The role of digitalization in ensuring the sustainability of socio-economic systems: an empirical analysis

Relevance. In the context of structural constraints, global market instability, and resource-related challenges, particular importance is attached to analyzing the capacity of digitalization to transform external impacts into internal mechanisms of adaptability, governability, and resource efficiency that enhance the resilience of the socio-economic system.
The purpose of the study is a theoretical, methodological and empirical substantiation of the mediation role of digitalization in the transformation of external macroeconomic and structural impacts into internal mechanisms of sustainability of the socio-economic system.
Objectives. The objectives include: developing a system of indicators to assess digitalization and the resilience of the socio-economic system; substantiating econometric models that reveal the mediating role of digitalization in transforming external shocks into internal resilience mechanisms; and identifying the direct and indirect effects of digitalization on economic resilience.
Methodology. The study employs comparative analysis, economic and statistical methods, econometric (mediation) modeling, as well as methods of logical generalization and structuring.
Results. A quantitative assessment of the mediating effect of digitalization for the Russian economy over the period 2014–2024 was conducted. It was found that external macroeconomic shocks act as a driver of intensified digitalization processes, which mediate their impact through internal mechanisms of adaptability, governability, and resource efficiency. These mechanisms perform distinct functions in ensuring economic resilience: adaptability determines short-term responses to crises, governability contributes to institutional stability, and resource efficiency ensures long-term structural resilience. Consequently, digitalization enhances the capacity of the socio-economic system to respond to external challenges and to use them as a driver of structural transformation.
Conclusions. The study concludes that digitalization performs a mediating role between external shocks and the internal resilience mechanisms of the socio-economic system. The findings may serve as a methodological basis for substantiating public policy directions in digital development aimed at strengthening the resilience of Russia’s socio-economic system under conditions of increasing uncertainty.

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