Adopting digital technologies for employment: future workers’ intentions

Digital transformation is a process of change that is impacting our entire society, with employment being one of the sectors that will be most deeply affected in upcoming years. Thus, individuals’ perceptions of technology, and consequently their awareness and engagement with digital transformation, will play a key role in the outcome. In this study, we analyse the factors that influence undergraduates’ intentions to adopt digital technologies to improve their future employability. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology was used, including opportunity as an explanatory factor, and a study was conducted on a sample of 1,384 undergraduate students from six European countries. The results reveal a direct positive effect on intention to adopt digital technologies for employment by performance expectancy, hedonic motivation, effort expectancy, social influence and opportunity. Educational and political institutions should implement more specific policies to improve undergraduates’ future employability by taking into account the digitalisation process.