Challenges and Opportunities of Digitalisation in Performance Management

The introduction and diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICT) has profoundly changed society and the global economy in the last few decades (Verhoef et al., 2021). The use of the internet, the availability of, and access to, electronic information, and the use of social media and big data are just some of the features of digitalisation. Digital transformation better emphasises the extent of changes that firms must implement to benefit from the new information and communication technologies. It may be defined as the application of modern information and communication technologies to any system, be it Transport, Education, Health, Water, Climate and so on. This requires firms to rethink their business model and performance management tools in order to maintain or improve their performance (Rachinger, Rauter, Muller, Vorraber, & Schirgi, 2019). A firm's level of digitalisation or digital transformation is testimony to its success in incorporating digital practices into its business model.

Digitalisation offers tremendous opportunities for all, including the education sector, but at the same time, it challenges human labour, current business logic and modus operandi of businesses and administrations. The OECD has urged countries to take proactive measures to ensure that positive impacts of digitalisation dominate many policy changes regarding education, skills development, industrial policies and legislation. They have estimated that there is a high risk of a new type of unemployment if digital and ICT skills are not quickly addressed by education systems (OECD, 2014). Countries are faced with the prospect of a growing mismatch between workers who have strong ICT skills and those who merely use them. "People who tell computers what to do and people who are told by computers what to do" is a phrase coming from renowned academics. European statistics show how routine jobs have been on a constant decline since 2005, with a drop of more than 10% in less than a decade, meaning roughly one percent per annum (EC, 2015).

My research project – "challenges and opportunities of digitalisation of performance management", aims to create and strengthen this potential and upcoming area of research within the School of Business and Law, both in research and in education. While the aim is to apply strong theoretical and methodological expertise to real-world challenges in close cooperation with business enterprises, Education in the field will, in the future, focus more on the challenges and opportunities of digitalisation in performance management. Teaching may include education at the Bachelor's and Master's levels in key areas of performance management. Performance Management may become a major subject and therefore become essential.

Students interested in this field of research could target and around the following areas:

• Challenges and opportunities of digitalisation
• Digital transformation of both small-scale and large-scale enterprises
• Measurement and management of sustainable business
• Performance measurement and indicators and their implementation

Active collaborations could include:

• Active collaboration with businesses – especially SMEs
• Collaboration with actors in the QLD region
• Participation in regional and national development projects as an expert
• Preparation and management of national and international research and education project

References:

EC, European Commission. 2015. Background Paper from the Round-table of Leaders of European Initiatives on "Digitising European Industry", DG Connect, Components and Systems, 2015. Brussels: European Commission.

OECD. 2014. Skills and Jobs in the Internet Economy. Paper presented at the OECD Digital Economy Paper No. 242, Paris, France.

Rachinger, M., Rauter, R., Muller, C., Vorraber, W., & Schirgi, E. 2019. Digitalization and its influence on business model innovation. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, 30(8): 1143-1160.

Verhoef, P., Broekhuizen, T., Bart, Y., Bhattacharya, A., Dong, J., Fabian, N., & Haenlein, M. 2021. Digital transformation: a multidisciplinary reflection and research agenda. Journal of Business Research, 122(1): 889-901.