ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКИЕ МЕХАНИЗМЫ РЕГУЛИРОВАНИЯ СОЦИАЛЬНО-ТРУДОВЫХ ОТНОШЕНИЙ И ОБЕСПЕЧЕНИЯ ИННОВАЦИОННОГО РАЗВИТИЯ ВУЗОВ В УСЛОВИЯХ ЦИФРОВИЗАЦИИ

Abstract:
The digitalization of higher education is accompanied not only by the technological modernization of universities but also by a profound transformation of social and labor relations, affecting the content of work, employment structure, incentive mechanisms, and approaches to resource allocation. The problem of this study is that at most universities, digital labor functions are expanding faster than the adaptation of remuneration systems, standards, internal project financing, and performance assessment. The aim of this article is to identify and empirically substantiate economic mechanisms that ensure the coordination of the regulation of social and labor relations and the innovative development of universities in the context of digitalization. The hypothesis put forward is that the effectiveness of a university’s digital transformation is determined not by the level of digital service implementation per se, but by the degree of alignment between compensation, incentive, and investment labor management mechanisms. The scientific novelty of this study lies in the development of a proprietary functional model of the economic regulation of university employment in the digital environment and the empirical identification of an imbalance between the growing digital workload and its economic compensation. The methodological framework included a critical analysis of the scientific literature, structural and functional analysis, a questionnaire survey of university staff (n = 72), descriptive statistics, index analysis, and ranking. Based on the data obtained, a digitalization-incentive gap index of 0.61 was calculated, indicating a significant discrepancy between the requirements of the digital environment and current economic regulators. The practical significance of the article lies in the potential use of the results to adjust effective contracts, incentive payment systems, digital competency development programs, and internal grant funding. Prospects for further research include expanding the sample, conducting interuniversity comparisons, and developing a typology of digital employment models in higher education.