REGIONAL ECONOMIC RESILIENCE: THE IMPACT OF DIGITALIZATION ON LABOR PRODUCTIVITY DYNAMICS
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Digital transformation raises uncertainty about whether digitalization in healthcare yields measurable labour productivity gains, especially when healthcare financing is volatile and regional evidence is sparse. Evidence on how digitalization of healthcare and financial sustainability jointly shape regional productivity in Kazakhstan remains limited. This study examines the associations among healthcare digitalization, healthcare system financial sustainability, and labour productivity dynamics in Kazakhstan, with a focus on the Karaganda region. This study employs regional time-series and cross-regional data for 2018–2024 from the Bureau of National Statistics of the Republic of Kazakhstan and applies Ward hierarchical clustering, factor analysis, and multiple linear regression of labour productivity growth on ICT spending growth and fixed-asset investment growth (2019–2024, n=6). ICT costs increased from 10,164 to 19,840 million tenge, and GVA per employee increased from 6,238.4 to 15,681.2 thousand tenge (2018–2024). A two-factor solution explained 77.41% of variance; Factor 1 ("digital production factor") explained 56.37% and, in a factor regression on healthcare costs, had a coefficient of 26,933,232.93 (p=0.004542), while Factor 2 had a coefficient of 2,339,550.60 (p=0.775537). In the productivity-growth regression, ICT spending growth rate was positive (β=0.0926, SE=0.0365, t=2.5408, p=0.0846), fixed-asset investment growth was negative and not significant (β=−0.0611, SE=0.0299, t=−2.0407, p=0.1340), with R²=0.738 and Prob(F)=0.134. Inline table: ICT β=0.0926 (p=0.0846) | Investment β=−0.0611 (p=0.1340) | R²=0.738 | n=6 | Prob(F)=0.134. The findings of this study suggest that higher ICT spending growth is associated with higher labour productivity growth at the 10% level. In contrast, fixed-asset investment growth and the second factor's effect are not statistically distinguishable from zero in this sample.
JEL Classification Codes: J20, J21, M15, M54, I15.
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