A Qualitative Study on the Categorisation and Prioritisation of

Digital Competencies and Attitudes for Managers and Employees

Seyma Kocak

1,2

and Jan M. Pawlowski

1,2

Institute of Computer Science, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland

Ruhr West University of Applied Sciences, Lützowstraße 5, Bottrop, Germany

Keywords: Digital Competencies, Digital Skills, Digital Attitude, Digital Mindset, Company, Leader, Employee.

Abstract: Digital transformation is a mega-trend and is perceived by many companies as an opportunity to remain

competitive. The digital competencies and digital mindset of managers and employees play an important role.

Without new competencies and changed attitudes, the transformation cannot be driven forward. Research on

digital transformation competencies in the field of companies is limited and little evidence exists on which

digital competencies, and skills are particularly important for companies. In this study, a systematic literature

review was used to identify digital competencies and attitudes and classify them into six categories. With a

focus group discussion, four digitalisation experts evaluated them by classifying and prioritising the

competencies and attitudes on the pre-defined classifications. The results show that the majority of the

identified competencies and attitudes are crucial for both managers and employees. For this purpose, the

personal competencies, digital mindset and personality traits should be considered separately in order to

investigate correlations in future research.

1 INTRODUCTION

Companies in all sectors are affected by the current

trend of digital transformation (DT). In this context,

the term digital transformation is increasingly used to

describe the major changes organisations are

undergoing in the digital age (Osmundsen, Iden, &

Bygstad, 2018). The transformation is motivated and

inspired by emerging digital technologies, changes in

the competitive landscape (Sebastian, et al., 2017)

and the increasing customer focus (Osmundsen et al.,

2018). To manage digital transformation, companies

should develop their skills and knowledge

(Osmundsen, 2020). An important prerequisite for a

successful digital transformation is a collection of

skills, abilities and attitudes for problem solving in a

specific context (Pawlowski & Holtkamp, 2012).

However, research on which competencies are

essential for DT is limited, as is research on how

established companies can acquire these

competencies (Butschan, Heidenreich, Weber, &

Kraemer, 2018; Shahlaei, Rangraz, & Stenmark,

2017).

DT involves the use and integration of new digital

technologies into business processes to enable

significant business improvements (Schwertner,

2017) and often requires a transformation of the

workforce (Eden, Casey, Burton-Jones, & Draheim,

2019). As digital transformation requires not only

strong leadership but also rational decision-making

and strong employee competencies, exploring the

specifics of digitalisation, especially from a change

management perspective, is very relevant (Egor,

2020). Moreover, in addition to structural changes,

there is also the change in employee roles and

competencies, which play an essential role in the

introduction of new technologies in the company

(Vial, 2019). In doing so, they are sometimes trapped

in cultural heritage because it has worked well for a

long time. Companies invest a lot in training their

employees to deal with change (Von Ohain, 2019).

However, leadership in the digital age is above all a

question of inner attitude. Similar to the frequent

assertion that a good leader must first be able to

successfully lead himself or herself, digital leadership

first requires a distinct digital mindset that creates

sufficient openness for the upcoming innovations

(Eggers & Hollmann, 2018). While many studies

have not considered narrowing down to employees

and managers (Osmundsen, 2020; Müller et al., 2019;

Foster et al., 2018; Hellwig et al., 2020; Grevtseva et

al.,2021; Weber et al., 2017), the present work

Kocak, S. and Pawlowski, J.

A Qualitative Study on the Categorisation and Prioritisation of Digital Competencies and Attitudes for Managers and Employees.

DOI: 10.5220/0010674700003064

In Proceedings of the 13th International Joint Conference on Knowledge Discovery, Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management (IC3K 2021) - Volume 3: KMIS, pages 52-63

ISBN: 978-989-758-533-3; ISSN: 2184-3228

distinguished between managers and employees in

order to create individual competence profiles for

specific job roles. For this purpose, digital attitudes

were included in this work in addition to digital

competencies.

To identify digital competencies and attitudes, a

systematic literature review (see chapter 2 Method)

was conducted. The identified competencies with

focus of attitudes were divided into six categories.

With a focus group discussion, they were presented to

digital experts who were asked to rank them on the

classifications and prioritise them. The results show

that many competencies and attitudes overlap for both

managers and leaders. These competencies and

attitudes can be applied to specific sectors to define

concrete competencies and attitudes.

In the first part, the background of digital

competencies in companies is presented, which are

then divided into classifications. Since the digital

mindset also plays an important role in the digital

transformation, the attitudes that are necessary for a

successful digital transformation were elaborated and

also divided into a classification. Based on this, the

approach of the study is presented, which consists of

a systematic literature review and a focus group

discussion. Finally, the results are presented and

critically reflected.

