Manager’s attitudes towards the city digitalisation strategy – case of Polish small and county cities

Abstract

Purpose – The aim of the study was to find out whether and how the current digital transformation is taken into account in the city’s sustainable development strategies, what actions are taken and what are the attitudes of city board managers related to the city’s digitalisation plans. Research method – An in-depth review of the literature on the issues of digital transformation in city development strategies was performed. The quantitative empirical study was based on a questionnaire interview with city board managers of randomly selected small and county cities, realized by telephone interview method (CATI) supported by the Internet interview method (CAWI). Results – The results obtained in the study made it possible to assess the degree of inclusion of city digitisation plans in the sustainable development strategy, as well as to gain knowledge about the attitudes of city management managers towards the need to include digitization plans in the city’s digital transformation strategy. Originality / value / implications / recommendations – Indicating the existence of a relationship between the size of the city measured by the number of inhabitants and income per capita and the presence of digitalisation plans in their sustainable development strategies. Demonstrating that the presence of digitalisation plans in the sustainable development strategies of the studied cities depends on the attitudes of city managers towards digitalisation.