Middle class’ adaptation toward innovations: perception of new technologies and openness to it

Abstract

In the modern world, a key skill is the ability to adapt to changing conditions, including mastering new programs, devices, technologies, ways to search for information, and sometimes new professions. With the outbreak of the pandemic – in the context of restrictive measures and transition to remote forms of employment – the problem of adaptation to innovation has become even more relevant. A quick switch to programs ensuring work in remote conditions (for example, Zoom, MSTeams) has become a necessary requirement for keeping the job for some of the employed. Residents of large cities had to switch over to digital public services, QR codes, online order of goods, etc. Obviously, not all groups of the population had a shared reaction to changes, including due to different perception of new technologies and attitudes towards them. The middle class has been traditionally regarded as a change provider in society, as a layer most open to non-groundbreaking, yet sustainable transformations and new ideas. Testing validity of this statement becomes especially interesting in light of the new reality, that has challenged the middle class (due to peculiarities of employment and lifestyle) with mastering new technologies. The purpose of this article is to analyze specific features of perception of new technologies by the middle class. Based on data of the specialized survey «Middle class: willingness to invest in human capital development», innovation openness index has been constructed comprising components of attitude, acceptance and use of innovations. On the basis of the technology acceptance model, a set of factors for perception of technical innovations has been identified, taking into account opinion of the middle class about usefulness, ease of use, reliability and safety, and elitism of innovations. In conclusion, relationship between perception of innovations and openness to them has been analyzed and determinants of openness to new technologies have been identified. The study shows that the middle class has a positive attitude towards introduction of new technologies into various areas of life, is experienced in using them and is rather interested in innovative goods and services. However, the key study conclusion is related to heterogeneity of the middle class in terms of perception of innovations and openness to them. A statement that these categories are independent stratifying features both at the level of the middle class and the entire population has been suggested to stimulate further expert discussion.