2 METHOD

To identify digital competencies and attitudes, a

systematic literature search was conducted, which

describes a method for reviewing relevant articles

based on clearly formulated research questions,

themes or phenomena (Kitchenham, et al., 2009),

(Webster & Watson, 2002). In total, there were

23,168 publications. According to the inclusion

criteria there were 133 papers and according to the

exclusion criteria there were 19. Six papers were

added by the forward and backward search. 25

publications were selected for analysis based on the

scope of the study (Boger & Mercer, 2017) and the

inclusion and exclusion criteria. A web-based

automated search through digital libraries

(Kitchenham, et al., 2009) was used. For digital

competence and digital mindset-based scholarly

articles in the company published in scholarly

databases. Three main databases (AIS, ACM &

IEEE) focusing on information systems and computer

science were searched between the period of 2014-

2021 to find the current results.

In addition, a forward and backward Webster &

Watson, 2002) search was carried out, as some papers

were often cited. The following keywords were used

to search the IEEE and ACM databases: (digital

competencies AND company) OR (digital literacy

OR digital skills) OR (craft industry OR craft

enterprises) AND (digital mindset OR digital

attitude). For the AIS database, the following

keywords were used because no hits were found for

the other keywords: (digital competencies AND

company) OR (digital literacy OR digital skills) OR

(craft industry OR craft enterprises) OR (digital

mindset OR digital attitude). Furthermore, a

publication was selected as a source for the analysis

process if the proposed inclusion criteria were met; a

publication was removed from the reference list if it

met the predefined exclusion criteria. Following the

research questions and guidelines for reviewing

publications, the inclusion and exclusion criteria are

as follows: The inclusion criteria are peer-reviewed

paper (journal or conference), explicit mention of

generational terms in abstract, title or keywords, and

collaboration between groups in the context of

digitisation. The exclusion criteria are non-English

language, no explicit mention of digital skills or

digital mindset; paper incomplete as paper in progress

and no scientific methodology available (Okoli &

Schabram, 2010).

The digital competencies and attitudes identified

in the literature were divided into six classifications

(Tahvanainen & Luoma, 2018) (personal

competencies, professional competencies, technical

skills, technological competencies, communication

competencies, information-processing competencies).

A focus group discussion with digitalisation experts

was conducted in order to be able to assign the digital

competencies and attitudes for managers and

employees to the categories. The external validity

focuses on the quality of the results identified through

the literature. The focus group discussion was chosen

because it is used to evaluate and further develop

products and services (Henseling, Hahn, & Nolting,

2006), to evaluate measures and their improvement

(Schulz, Mack, & Renn, 2012), to evaluate

differences of opinion (Dürrenberger & Behringer,

1999) and to conduct acceptance analyses (Schulz et

al. 2012). In addition, focus groups remain at the first

level of information and are therefore very suitable

for the analysis of e.g. organisational processes or

structural analyses.

Two focus group discussions were conducted for

the study. The experts came from the university

context and have experience in the field of

digitalisation and consulting in the company. In the

first focus group discussion, four experts

participated. Of these, two were female and eight

A Qualitative Study on the Categorisation and Prioritisation of Digital Competencies and Attitudes for Managers and Employees

were male. The ages of the experts were between 23-

50 years. Eight of the experts are research assistants

with a focus on digitalisation, one expert is a

digitalisation consultant and one expert is a

professor in the field of digitalisation. In the second

part, there were six participants. In the first session,

the experts were asked to rank and prioritize the

digital competencies and digital mindset of the

managers on the Miro board. Two figures

(employee, manager) were created and all

competencies and attitudes were assigned and

prioritised with the help of stickers to the respective

classifications that are important for managers and

employees. They were also asked to carry out the

same procedure for the employees in round two. The

sample was N=10. For this purpose, six digital

competencies and mindset classifications were

created, which were published on a virtual Miro-

Board. In the first round, the experts were asked to

classify the digital competencies and mindset for

managers into the categories. In the second round,

the experts were asked to categorize the same

competencies and attitudes for employees. After the

categorisation, open discussion questions were

asked about digital competencies and attitudes. For

the discussion, the following open questions were

asked to check for comprehensibility and to add any

missing competencies and statements:

Table 1: Summary of the questions.

Questions For Focus Group Discussion

Do you find the six classifications understandable?

In your opinion, are there still digital competencies and

attitudes for leaders/employees that should be added?

If yes, what would they be? To which classification

would you assign them?

Do you think the classification of personal

competencies/attitudes and personality traits as a whole

or separately makes sense?

If yes, which personal competencies could you imagine

for leaders/ employees?

What character traits would you see for personality traits

that are relevant for digitalization?

What attitudes would you see for digital mindset that are

relevant for digitalization?

In addition to the open questions, the experts were

asked to rank the digital competencies and attitudes

according to low and high priority. This ranking

should later reflect the current importance of digital

competencies and attitudes. Six experts participated

in the group discussion, which was then recorded

with an audio device, transcribed and categories

were formed. These categories were used to extract

the most important statements in order to expand the

competencies and attitudes if necessary.

3 DIGITAL COMPETENCIES IN

COMPANIES

DT is the process of adopting and integrating new

digital technologies into business processes to

enable business improvements (Reis, Amorim,

Melao, & Matos, 2018), which in turn requires new

competencies (Butschan, Heidenreich, Weber, &

Kraemer, 2018; Vial, 2019). Digital competencies

have become an important concept in the discussion

about what skills and understanding people should

have in the knowledge society, reflecting ideas

about future requirements in which new

technologies are understood as opportunities (Punie,

2007). Digital competencies are the bundling of a

company's collective competencies that are

necessary for the digital transformation process

(Osmundsen, 2020), which is also pursued in this

study. DT involves the use and incorporation of new

digital technologies into business processes to

enable significant business improvements

(Schwertner, 2017) and often requires a

transformation of the workforce (Eden et al., 2019).

