Open AccessThe influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the digital transformation of work
Author(s) -
Lisa Nagel
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
international journal of sociology and social policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.309
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1758-6720
pISSN - 0144-333X
DOI - 10.1108/ijssp-07-2020-0323
Subject(s) - pandemic , work (physics) , digital transformation , originality , crowdsourcing , covid-19 , business , sociology , computer science , engineering , qualitative research , medicine , social science , world wide web , mechanical engineering , disease , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty)
Purpose This study investigates whether the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an acceleration of the digital transformation in the workplace. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on a survey conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic from March to April 2020 on the crowdsourcing platform Amazon Mechanical Turk. Findings The findings show an increase of people working from home offices and that many people believe that digital transformation of work has accelerated in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. People who noted this acceleration can imagine working digitally exclusively in the future. Moreover, the importance of traditional jobs as a secure source of income has decreased, and digital forms of work as a secure source of income have increased because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Workers believe that digital work will play a more important role as a secure source of income in the future than traditional jobs. Research limitations/implications Because the survey was conducted online, respondents may have had a certain affinity for digital work. Originality/value This study assesses the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on the future of work, showing that changes in the perception of digital transformation and the willingness to work exclusively in a digital manner have arisen as result of the COVID-19 pandemic. To estimate the long-term consequences of the pandemic on the digitisation of work, research that includes macroeconomic consequences in its forecast is necessary.