This study aims to compare students’ perceptions of the digitalization of higher education over time. We hypothesize that the perception will become more positive throughout a study program because of more exposure over time. We applied a 31-item questionnaire in a longitudinal study setting to measure the change in perception. Results indicate data protection, teaching quality, collaboration between students, and training for the digital learning platform as major areas of change in perception. Interestingly, students do not perceive a change in their study success. We conclude that data protection especially needs attention from Higher Education Institutions. Trust, which students experience in the physical space, needs to be transferred to the digital space.

Digital Transformation (DT) is gaining traction across all industries. Also, it impacts other sectors, such as non-profit and higher education. DT emerges when connectivity technologies merge with physical assets, potentially affecting value-generating processes and value propositions. These changes will improve effectiveness, business models, and customer relationships. However, firms confront several barriers when they embark on their DT journey. Thus, it is essential to understand how the barriers can be tackled by countermeasures. Understanding the qualities of these countermeasures is critical for businesses to overcome barriers. Thus, this current study searches for similarities and differences across socio-demographic categories representing company size (LE, MLE, SME), level of responsibility (executive, with and without personal responsibility), and age (under 30, 31-40, 41-50, above 50). Data from online surveys revealed 1171 participants’ statements. These were used to extract four dimensions and 39 countermeasures. The most prominent countermeasure dimensions are Human and Organisation. The most prominent countermeasures relate to the education of employees in the form of demand-oriented training and benefits and needs of DT. This research adds to identifying similarities across categories and paves the way for greater generalizability of countermeasures.

Digitisation is among the macro-trends that significantly influence the business world in the twenty-first century. Firms striving to succeed in this environment must develop new strategic approaches. The accelerating development of information technology (IT) drives digitisation. Therefore, IT and business strategies must be integrated. In this context, the information systems literature promotes the concept of digital business strategies (DBSs), reflecting a fusion between IT and business strategies. However, knowledge of the types and characteristics of such DBSs is currently scarce. Therefore, we developed a conceptually and empirically grounded typology of DBS based on the well-known business strategy classification by Miles and Snow (1978). Using a dataset comprising 192 firms worldwide, we conducted a cluster analysis, identified basic types of DBS, and evaluated their effects on firm performance. Moreover, we identified four types of DBS: non-digital reactor, analyser, digital opportunist, and digital producer. The study contributes to a better understanding of new business strategy concepts in the digitisation context.

Digital Transformation (DT) strives to alter an entity by substantially changing its characteristics facilitated by integrating digital technologies. Albeit numerous barriers hinder the realization of its potential. Barriers are subject to scientific research. Generally, scientific works result in research streams. The existing literature already examines the DT streams. Although these works make an essential contribution, they cannot sufficiently explore the field of barriers. Keeping track of the concepts and themes in a growing research field is challenging. Therefore, the aims of this mapping study are (1) to show which domain-specific research streams are explicitly dealing with the DT barriers, (2) to highlight which topics research currently addresses, and (3) which topics should be investigated in the future. Combining elements of a bibliometric analysis with a systematic literature review, we mapped nine different streams based on 203 publications. The results indicate that much research focuses on industrial companies or sectors but needs an overarching perspective. Also, many studies are only concerned with identifying the barriers, while systematic approaches to overcoming them still need to be developed. 

During the pandemic, insights into the large-scale use of multiple instructional methods were generated. Building upon existing categories of barriers to digital higher education teaching, this short paper explores the relationship between these barriers to different teaching formats (face-to-face, blended, hybrid, and online). With a survey, we collected data during the fall of 2023 from 192 student participants. Results indicate a higher perception of barriers to online teaching. Still, face-to-face teaching scores higher on bodily discomfort. Meanwhile, blended and hybrid formats score consistently between face-to-face and online teaching. Our results conclude that online teaching needs more investment in research and implementation to become the new normal.