As digital transformation requires not only strong

leadership but also rational decision-making and

strong employee competencies, exploring the

specifics of digitalisation, especially from the

perspective of transforming business leadership, is

very relevant (Egor, 2020). Furthermore, in addition

to structural changes, there is also the change in

employee roles and competencies (Vial, 2019).

When new digital technologies are introduced in a

company, new skills are needed (Vial, 2019).

Competencies related to managing, operating and

interacting with new machines and media, so-called

"digital literacy", are fundamentally desirable in a

rapidly changing environment (Plumanns, Janssen,

Vossen, & Isenhardt, 2019). This is also evident in

sales staff, who are undergoing a transformation due

to technological advances, leading to a new field of

digital literacy (Ilomäki, Paavola, Lakkala, &

Kantosalo, 2016). To increase digital competencies,

organisations should build their own digital talents.

These can be developed by training internal

resources or acquiring external resources (Andriole,

KMIS 2021 - 13th International Conference on Knowledge Management and Information Systems

2018). Key competencies for employees include

'leading and deciding', 'supporting and

collaborating', 'interacting and presenting',

'analysing and interpreting', 'creating and

conceptualising', 'organising and executing',

'adapting and coping', 'being enterprising' and

'performing' (Prifti et al., 2017). In an established

company, the competencies identified were

teamwork, cooperation, strategic thinking,

interpersonal communication and relationship

building. (Murawski, Bühler, Blatz, & Bick, 2019).

Responsibility is also identified as a component of

digital competence required in the digital world.

Four types of digital competencies have been

defined for this purpose: Information and media

literacy, communicative competence, technical

competence and consumer competence (Grevtseva

et al., 2021). Cloud integration skills should also be

created to increase competitiveness (Mitra,

O'Regan, & Sarpong, 2018). The lack of cloud-

based skills also negatively impacts businesses,

competitiveness and the economy (Blackwood,

2016). Research on digital transformation skills is

limited (Butschan, Heidenreich, Weber, & Kraemer,

2018) and there is little knowledge about which

digital competencies and skills are particularly

important for companies (Butschan, Heidenreich,

Weber, & Kraemer, 2018; Shahlaei, Rangraz, &

Stenmark, 2017).

In summary, digital transformation cannot be

driven without digital competencies of managers

and employees. As there is a multitude of digital

competencies in the literature, the following chapter

classifies the identified competencies and assigns

them to the respective classifications.

3.1 Classifications of Digital

Competencies

The literature shows a variety of digital competencies

that are relevant for managers as well as for

employees in a company. For this reason, the

identified digital competencies were divided into five

categories (communication competencies,

professional skills, information processing

competencies, technical skills, and technological

competencies). The classifications professional

competencies and technological competencies were

derived from the research of (Tahvanainen & Luoma,

2018). These classifications were chosen because

they cover the most important requirements for

employees and managers (Prifti et al., 2017). The

classifications communication competencies,

information processing competencies and technical

skills were added as they are important categories for

the classification of competencies. communication

competence focuses on an individual's ability to

respond to a conversational situation by

demonstrating skills relevant to the conversational

situation and context (Salleh, 2008). This means that

a person is communicatively competent if the

appropriate communication knowledge is available.

Developing these skills requires adaptation to the

particular requirements of each communication

situation.

Table 2: Classification of digital competencies.

Classification and Competencies

Communication Competencies

Digital communication (Hellwig et al., 2020; acatech,

2016; Plumanns et al., 2019; Hummert et al., 2019)

Collaboration (Lipmann, 2020; Weber et al., 2017)

Teamwork (Lipmann, 2020; Weber et al., 2017;

Plumanns et al., 2019, Hummert et al., 2019; Foster et

al., 2018, Singh, A., & Hess, T.,2017)

Cooperation (Lipmann, 2020; Weber et al., 2017)

Interpersonal communication (Grega & Kornecki,

2015; Weber et al., 2017)

Technical communication (Egor, 2020)

M2M communication (acatech, 2016; Henseling et al.,

2016)

Interdisciplinary environnements (acatech, 2016;

Henseling et al., 2016)

Maintain customer relationship (acatech, 2016;

Henseling et al., 2016)

Creating business network (acatech, 2016; Henseling et

al., 2016)

Information Processing Competencies

Big data analytics (Henseling et al., 2016; Egor, 2020;

acatech, 2016)

Data analysis (Eggers & Hollmann, 2018; Weber et al.,

2017; Von Ohain, 2019; Egor, 2020; acatech, 2016;

Henseling et al., 2016)

Information seeking (Lipmann, 2020, Weber et al.,

2017)

Industry- specific analytics (Mulder, 2014)

Data management (Mulder, 2014)

Information competence (Grega & Kornecki, 2015;

Weber et al., 2017)

Data interpretation (Weber et al., 2017; Egor, 2020;

acatech, 2016; Henseling et al., 2016)

Analysing information (Shahlaei et al., 2017)

Compromising (Egor, 2020)

Including data and network (Egor, 2020; acatech, 2016;

Foster et al., 2018; Henseling et al., 2016)

A Qualitative Study on the Categorisation and Prioritisation of Digital Competencies and Attitudes for Managers and Employees

Table 2: Classification of digital competencies (cont.).

