DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN PRIVATE BRAZILIAN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS: PRE-CORONAVIRUS BASELINE

Abstract

Purpose: To present the planning for the digital transformation of Brazilian higher education institutions (HEI) and to measure their degree of digital mastery, according to Westerman, Calméjane, Bonnet, Ferraris, and McAfee (2011). Originality/value: Some studies evaluate digital transformation and/or the degree of digital mastery carried out in HEI individually. However, those that assess them comparatively have not been identified, allowing to draw a baseline to assist managers in benchmarking processes. Design/methodology/approach: It is an exploratory, qualitative research, with field study, in which the secondary data were obtained through bibliographic and documentary sources and the primary data through semi-structured interviews. For this purpose, representatives of ten private HEI were interviewed using an instrument consisting of a script of questions. The content was analyzed according to the model of Bardin (2011) and supported by the tool Iramuteq. The findings served as an input for completing the digital mastery questionnaires. Findings: Elements identified in the research refer to the fact that the evaluated HEI have good maturity in their digital transformation processes. Such allegations could be verified from the evaluation of digital mastery, which found that most institutions have a good level of digitalization and that, despite having some limitations related to the development of digital and leadership skills, can be considered digital masters.