Receptiveness to innovation during the COVID-19 pandemic: asymmetries in the adoption of digital routines

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on both national economies and everyday life. Massive lockdowns and a shift towards digital technologies forced people to adapt to technological innovations in their daily routines in a new online format. In this study we identify patterns of change in the population's adoption of and receptiveness to digitalization. The focus is on registering the expansion of digital routines influenced by the coronavirus depending on the place of residence, infrastructure and demographics. The results of a population survey held in August 2020 across all municipalities of the Kaliningrad region of Russia suggest that the magnitude of the pandemic's effect in accelerating digitalization is different for various population types. Most receptive to digital innovations are residents of economically developed municipalities aged 26-40 with higher education having a stable Internet connection at a fair price. The article presents a typology of municipalities on the adoption of and receptiveness to innovation. It is shown that without the established infrastructure, technological, economic, cultural and behavioural basis, the acceleration of digitalization does not occur.

Municipal Pathways in Response to COVID-19: A Strategic Management Perspective on Local Public Administration Resilience

“…The notion that Covid-19 accelerated digitalization is also widespread in the recent literature. Sharifi et al (2021, p. 18) found that technologies enabled adaptation and that the "pandemic appears to have accelerated the digitalization trend faster than previous predictions", while Mikhaylova et al (2021) suggested that Covid-19 triggered a rapid uptake of digital innovation.…”

“…The notion that COVID-19 accelerated digitalization is also widespread in the recent literature. Sharifi et al (2021 , p. 18) found that technologies enabled adaptation and that the “pandemic appears to have accelerated the digitalization trend faster than previous predictions,” while Mikhaylova et al (2021) suggested that COVID-19 triggered a rapid uptake of digital innovation. In an overview of 21 countries and their digital responses linked to COVID-19, Meijer et al (2020) found that several countries saw an acceleration of digitalization amongst public agencies.…”

Implementation of Image Distortion to Design Mockups in Web-Based Mug Sales Application

“…Pandemi COVID-19 telah memaksa pengenalan yang cepat terhadap inovasi digital dalam hampir semua bidang kehidupan. Lockdown besar-besaran dan pergeseran ke arah teknologi digital memaksa orang untuk beradaptasi dengan inovasi teknologi dalam rutinitas sehari-hari dalam format online baru [2]. Pada kondisi sekarang, banyak toko-toko dan bisnis kecil berfokus pada pasar online dan sebagian besar berinvestasi dalam layanan online [3].…”

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“…On the other hand, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has proved the fundamental importance of digitalization. Using the example of many EU members, it has explicated that a number of solutions are needed to equalize the rural–urban digital divide even at the regional level (Małkowska et al 2021 ; Löfving et al 2021 ) since the perception of digital innovation varies for the people of different age categories (Mikhaylova et al 2021 ). This may be explained by differences in the gender and age structure of the population in urban and rural areas.…”