Classification and Competencies

Technological Competencies

Digital tools (Guo, 2015; Weber et al., 2017)

Digital devices (Guo, 2015; Weber et al., 2017)

Digital fabrication (Guo, 2015)

Customer service orientation (Lipmann, 2020; Smit et

al., 2016; Egor, 2020; acatech, 2016; Singh & Hess

2017)

Digital technology orientation and adoption Mulder,

2014; Weber et al., 2017)

Agile project management (Mulder, 2014)

Safety (Weber et al., 2017)

Digital content creation (Weber et al., 2017)

IT- competency (Schwertner, 2017)

Technology affinity (Grevtseva et al., 2021; acatech,

2016; Henseling et al., 2016)

Digital security (Hummert et al., 2019)

Knowledge about mobile technology (Hummert et al.,

2019)

Media competencies Grega & Kornecki, 2015;

Osmundsen, 2020)

Analytical thinking (Egor, 2020; Lipmann, 2020)

Technical Competencies

Cloud based skills (Blackwood, 2016)

Digital documentation (Guo, 2015)

AI/ machine intelligence for business (Guo, 2015;

acatech, 2016)

Agile (Shahlaei et al., 2017)

Programming knowledge (Weber et al., 2017; Egor,

2020)

Optimization (acatech, 2016)

Professional Competencies

Strategic thinking (Lipmann, 2020)

Portfolio management (Mulder, 2014)

Process competence (Tahvanainen & Luoma, 2018;

Mulder, 2014)

Change-management skills (Schwertner, 2017;

Henseling et al., 2016; Singh & Hess ,2017)

Project management (Singh & Hess, 2017)

Stewardship of resources (Lipmann, 2020)

Customer competence (Grega & Kornecki, 2015)

Knowledge management (Grevtseva et al., 2021)

Self-management and organization (Hummert et al.,

2019; Sebastian et al., 2017)

Management Ability (Sebastian et al., 2017)

Knowledge management and organisation (Grevtseva et

al., 2021; Hummert et al., 2019)

Organisational awareness (Lipmann, 2020)

Life-long learning (Hummert et al., 2019; Foster et al.,

2018)

One of the important categories is technological

competence, which is relevant for the digital

transformation. Technological competence relates to

the level of productive forces, work and life that has

been achieved, as well as the technological systems,

processes and products, e.g. machines, which

underlie the productive forces and relations of

production. (Dahmen-Adkins & Thaler, 2019).

Professional competence is considered the

overarching, integrated and generalised ability to

perform effectively in a specific professional activity,

job, role, operational context and task situation over

time (Mulder, 2014). Professionals in all fields are

expected to have professional competencies; these

include the ability to organise one's own work,

analytical skills, leadership skills, teamwork skills,

communication and interpersonal skills, and

problem-solving skills (Tahvanainen & Luoma,

2018). The last classification of digital competencies

deals with technical competencies. Technical

competencies include knowledge of the methods and

procedures used in the field of IT and information

systems management (Tahvanainen & Luoma, 2018).

The most often mentioned competencies are

programming and AI/machine intelligence for

enterprises. Accordingly, these competencies are the

basic ones for the technical classifications.

4 DIGITAL MINDSET IN

COMPANIES

The term digital mindset is referred to as a keyword

in the context of digital transformation and expresses

the need to think in a new way (Oswald &

Kleinemeier, 2017). Kollmann (2020) defines digital

mindset as the inner attitude and positive attitude

towards existing and new digital application

possibilities. Digital business transformation still has

a long way to go, sometimes being trapped in the

cultural legacy that has worked for a long time.

Companies are investing heavily in training their

employees to cope with change (Von Ohain, 2019).

Leadership in the digital age is a question of inner

attitude, which requires a distinct digital mindset that

personality also plays an essential role (Eggers &

Hollmann, 2018). In this context, the digital mindset

is a factor of exponential development that makes

companies successful in the long term. It is important

to show employees the importance of digital

transformation and mindset. The first step is to

identify how pronounced the mindset of the

employees is, which can be found out through

different frameworks and accordingly measures or

learning paths can be derived (Knorr, 2020). It is also

assumed that employees' beliefs about personal and

KMIS 2021 - 13th International Conference on Knowledge Management and Information Systems

societal factors in relation to technological progress

have an influence on employees' behaviour in digital

transformation measures. Accordingly, the success of

digital transformation measures depends on the

conscious involvement of employees in the change

process (Solberg et al., 2020). For this reason, the

fundamental understanding of the employees' digital

mindset is of central importance. In order for the

digital mindset to adapt to the corporate strategy and

the future viability of the company, it should first be

identified for each employee in which area they

currently stand with their mindset and in which areas

development and advancement opportunities are still

lacking (Knorr, 2020). Digitalisation has a positive

effect on perceived job satisfaction, internal

capacities and organizational climate (Hummert et

al., 2019). Attitudes and digital literacy show a

significant positive effect on self-efficacy (Daniel,

Mazanov, Meacheam, Heaslip, & Hanson, 2016).

