Management of Digitisation Processes in the Field of Social Services

Abstract

Thanks to digital technologies, social spheres become increasingly mobile and resistant to transformational processes. Modern society needs to receive high-quality social services in a 24-hour format. It is essential to understand that digitalisation needs to be more socially neutral. On the one hand, digital technologies provide society with new perspectives, opportunities, and solutions, and on the other hand, they can cause the emergence of various risks. Management of the processes of digitalisation of social services involves not only the implementation of digital innovations but also the assessment of the consequences for society and the state. Thus, this article aims to analyse modern trends in digitalisation in the social services field and develop a scientific and methodological approach that will formalise the functional connections between digitalisation and the spheres of education, healthcare, and social protection. In the article, these statements are confirmed by the bibliometric analysis of keywords co-occurrence. It made it possible to identify the following vectors among studies of digitalisation in the field of social services: education, health care, and social protection, which foresee a change in the very essence of digitalisation through the prism of different scientifical approaches. In this regard, this article is devoted to studying the influence of digitalisation on critical indicators of education, health care, and social protection using Principal Component Analysis, Canonical Correlation Analysis and Multiple Regression Modelling. Based on a sample of 35 European countries in 2020-2022. Three canonical models were built, each of which tested the functional relationship between the indicators of the information and communication sector of the studied countries (Percentage of the ICT sector on GDP, Percentage of the ICT personnel in total employment, Percentage change of value added by ICT sector at current prices) and selected indicators of education, health care and social protection. As a result, it was found that, in general, the development of digital technologies has a positive effect on social services—still, the most significant relationship between digitalisation and the sphere of education and health care. As a result of regression modelling, it was found that the Percentage of the ICT personnel in total employment and the Percentage change of value added by the ICT sector at current prices are positively influenced by the Employment rates of recent graduates and negatively by Hospital beds and Expenditure on social protection.