Personal and Institutional Barriers Perceived by Staff of Latvian Higher Educational Institutions in the Process of Digital Transformation: Pilot Survey Results
Personal and Institutional Barriers Perceived by Staff of Latvian Higher Educational Institutions in the Process of Digital Transformation: Pilot Survey Results

Summary/Abstract: The research goal is to evaluate personal and institutional barriers towards digitaltransformation (DT) as perceived by different groups of staff at Latvian highereducational institutions (HEIs). Initially, a comprehensive literature review wasconducted, followed by a survey, using the research instrument (questionnaire)developed by the authors. Academic and administrative staff members from LatvianHEIs participated in the survey. For the purpose of evaluation, data were processed bymeans of frequency analysis and procedures of comparing independent samples. Fromthe viewpoint of staff, the most significant institutional barriers to digital transformationare a lack of financial resources, a lack of time (lack of human resource capacity oroverloading with existing tasks), and employees’ motivation in general. In turn, a lack oftime, a lack of management support, and a lack of IT skills were identified as the mostsignificant personal barriers. The research is limited by the sample size. However, thispilot study was aimed at technical testing of the measurement scale and preliminarytesting of some hypotheses. Managers of higher educational institutions could use theresults of the presented research to facilitate the digital transformation process anddevelop DT-related strategies. This research distinguishes itself from other research bythe context (field of higher education) and localisation (there are a limited number ofstudies in the field of DT in Latvia).

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