One of the biggest challenges for established

organisations is digital transformation if skilled and

competent leadership does not manage it. Ala-Mutka

(2011) develops a digital competence model for

citizens and integrates the basic digital attitudes that

people need for digitalisation. These basic digital

mindsets include the intercultural and collaborative

mindset, the critical and creative mindset and the

autonomous and responsible mindset. The traits of

generosity, growth, flexibility, affability, curiosity,

teamwork and embracing diversity are also key

factors of the digital mindset concept

(Chattopadhyay, 2020). For digital leaders, the

characteristics empathic, innovative, open and agile

are the essential attitudes (Von Ohain, 2019).

Dombrowski and Bogs (2020) add networking,

participation and trust as relevant factors for digital

transformation for leaders. In addition to digital

attitudes for leaders, the most important factors for

employees have also been identified. To become

resilient, it is necessary to experience successes and

failures. In this context, mindset resilience plays an

important role for employees to develop a new

mindset. To be able to reflect on the experiences, it is

necessary to take risks. The last area is for employees

to reflect on their behaviour and attitudes, because

values and competencies usually do not change

without a lot of effort, while professional

competencies can be taught (Holtel et al., 2019).

Digital Mindset is an important prerequisite for DT

and represents a set of attitudes that are required.

Traits, skills and attitudes are driven throughout the

organisation by values, processes, structures and

functions to create the necessary mindset base for

digital transformation. The literature revealed that the

traits empathic, innovative, open, agile, networked,

participative and trusting are prominent as relevant

for leaders. According to the literature, the employee

characteristics for digital transformation are

resilience and risk-taking.

4.1 Classifications of Digital Mindset

There are many characteristics and attitudes for the

digital mindset in the literature. These were identified

through a systematic literature search and listed in a

classification (Tahvanainen & Luoma, 2018).

(personal competence/ personality traits/ attitude).

Table 3: Classification of attitudes, personality traits and

personal competencies.

Classification and Mindset

Openly dealing with failure (Holtel et al., 2020)

Resistance (Holtel et al., 2020; Singh & Hess,

2017)

Trusting instinct (Holtel et al., 2020),

Self- control and Self-confidence (Murawski et

al., 2019)

Visioning (Murawski et al., 2019; Von Ohain,

2019)

Result-oriented mindset ( Müller et al., 2019;

Murawski et al., 2019)

Competitive and innovative mindset ( Müller et

al., 2019)

Enthusiastic (Von Ohain, 2019)

Respectful (Von Ohain, 2019)

Communicative (Von Ohain, 2019; Grevtseva et

al., 2021; Sousa & Wilks, 2018),

Emotional intelligence (Von Ohain, 2019)

Risk-taking (Von Ohain, 2019; Petter et al., 2018)

Curious (Von Ohain, 2019)

Creativity (Erol et al., 2016; Richter et al., 2015;

Kiesel & Wolpers, 2015; Von Ohain, 2019; Sousa

& Wilks, 2018)

Taking responsibility (Smit et al., 2016; Petter et

al., 2018; Von Ohain, 2019)

Broad-minded (Von Ohain, 2019; Petter et al.,

2018)

Openness to learning (Petter et al., 2018)

Flexibility (Erol et al., 2016; acatech, 2016;

Richter et al., 2015; Kiesel & Wolpers, 2015)

Inspirational skills (Singh & Hess, 2017;

Tahvanainen & Luoma, 2018)

The most frequently identified personal

competencies, attitudes and characteristics are

visioning, communicativeness, risk-taking, curiosity,

A Qualitative Study on the Categorisation and Prioritisation of Digital Competencies and Attitudes for Managers and Employees

imagination, flexibility, creativity and inspirational

ability (see table 1). In order to assign these

competencies and attitudes to managers and

employees, a focus group discussion was conducted,

which is described in the following chapter.

5 DIGITAL COMPETENCIES

AND MINDSET FOR LEADERS

The results show that the majority of the identified

competencies and attitudes are necessary for leaders

to move forward in digital transformation. The

prioritization revealed that among the technological

competencies, digital technology acceptance, digital

shares, digital technology orientation, agile project

management, analytical thinking, customer service

orientation and digital tools are high priority for

leaders. Technology affinity, security, media literacy

and digital security are in the middle priority. Digital

manufacturing, digital content creation and mobile

technology knowledge competencies were rated as

low priority. Agility and optimization are important

technical competencies for leaders. The competencies

cloud-based skills, AI/machine intelligence for

business and programming skills are of low relevance

for executives.

The following competencies were classified as

high priority: Results orientation, customer

competence, self-management and organization,

strategic thinking, organisational awareness,

knowledge management, management skills, process

improvement, project management, Change

management, business acumen, process competence,

lifelong learning and entrepreneurship. The experts

see the competencies control of resources as less

important and portfolio management in the midfield.

