The article analyzes the data of a qualitative research conducted by the authors at the time of the “testing situation”, i.e. the beginning of the SWO and the subsequent anti-Russian restrictions, among IT specialists and technopreneurs who faced a choice: to stay in Russia or to move to another country after their employer (or with their business). As a theoretical basis of the study we used the grad theory of L. Boltanski and L. Teveno, which made it possible to identify appropriate reactions to the resulting “situation-test”, with reasoned criticism and justification, with perceptions of fairness, as well as to identify the main motives contributing to the move or, on the contrary, leading to the refusal of it. The article attempts to identify the relationship between the reaction to the “situation-test” and the action (relocation or refusal of it) that the respondents eventually took. The authors collected 52 research materials, of which 42 were in-depth interviews with IT specialists relocated (22) and those who remained in Russia (20), and another 10 were interviews, statements, posts, and speeches of leading technopreneurs living and working both in Russia and those who moved abroad due to the SWO. As a result of the analysis of the collected data, the authors made the following conclusions: a group of IT specialists, homogeneous by a number of characteristics, is clustered by the type of reactions to the “situation-test”, depending on which the corresponding choice is formed: relocation or refusal of it. This reveals a connection; moreover, depending on the spectrum of reactions, more unambiguous or, on the contrary, blurred in terms of group behavior, choices and actions are observed.

IT specialists, IT relocation, theory of cities by L. Boltanski and L. Thévenot, “test situation”

1. Aksenova O. V. Paradigm of social action: professionals in Russian modernization. Moscow, IS RAN, 2016: 304 (in Russ.). EDN: VYBENB.
2. Boltanski L., Thevenot L. Kritika i obosnovaniye spravedlivosti: Ocherki sotsiologii gradov [Criticism and justification of justice: Essays on the Sociology of “Worlds”]. Moscow, NLO, 2013: 576 (in Russ.).
3. Efremenkova M. N., Murashcenkova N. V. et al. Perceptions of the Present and Future of the Country as a Factor of the Emigration Activity of Student Youth: CrossCultural Analysis. Sotsial’naya psikhologiya i obshchestvo, 2023: 14 (1): 111—131 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.17759/sps.2023140107; EDN: TZILKW.
4. Ivanov D. Critical theory of digitalization: algorithmic rationality domination and authenticity revolt. Zhurnal sotsiologii i sotsialnoy antropologii, 2023: 26(3): 7–35 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.31119/jssa.2023.26.3.1; EDN: YLSMCN.
5. The study of behavioral and institutional prerequisites for the technological development of the regions of the Russian Federation. Accessed 03.07.2024. URL: https://www.rvc.ru/upload/iblock/0e8/attitudes_to_technologies_and_innovations_in_Russiapdf (in Russ.).
6. Castells M. Informatsionnaya epokha: ekonomika, obshchestvo i kul′tura [Information era: economics, society and culture]. Moscow, GU VSHE, 2000: 608 (in Russ.).
7. Kutsenko E., Tyurchev K., Ostashchenko T. Relocation as a Driver of Innovative Activity: A Global Study of Unicorn Founders’ Migration. Forsait, 2022: 16(4): 6–23 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.17323/2500-2597.2022.4.6.23; EDN: TIEJKB.
8. Sotsiodigger. Mart–aprel′. 2023: 4: 3–4(25) (in Russ.).
9. Fantastic worlds of Russian high-tech. Ed. by O. Bychkova. St. Petersburg, EU v SPb., 2019: 416 (in Russ.).
10. Kharkhordin O. V. Pragmatic turn: sociology of L. Boltanski and L. Thévenot. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya, 2007: 1: 32–42 (in Russ.). EDN: HYUQHP.
11. Negroponte N. Being Digital. New York, Knopf, 1995: 256.
12. Skinner C. Digital human. The fourth revolution of humanity includes everyone. Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Pte Ltd, 2018: 328.
13. Tapscott D. The Digital Economy: Promise and Peril in the Age of Networked Intelligence. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1994: 368.
14. Weill P., Woerner S. Digital business transformation. Harvard Business Review Press (USA), 2018: 260.