Digital transformation (DT) is a trending topic in nearly all industries. Enterprises digitalize processes, offer digital services and products, and enhance the customer experience. However, complex barriers hinder the ability of entrepreneurial-oriented small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to advance in digital transformation. Using a questionnaire, we collected and analyzed data on the barriers to digital transformation in SMEs. The data revealed a heterogonous picture of SMEs regarding digital transformation and barriers. Based on 195 completed questionnaires, we demonstrated a significant negative influence of organizational and technical barriers and missing skills on digital transformation success. The identified predictors can explain 58% of the variance in the transformation process based on 195 respondents. We could not demonstrate a significant relationship to digital transformation success for the three additional barrier dimensions individual, lack of standards, and lack of laws. Nevertheless, respondents perceive the existence of a lack of standards and laws as well as individual barriers. Our results indicate that addressing organizational barriers is an excellent way to start a DT journey.

With the rise of modern digital connectivity technologies, Digital Transformation (DT) is now an issue for most companies across almost all industries. DT is an evolution to digitalizing internal processes, offering digital services and products, and improving the customer experience. Prior studies have explored different barriers that hinder successful DT. Our study follows a quantitative design to explore further how these barriers are perceived by staff at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) compared to larger enterprises (LEs). Our sample comprises participants from 189 SMEs and 221 LEs. In general, results indicate a somewhat similar perception of their DT processes. In detail, setting up new positions to manage DT poses a more intense barrier for SMEs.

Digital transformation (DT) in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) affects the learning environment with digitally-enhanced teaching methods, student assistance, and administration processes. HEIs develop strategies to exploit the chances offered by DT. Our study investigates the connection between the strategic work of HEIs on DT and how students perceive the results of this work in their daily studies. We applied a case study design on a Swedish HEI to gather our results. Results show that students are somewhat positive about the strategic work but still perceive digitalization as a barrier to collaborating with peers and lecturers. Our research contributes to knowing if the time and effort spent on an HEI’s DT impact the student stakeholder group. By bringing forth ways of improvement, we generate new knowledge about DT processes in HEIs. Thus, we inspire educators and administrators in this industry by putting forward lessons learned and improvements.

Så kan klimatomställning, hållbarhet och innovativ teknik öka publika arenors intäkter:

Exponentiell teknikutveckling, krav på konkreta och verksamma klimatåtgärder och en hållbar mänsklig livsstil, förändrar förutsättningar för hur besöksberoende verksamheter drivs och utvecklas. Behovet av att anpassa och förnya en arenas upplevelser samt var och hur dessa kan konsumeras, sker i snabb takt.  I en sextio sidor lång Framtidsstudie tecknas förutsättningarna för den publika arenans utveckling och digitala affärsmöjligheter. Dels som skådebana för upplevelser på plats, dels som virtuell estrad där inget är omöjligt eller avstånd inte har någon betydelse. Studien är framtagen av företaget AAKERMOUNT i samverkan med Universitetslektor Sven Packmohr vid Malmö Universitet och innehåller omvärldsbeskrivning, genomförande processer, en fallstudie med tillhörande framtids-scenarier, samt slutsatser och åtgärdsförslag.

För information eller beställning av studie; kontakta Anders Åkerberg på AAKERMOUNT; anders@aakermount.com För ytterligare information kontakta Sven Packmohr på Malmö Universitet; sven.packmohr@mau.se

Digital Transformation (DT) is gaining attention in all industries. It also impacted non-profit sectors and higher education. DT evolves when connectivity technologies merge with physical assets, possibly altering value creation processes. These alterations aim to positively impact effectiveness, business models, and customer connection. However, companies face several barriers on their DT journey. It is essential to grasp the properties of these barriers to enable companies to find ways to overcome them. Therefore, we examined existing research on barriers and identified the gap. Using data from interviews and online surveys, our study unpacks the differences in the perception of barriers regarding the categories of company size, responsibility level, and employee age. To generate our results, we used a qualitative content analysis to generate frequencies of 29 barrier characteristics in seven dimensions from 1,436 statements by 525 survey participants. The most prominent barrier dimensions across all categories are Corporate Culture and Structural Mismatch. Together, they account for 35–50% of the total barrier perceptions. Moreover, the barrier characteristic deficient IT infrastructure scores somewhat similarly in all categories, with around 11% on average. Our research contributes to identifying similarities in the different categories and paves the way for higher generalizability.