Open Journal of Business and Management, 2021, 9, 1680-1695
https://www.scirp.org/journal/ojbm
ISSN Online: 2329-3292
ISSN Print: 2329-3284
DOI: 10.4236/ojbm.2021.94092 Jul. 13, 2021 1680 Open Journal of Business and Management
Forecast of Changes in Business Administration
Driven by Digitalization
Susann Wieczorek
1
, Sven Ludwig
1
, Lars Büttner
2
, Mathias R. Bauer
3
, Peter Markovič
4
1
West Saxon University of Applied Sciences of Zwickau, Zwickau, Germany
2
City University of Applied Sciences Bremen, Bremen, Germany
3
University of Applied Sciences Augsburg, Augsburg, Germany
4
Department of Corporate Finance Bratislava, University of Economics in Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia
Abstract
This paper on hand deals with a research gap, since there were no sources on
the topic of changes in business administration studies induced by Industry
4.0 until the year 2018. For this reason, a document analysis was used to ex-
amine essential studies from the years 2010 to 2016. This was followed by
twenty interviews with experts from universities and companies. Further-
more, a total of 71 people took part in a subsequent online survey. With digi-
tization, the requirements for business administration graduates are also chang-
ing from technical competence to methodological and digital competence.
Digitization has an impact on all areas, politics, society and the economy. The
higher education sector is not unaffected by this either, because universities
are forerunners in the transfer of knowledge. For this reason, there is a need
to reform and at the same time strengthen the education system. Educational
institutions should focus on effective learning and relevant learning content.
Thus, the present research deals with the changes at university (especially
business studies) and company level induced by Industry 4.0, focusing on the
demands on business economists coupled with the entrepreneurial changes of
tomorrow. Using the mixed-method approach, a qualitative and a quantita-
tive research approach was carried out. This was based on a three-step se-
quential research approach: 1) document analysis, 2) expert interviews and 3)
online surveys. As a result, the majority of the experts that have participated
in the survey confirmed a strong impact of digitalization on the working en-
vironment. This change of the workplace requires an adaption by the em-
ployees as well as a revision of academic curriculars. Traditional education in
business administration is not obsolete, however, requires a stronger link
with topics of information technologies. Business administration in higher
How to cite this paper: Wieczorek, S.,
Ludwig, S., Büttner, L., Bauer, M. R., &
Markovič, P. (2021). Forecast of Changes in
Business Administration Driven by Digita-
lization. Open Journal of Business and Man-
agement, 9, 1680-1695.
https://doi.org/10.4236/ojbm.2021.94092
Received: April 28, 2021
Accepted: July 10, 2021
Published: July 13, 2021
Copyright © 2021 by author(s) and
Scientific Research Publishing Inc.
This work is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution International
License (CC BY 4.0).
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Open Access