Social Impacts of Digitalisation Through the Lens of Hungarian Experts

Authors

  • Nóra Obermayer University of Pannonia, Faculty of Business and Economics
  • Tivadar Máhr University of Pannonia, Faculty of Business and Economics
  • Zsuzsanna Banász University of Pannonia, Faculty of Business and Economics

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.34190/eckm.25.1.2427

Keywords:

digitalisation, society, experts, focus group, questionnaire

Abstract

Nowadays, we live in the fourth industrial revolution (the so-called digital revolution), which is fundamentally reshaping industry and business as well as the economy and civil society. Within the research activities of the National Laboratory for Social Innovation project, a research plan has been drawn up taking into account the quadruple helix model. The aim of this research is to map the social impacts of digitalisation based on the perspective of Hungarian experts. The research aims to map the social impact of digitalisation, its whether the perception of the impact of digitalisation on society depends on the individual perceptions of the experts involved in the research (age, education) or organisational (sector of the organisation represented). The research seeks to answer the following research questions: Q1. How can the social impact of digitalisation be described? Q2. Do individual (age, education) or organisational (sector of the organisation represented) characteristics influence the experts’ opinion? Q3. Are there any significant relationships between experts' responses to questions on the social impact of digitalisation and, if so, how strong are they? The data analysed are the results of a qualitative and quantitative, empirical survey carried out in 2021 with experts from academia, government, business and civil society. The former was conducted in the form of focus group interviews with invited experts (n=9) and the latter, in the form of an online questionnaire survey (n=78) using descriptive statistics and relationship analysis methods (Cramer's V and Kendall's Tau). The results show that the majority of experts consider the social impact of digitalisation to be rather positive, highlighting for example more efficient problem solving. It can be shown that the development of digitalisation requires a well thought-out but not over-regulated framework. As the transfer of knowledge improves, the opportunities for those who use digital technologies increase, but so does awareness of its harmful effects. The results can guide digital policy makers in identifying key areas for intervention.

Author Biographies

Nóra Obermayer, University of Pannonia, Faculty of Business and Economics

Nóra Obermayer, PhD is a Full Professor, Head of Department of Management and Vice-dean for Development at the Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Pannonia. She obtained her Ph.D. in 2008 focusing on Knowledge management. She is full member of The New Club of Paris, the International Association for Knowledge Management and the Program Committee of the ECKM.

Tivadar Máhr, University of Pannonia, Faculty of Business and Economics

Tivadar Máhr, PhD is an assistant lecturer of the University of Pannonia. He received his PhD in 2019 focusing on innovation performance of tourism organisations. He is currently the vice-mayor of Sárvár, a tourist town in western Hungary. His main research interests are social innovation and circular economy development in cities.

Zsuzsanna Banász, University of Pannonia, Faculty of Business and Economics

Zsuzsanna Banász has been teaching and researching at the Faculty of Business and Economics of the University of Pannonia, Veszprém, Hungary, since 2004: previously at the Department of Quantitative Methods, currently at the Department of Economics as an associate professor. Her main subjects taught are statistics, micro- and macroeconomics.

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Published

2024-09-03