Who is leading the digital transformation? Understanding the adoption of digital technologies in Germany

IF 4.5 3区管理学 Q1 ERGONOMICS

New Technology Work and Employment Pub Date : 2022-04-27 DOI:10.1111/ntwe.12244

Clemens Ohlert, Oliver Giering, Stefan Kirchner

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Debates on digitalisation in Germany often refer to ‘Industrie 4.0’ describing a seamless and technology-driven process spearheaded by manufacturing. This view conflicts with sociological arguments, assuming highly differentiated processes of digitalisation. We review the literature and empirically test the core assumption that digital technologies relate to organisational characteristics and that adoption differs according to the type of technology. We analyse German IAB-Establishment-Panel data, which contains organisation-level information, including digital technologies. Our results show a lead of manufacturing in the adoption of digital production technologies. Regarding other digital technologies, manufacturing performs on par or is outperformed by specific service industries. Additionally, the usage of digital technologies relates to organisational characteristics, other than industry (e.g., establishment size, age, competition, employees’ qualification). The relationship patterns largely persist across technologies, with some technology-specific variants. Our empirical results underline the embeddedness of digitalisation processes in Germany and underline the relevance of the technologies in question.

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谁在引领数字化转型?了解数字技术在德国的应用

在德国，关于数字化的辩论经常提到“工业4.0”，它描述了由制造业引领的无缝和技术驱动的过程。这一观点与假设数字化进程高度分化的社会学观点相冲突。我们回顾了文献，并对数字技术与组织特征相关的核心假设进行了实证检验，并且根据技术类型的不同，采用情况有所不同。我们分析德国IAB-Establishment-Panel数据，其中包含组织级信息，包括数字技术。我们的研究结果表明，制造业在采用数字生产技术方面处于领先地位。在其他数字技术方面，制造业的表现与特定服务行业相当或优于后者。此外，数字技术的使用与组织特征有关，而不是行业(例如，机构规模、年龄、竞争、员工资格)。关系模式在很大程度上跨技术持续存在，并具有一些特定于技术的变体。我们的实证结果强调了数字化过程在德国的嵌入性，并强调了相关技术的相关性。

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来源期刊

New Technology Work and Employment Multiple-

CiteScore

10.50

自引率

15.50%

发文量

期刊介绍： New Technology, Work and Employment presents analysis of the changing contours of technological and organisational systems and processes in order to encourage an enhanced and critical understanding of the dimensions of technological change in the workplace and in employment more generally. The journal is eclectic and invites contributions from across the social sciences, with the primary focus on critical and non-managerial approaches to the subject. It has the aim of publishing papers from perspectives concerned with the changing nature of new technology and workplace and employment relations. The objective of the journal is to promote deeper understanding through conceptual debate firmly rooted in analysis of current practices and sociotechnical change.