Features of the Formation of Technological Expectations in Russia: Analysis of the Results of Business Tendency Surveys of Digital Transformation of Manufacturing Enterprises

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to analyze the technological expectations of managers of Russian enterprises from the manufacturing industry in the face of changes in the external economic environment. Firstly, the authors have calculated a specially developed «index of fulfillment» of technological expectations, reflecting the ratio of the expectations of the introduction of digital technologies formed in the previous period and an increase in the real level of implementation. Secondly, using regression analysis, the authors investigated the mechanisms of the formation of technological expectations of managers in various conditions: non-crisis 2018, pre-crisis 2019, and crisis 2020. The influence of the three mechanisms was tested in intertemporal context: the «inertial» one, which presupposes the preservation of the expectations formed in the past in the current period; «adaptive» which involves adjusting expectations in accordance with the current dynamics of technology implementation; «predictive» which implies the connection of expectations with the future level of implementation.The basis for empirical calculations was the data of annual business tendency surveys of digital activity of Russian manufacturing enterprises for 2018–2020. The aggregate sample of surveyed enterprises for three years included more than 3000 enterprises from 23 manufacturing industries. The paper studied patterns of implementation of 19 digital technologies, most of which, according to specialists, belong to Industry 4.0.The results obtained indicate that technological expectations are characterized by great heterogeneity in terms of feasibility. Regression analysis showed that all three identified mechanisms can play a role, but their influence varies. In particular, when a crisis occurs, the adaptive mechanism plays a key role, and the inertial mechanism becomes irrelevant.The results of this study indicate that Russia is characterized by the initial and transitional nature of digital transformation in the manufacturing industry, with technological development achieved through «breakthroughs» rather than a steady process of modernization. The main conclusion of the work is that external uncertainty greatly affects the evolution of technological expectations, destroying their continuity from previous plans and negatively affecting the predictive capabilities.