In the field of communication competencies, the

results indicate that all fields in this area were rated

with high priority. This shows that communication

skills are a crucial function for leaders in digital

transformation. The information processing

competencies results were also classified with a high

weighting, with the exception of Inclusive Data and

Network.

The traits imaginative and enthusiastic were

classified as low priority in the classification of

personal competencies, attitudes and personality

traits. Competitive Mindset also tends to be a low

priority for managers. In the middle range, there are

the following attitudes and personality traits: trusting

instinct, transparency, adventurousness and

trustworthiness. All other competencies, attitudes and

personality traits were rated as high value for leaders.

This shows that in addition to competencies, attitudes

and personality traits are also essential for the

implementation of digital transformation.

For this reason, the comprehensibility of the

classifications was discussed in the open discussion.

For example, one expert (E1) commented on the

personal competencies, mindset and personality traits

as follows: "I think it makes sense to separate the

whole thing. Certain personality traits are defined in

such a way that you cannot really change them. On

the other hand, it is quite good to separate attitudes

towards cognitive competencies and abilities,

because it is already a different level". Different

recommendations regarding the classifications were

made during the open discussion. In addition, some

competencies that are considered important for

managers for digital transformation were also added.

Regarding the lack of digital competencies and

attitudes, the expert (E1) commented as follows:

“Therefore, there are still a lot of IT competencies

that could be included, but then we still have to think

about the level we want to have”. In the digital

attitudes field, the expert (E2) stated: "Especially

when you think about Ferrari's digital competence

framework, so in the direction of ethics and

responsibility, whether you could add something to

that, especially in the area of recruitment". On

personal competencies, the expert (E3) noted that

"vision is very important for leaders. But also

flexibility". As important attitudes for leaders, the

expert (E2) said that "the willingness to change as

relevant or also flexibility but maybe also towards

digital learning and coaching and especially with

ethics and responsibility" are important aspects.

Another factor for the digital attitude was that "in the

context of the data flood to which one is simply

exposed to digitalization, critical thinking is

becoming more and more relevant" (E4).

According to the second focus group, digital

technology orientation, analytical thinking, customer

service orientation, IT competency, technology

affinity, agile project management, digital security

and safety are the most important competencies for

managers. The competencies digital fabrication,

digital technology adoption, knowledge about mobile

technology, digital devices and digital tools were

prioritised as less relevant. Among the technical

competencies, agile, optimizing, cloud based skills

and digital documentation show a high relevance for

managers in digital transformation. AI/machine

intelligence for business and programming were

prioritised as low. Process improvement, customer

competence, self-management and organisation,

KMIS 2021 - 13th International Conference on Knowledge Management and Information Systems

result orientation, organisational awareness,

management skills, lifelong learning, project

management and entrepreneurship, which were

classified as professional competencies, were

prioritised as high. The competencies knowledge

management and stewardship of resources are

considered less important. In the classification of

personal competencies, attitudes and personality

traits, the following competencies were seen to be of

high importance: Innovative mindset, taking

responsibility, flexibility, openness to learning and

emotional intelligence. Less relevant are the

interdisciplinary environments and collaboration in

the classification of communication competencies.

Teamwork and creating business network are the

most important for managers. The most frequently

mentioned and highly prioritised information

processing competencies include industry specific

analytics, data analysis, compromising, data

interpretation, information seeking and analysing

information, whereas the experts see the

competencies data management, including data and

network and big data analytics as less relevant for

managers. In the discussion part, questions were

asked about the comprehensibility of the

classifications. The expert said that it was for

"understandable" (E2). However, there was overlap

in some competencies such as "analytical thinking".

For example, the expert commented as follows: "It

could also fit the Professional or Personal or

Mindset" (E2). In addition, one expert (E4) said that

it is sometimes difficult to delimit the categories. If

you have something like management skills or project

management. That includes things like change

management, knowledge management and the

weighting is difficult. This shows that the sub-aspects

of project management should be taken into account

and not project management in general. When asked

which competencies and attitudes for managers

should be added, the participant said that "this is

really broadly covered, i.e. personal" (E1). In this

context, "a lot of characteristics were taken and I

personally would not think of any other" (E1).

Whether the classification of personal competencies,

attitudes and characteristics should be separated or

considered as a whole, the experts said as follows: "If

we were to separate them now, a lot of them will

overlap. That's why I would keep it as a whole" (E1).

The experts (E4, E2) also confirmed this statement.

Through the two focus groups it became apparent

that some competencies and attitudes for managers

are reflected and also classified as high priority.

These are: digital technology orientation, agile

project management, IT competencies (technological

competencies), agile, optimisation (technical

competencies), result orientation, customer

competence, self-management and organisation,

organisational awareness, management skills, process

improvement, project management, life-long learning

and entrepreneurship (professional competencies).

Creating business network and teamwork were rated

as very relevant by both focus groups

(communication competencies). For information

processing competencies, industry-specific analytics,

information seeking, data analysis and data

interpretation were prioritised highly. There is also

overlap and high prioritisation in personal

competencies/attitudes and characteristics. These

include resistance, resilience, self-confidence and

learn motivation.

