THE IMPACT OF DIGITAL LITERACY ON DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AT THE WORKPLACE : DIGITAL IMMIGRANTS AND DIGITAL NATIVES

Abstract

Over the last decades, rapid diffusion of digitalization has influenced almost all industries, in which many of them have been struggling with digital transformation. The growing importance of digital transformation has resulted in a shift to focus on how employees in the workplace can interact with and use the information that technology has generated. Consequently, digital workplaces are becoming increasingly complex in ways that are exerting enormous pressure on the staff. Therefore, the necessity and the importance of different dimensions of literacy have been considerably highlighted in the workplace. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the antecedent factors that might influence the intention to use digital technology at the workplace; particularly among digital natives and digital immigrants. We proposed a model consisting of seven independent constructs: self-efficacy, social norms, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitude, digital literacy, information literacy, and intention to use as the dependent variable. Data were collected through a survey questionnaire, which was published through many social media platforms among employees in Finland. Results show that there is a significant gap between digital natives and digital immigrants’ intention to use digital technology at the workplace. We employed multi-group analysis to investigate whether or not the chasm between these two group ages can be decreased. Results showed that increasing the frequency of digital technology usage and improving the level of employees’ proficiency might bridge the gap between digital natives and digital immigrants.