The quantitative and qualitative content analysis of marketing literature for innovative information systems: the Aldrich Archive

TL;DR

This study analyzes marketing materials from 1980-1990 to understand how innovative information systems were promoted, revealing a focus on monetary benefits despite a broader emphasis on information management.

Contribution

It combines quantitative and qualitative content analysis to explore marketing strategies of innovative IT systems in the 1980s, providing a nuanced understanding of their promotion.

Findings

Focus on information management in marketing materials

Emphasis on monetary advantages of IT

Reflects the IT productivity paradox of the era

Abstract

The Aldrich Archive is a collection of technical and marketing material covering the period from 1977 to 2000; the physical documents are in the process of being digitised and made available on the internet. The Aldrich Archive includes contemporaneous case studies of end-user computer systems that were used for marketing purposes. This paper analyses these case studies of innovative information systems 1980 - 1990 using a quantitative and qualitative content analysis. The major aim of this research paper is to find out how innovative information systems were marketed in the decade from 1980 to 1990. The paper uses a double-step content analysis and does not focus on one method of content analysis only. The reason for choosing this approach is to combine the advantages of both quantitative and qualitative content analysis. The results of the quantitative content analysis indicated that the focus of the marketing material would be on information management / information supply. But the qualitative analysis revealed that the focus is on monetary advantages. The strong focus on monetary advantages of information technology seems typical for the 1980s and 1990s. In 1987, Robert Solow stated you can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics. This paradox caused a lot of discussion: since the introduction of the IT productivity paradox the business value of information technology has been the topic of many debates by practitioners as well as by academics.