6 DIGITAL COMPETENCIES

AND MINDSET FOR

EMPLOYEES

The results show that most of the identified

competencies and mindsets have a high priority level.

The findings of the technological competencies

indicate that digital tools, IT literacy, technology

affinity, digital technology adoption, digital security,

media literacy, mobile technology knowledge, digital

content creation and analytical thinking are the most

significant competencies for employees in the near

future. Agile project management, digital

manufacturing, customer service orientation, security

and digital technology orientation, on the other hand,

are less important for employees. The most important

technical skills are programming skills, agile, digital

documentation and cloud-based skills. This shows

that both technical and technological skills matter to

employees. Personal skills, attitudes and personality

traits are also crucial factors in driving digital

transformation. Accordingly, the experts rated the

following competencies, attitudes and characteristics

as particularly crucial: initiative, self-control, self-

confidence, resilience, open-mindedness, critical

thinking, motivation to learn, transparency,

adaptability, communicativeness, willingness to

learn, results-oriented mindset, curiosity, resilience,

innovative mindset, respect, performance orientation

and perseverance. In the middle range are the

competencies, attitudes and traits: Resourceful,

emotional intelligence, trustworthy, competitive

mindset, adventurous and enthusiastic. The traits

instinct of trust, capacity for abstraction, willingness

to take risks, flexibility, sense of responsibility,

A Qualitative Study on the Categorisation and Prioritisation of Digital Competencies and Attitudes for Managers and Employees

ability to inspire, acceptance of responsibility,

decisiveness, vision, open-mindedness in dealing

with failure and global mindset were weighted less

strongly by the experts.

The most significant among the employees'

professional competencies are result orientation,

knowledge management, self-management and

organization, strategic thinking, lifelong learning,

management skills and conceptual thinking.

Customer competence was the only one rated as

average by the experts. The competencies resource

management, portfolio management, project

management, business acumen, organizational

awareness, entrepreneurship, change management

and process improvement were rated as having little

relevance to employees. For communication skills, all

but the competencies of building a business network

and maintaining client relationships were rated as

high priority. The last skill, information processing,

is also essential for implementing digital

transformation. Therefore, employees should be able

to demonstrate the competencies considering data and

network, managing data, finding compromises and

searching for information. The competencies

analysing information and data analysis were

considered a medium priority. Finally, the

digitalisation experts rated data interpretation,

industry-specific analytics and big data analytics as

less relevant.

In the discussion part, questions were asked about

the understandability of the classifications. The

expert (E1) asked, "Where is the difference between

technological and technical competencies?"

According to the expert (E1), the two classifications

are "not clearly distinguishable" and would see the

technical competencies "rather as development

competencies". The expert (E4), in which he

commented as follows, also confirmed this statement:

"I also found the differentiation between

technological and technical not so obvious, and I had

also added comments about individual competencies

that I could not really understand what was meant by

two or three terms". In response to the question

whether the classification should consider personal

competencies, mindset, personality traits as a whole

or separately, the expert (E1) expressed that "you

should look at it separately". Regarding the question

which digital competencies, mindset and personality

traits are still missing, the expert (E2) answered that

"an independent way of working and dealing with

complexity" should still be added as a competence.

Furthermore, the characteristics and competence

"ethics", knowledge "of digital trends in

digitalization" (E2) and "adaptation" (E3) were

added.

In order to find out the relevant personality traits

and digital attitudes for employees, experts were

consulted. For example, the expert (E4) suspects that

"the whole digital transformation is also transferring

more and more responsibility to the employees". The

attitude of "readiness" (E4) is also becoming

increasingly important, which is also confirmed by

expert (E2). She, in turn, said, "especially when we

talk about lifelong learning, the employee has to

bring in and adapt a certain space".

The measurement results of the second focus

group in the classification of technological

competencies show that digital tools, IT-competency,

technology affinity, digital technology orientation,

digital technology adoption, digital security, media

competence, knowledge about mobile technology,

digital content creation and analytical thinking are the

most important competencies for employees. The

lower ranked competencies include knowledge about

mobile technology, digital fabrication, safety, agile

project management, digital devices, digital security

and digital content creation. The competencies agile

and digital documentation are the most relevant

technical competencies and AI/machine intelligence

for business and cloud-based skills were prioritised as

less relevant. In the classification of personal

competencies, attitudes and characteristics, the

following were given high priority: Openness to

learning, openly dealing with failure, openness to

learning, achievement orientation, respectful,

transparency, trustworthy, self-control, adaptability,

result-oriented mindset, communicative and

creativity. In the low range are ability to abstract,

imaginative, risk taking, curious, inspirational skills,

competitive mindset, global mindset and

decisiveness. The low prioritised professional skills

include portfolio management, knowledge

management, change management, strategic

thinking, project management, management skills

and entrepreneurship. The most relevant professional

competencies were process improvement, customer

competence, result orientation, conceptual thinking,

lifelong learning, process competence, self-

management and organisation. Among the

information processing competencies, analysing

information, big data analytics and data interpretation

were ranked high and prioritised. Data management,

information seeking, compromising, data analysis,

industry specific analytics and information

competence were classified as low. In the last

classification are communication skills. Here, M2M

communication and teamwork for employees were

KMIS 2021 - 13th International Conference on Knowledge Management and Information Systems

seen as the most important competencies for digital

transformation. Cooperation and interpersonal

communication are less important. In the discussion

round, the experts named the following as the most

important characteristics for digital transformation:

"openness" (E2), which was also confirmed by the

expert (E1) and the characteristic "flexibility" was

also seen as an important characteristic. In addition,

one participant added the characteristic "persistence",

saying that one must "overcome difficulties" (E3).

