Staff Competencies for Digital Transformation: Results of Bibliometric Analysis

The impact of digital transformation on the future of the working environment is one of the hot topics on the agenda both at the micro- (business) and macro- (national economy) levels. Digitalization and automatization of business processes are treated by many employees as a potential threat to their jobs. The digital skills gap is one of the main barriers to the successful implementation of digital strategies in many companies. Thus, the upskilling of the staff is one of the urgent needs and, simultaneously, issues (due to the staff resistance) in the path towards successful digital transformation. The goal of the article is to gain a deeper understanding of the intensity and scope of research in the field of personnel training in the context of digital transformation on a global and Latvian scale. The article provides the results of the bibliometric analysis, based on 2109 papers published in 2000-2023 in the sources indexed by SCOPUS. Visualization was made by the application of VOSviewer tools. The analysis yielded five clusters that combine 177 terms – namely, “Digital transformation and technologies”, “Human resources and innovation”, “Education and learning”, “Higher education and the Pandemic”, and “Information technologies and competencies”. Besides, the authors analysed the content of 41 defended doctoral dissertations by Ph.D. students of Latvian Universities in 2012-2023. As a result of the examination, it became evident that the practical solutions put forth are largely disconnected from the focus of this research. This, in turn, indicates the need for an in-depth investigation of the above-mentioned concepts, namely - productivity, motivation, and mitigating resistance in the context of business digital transformation.