Organizational and Methodological Aspects of Remote Research of Problems of Digitalization of Regions with Different Level of Sociocultural Modernization. Part II

Abstract

This is the second part of the article, devoted to the study of the issues relating to the control of digitalization processes in Russian regions with different levels of sociocultural modernization. In the first part of the article, the theoretical and methodological and organizational aspects of remote study of these issues were presented. In particular, in the context of socioeconomic transformations outlined and approved by state authorities in strategic “breakthrough” plans, the necessity of conceptualizing digitalization as a process was explicated. Digitalization and the digital economy have become new markers in the power and political discourse quite recently, but the national “Digital Economy of the Russian Federation” project has already been launched, which, according to its developers, should ensure the high-quality achievement of the goals of digitalization with regard to the primary elements of management (training of personnel and development of organizational and technological infrastructures). However, the role of digitalization in the modernization of regions is not fully understood. The social effects that the population may experience from the introduction of “breakthrough” design choices are not clear. Today, the population is compulsorily involved in rigorous algorithms and procedures of information technology interactions, in which the rules are initially established by technocratic subsystems, and not by the people, who would at least have the right to a wider degree of feedback from government agencies and its contractors, with well-defined guarantees for resolving their problems. In this regard, we actualize the problem of the transition from technocratic smart “regulation” involving technical methods of one-way communication to the search for ways to organize feedback based on socially-oriented management. In the framework of the industrial scientific and educational discipline of management sociology, we continue to study these issues and suggest getting acquainted with the results of an empirical study of the readiness of residents of 17 regions of the Russian Federation for digital transformations in their life and work. For clarification of the associated issues, we conducted a survey of experts. We used the data collected to determine the general preparedness of regional organizations and enterprises for digital transformation and to evaluate their inclusion in the digitalization management process. In particular, an assessment of the available resources for the implementation of “breakthrough” projects was made, and the attitude of residents of the regions toward the implementation of the national “Digital Economy of the Russian Federation” project was determined. The article also touches on the prospects for the implementation of the “Smart City” project as an essential aspect of the “Digital Economy of the Russian Federation” strategic project.