From both focus groups, it became clear that

certain competencies and attitudes for employees

were reflected and rated with high priority. Digital

tools, IT competence, technology affinity, digital

technology use, media competence and analytical

thinking (technological competencies) were highly

prioritised by both groups. For technical

competencies, agility and digital documentation were

ranked as important. Results orientation, self-

management and organisation, lifelong learning and

conceptual thinking (technical competencies) are the

most important competencies for employees

according to both focus groups. For personal

competencies/attitudes and attributes, self-control,

transparency, adaptability, communicatively,

willingness to learn, result-oriented thinking, respect

and performance orientation are considered relevant

for both groups. For communication competencies,

there is only one match and that is the ability to work

in a team. There is no overlap in the information

processing competencies.

7 DISCUSSION

The aim of this study was to allocate and prioritise the

identified digital competencies, attitudes and

personality traits to managers and employees with the

help of digitalisation experts. The results of the study

show that the majority of the identified digital

competencies, attitudes and traits are relevant for both

managers and employees. Different digital

competencies and attitudes for employees and

managers have been studied in the literature. In this

context, the identified competencies (Murawski,

Bühler, Blatz, & Bick, 2019; (Grevtseva, Bashtanar,

Isakova, Balikaeva, & Kirillova, 2021; Butschan,

Heidenreich, Weber, & Kraemer, 2018; Shahlaei,

Rangraz, & Stenmark, 2017) and attitudes (Ala-

Mutka, 2011; Chattopadhyay, 2020) are limited to the

general public. In addition, studies have identified

limited competencies and attitudes, which in turn has

been extended by the present work. This study

identifies the key competencies and attitudes for

managers and employees that have not been included

in many works (Osmundsen, 2020; Müller et al.,

2019; Foster et al., 2018; Hellwig et al., 2020;

Grevtseva et al.,2021; Weber et al., 2017). For this

purpose, digital attitudes were included in this work

in addition to digital competencies, which the

literature also does not include. In addition, a ranking

of digital competencies and digital attitudes was

carried out. This showed that some competencies and

attitudes are more relevant for employees and others

for managers. A ranking of the identified

competencies and attitudes does not exist in the

literature either. The identified general factors of

Chattopadhyay's (2020) digital mindset concept

could be extended in the present study by ranking

further characteristics as crucial for digital

transformation for both managers and employees.

The basic characteristics and mindset of managers

(Von Ohain, 2019; Dombrowski and Bogs, 2020)

were added through mapping and prioritisation. The

digital attitudes identified in the literature (Holtel et

al., 2019) were also supplemented with new attitudes

and characteristics that are important for digital

transformation. When comparing the two focus

groups, it became apparent that some of the

competencies and attitudes overlapped. On closer

inspection, it became clear that few competencies and

attitudes were assigned and prioritised in the second

focus group for employees and managers. Therefore,

it can be said that for further research, the two focus

group results should be merged and used as one

instrument. The interview also pointed out that some

terms should be explained in more detail and the

technical classification as a development competence

should be changed. Additionally, as a limitation, it

can be said that the databases should be expanded in

the systematic literature search. In addition, it is

reasonable to carry out searches for relationships

between categories. These can be relevant for the

strategy and measures aimed at developing the

competencies and attitudes.

8 SUMMARY AND FUTURE

WORK

This study investigates the digital competencies and

digital attitudes of managers and employees in the

company. A systematic literature review was

conducted to identify the existing competencies and

attitudes in the literature. These were classified into

six classifications to get an overview of the

competencies and attitudes. Using a qualitative

A Qualitative Study on the Categorisation and Prioritisation of Digital Competencies and Attitudes for Managers and Employees

research methodology, a focus group discussion with

digital experts was conducted. The aim was to map

and prioritise the identified digital competencies and

attitudes among employees and managers. The results

show that some competencies and attitudes reflect

those identified in the literature. In addition, many

competencies and attitudes are relevant to both

employees and managers. As the study was not

limited to a specific sector, the identified

competencies and attitudes can be explored in the

future with a qualitative methodology on a specific

sector to gain new results and insights. As this work

includes many classifications, a kind of ontology of

digital competencies could be defined. Furthermore,

it is important to find out how pronounced the digital

competencies and attitudes of managers and

employees are. There are various frameworks that can

be used for this.

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A Qualitative Study on the Categorisation and Prioritisation of Digital Competencies and Attitudes for Managers and Employees