The Influence of Digitalization on Work, Prosperity and Entrepreneurship

Due to digitalization of work in and increasingly outside traditional organizations, the answers to the previous questions – as well as many other related questions – are changing fundamentally and at an unprecedented pace. For instance, cloud computing together with low latency network technology has resulted in the death of distance, rendering it less necessary and often even unnecessary to come to a specific location in order to work (together). Stimulated by the changes required as a result of the Covid-pandemic, all kinds of online interactions that we used to consider unusual or even illegitimate, such as online shareholder meetings, have suddenly become business as usual. 

Besides the physical aspect of working, also its organizational aspects have changed. The number of self-employed people who offer their services through the Internet has exploded. “Influencer” has become a new type of job with significant appeal to many. The platform economy is growing rapidly, and is expected to constitute 30% of the total global economy by 2030.

Furthermore, the nature of work in many sectors is changing due to digitalization. For instance, the increasing monitoring of our behaviour through smart technologies and the growing use of AI can be the basis for clever suggestions to improve the way we work and efficiency, but it can also undermine the right to be let alone.  
Last but not least, the rapidly growing availability of data about products, processes, consumer behaviour and investments by competitors, deeply affects how we make decisions in the context of work, prosperity and entrepreneurship. In our work, how can we make better use of the vast amounts of data that is available in cyberspace and how can we make sure that we draw the right conclusions, despite the enormous volume of data that confronts us?

Given that all questions and challenges mentioned concern rapid developments, no time is to be lost in studying and understanding these developments profoundly. By combining expertise from a wide range of disciplines, we aim to develop a better understanding of the enormous opportunities associated with digitalization for individual workers, their organizations and society as a whole. Simultaneously, we also aim to develop a more profound comprehension of its disadvantages and risks. Both from an academic and a societal point of view this represents a tremendous challenge in relation to a rapidly moving target, and to address it effectively, expertise from all social sciences and humanities involved will be indispensable.