The influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the digital transformation of work

Purpose - This study investigates whether the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an acceleration of the digital transformation in the workplace. Design/methodology/approach - This study is based on a survey conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic from March to April 2020 on the crowdsourcing platform Amazon Mechanical Turk. Findings - The findings show an increase of people working from home offices and that many people believe that digital transformation of work has accelerated in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. People who noted this acceleration can imagine working digitally exclusively in the future. Moreover, the importance of traditional jobs as a secure source of income has decreased, and digital forms of work as a secure source of income have increased because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Workers believe that digital work will play a more important role as a secure source of income in the future than traditional jobs. Research limitations/implications - Because the survey was conducted online, respondents may have had a certain affinity for digital work. Originality/value - This study assesses the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on the future of work, showing that changes in the perception of digital transformation and the willingness to work exclusively in a digital manner have arisen as result of the COVID-19 pandemic. To estimate the long-term consequences of the pandemic on the digitisation of work, research that includes macroeconomic consequences in its forecast is necessary.