Dynamics of the digital transformation: permeation, making available, and perpetuating in the process of digitalization within the healthcare sector

• Applicants: Professorin Dr. Sabine Pfeiffer, since 11/2024; Professor Dr. Reinhard Pollak
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 442492993

Digitalization has engendered a profound societal transformation and can be understood as a megatrend in the current and future development of society and, in particular, working worlds. Following sociological findings on the digital transformation and the transformation of work, the project examines the mutual interactions of three overlapping dynamics of digitalization: permeation (e.g., of work processes), making available (e.g., of data on individual’s work tasks), and perpetuating (e.g., of data-driven value chains). The aim is to develop an in-depth understanding of the complexity, contradictions and disparities of the digital transformation and its dynamics, considering technological, company-specific, and structural aspects, to provide a conceptual contribution to the theoretical ascertainability of the digital transformation. To achieve this aim, three research questions are being developed to (a) determine the degree of permeation of organizations, (b) capture the dynamics of making available and perpetuating, and (c) relate these to the degree of permeation. For data collection, a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods will be used to investigate the dynamics and their mutual interactions at the meso level (e.g., companies). On the qualitative methods side, expert and employee interviews will be conducted, combined, and enhanced by participatory observations (e.g., job shadowing). The focus of the qualitative data collection is on the dynamics making available and perpetuating in order to capture, among other aspects, access to resources, rationalization logics as well as digitalization strategies of the company in the corresponding granularity. Quantitatively, the focus lies on the dynamics of permeation and making available, with recourse to the methodology of organizational survey in order to ascertain, among other aspects, the degree of permeation as well as the management, control and networking through data in companies. In addition, an industry-specific approach – the healthcare sector – was chosen in order to analyse the multiple processes of digitalization and their mutual interactions in greater detail, considering company-specific, technological and work process related aspects.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 2267: The digitalisation of working worlds. Conceptualising and capturing a systemic transformation
• Ehemalige Antragstellerin: Dr. Alice Melchior, until 10/2024