDis-

empowerment

Informed54%

Empowered34%

Paralysed12%

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No difference according to individual characteristics• No statistically significant differences between

the clusters according to:– Involvement– Technology readiness– Understanding of the internet– Understanding of pensions– Age, gender, income.

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What should the company do?• Informed group: invite to engage in game-

based scenarios to encourage and reward activation of acquired knowledge

• Paralysed group: offer personalised interactive delivery of content focusing on pace of delivery and identifying learning milestones

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Having your back

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Where next? • Apply to other technologies and different contexts• If you want read more then:

• Harrison, Tina, and Kathryn Waite. "Impact of co-production on consumer perception of empowerment." The Service Industries Journal 35, no. 10 (2015): 502-520.

• Harrison, T., Waite, K., & Hunter, G. L. (2006). The internet, information and empowerment. European Journal of Marketing,40(9/10), 972-993.

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