IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/tefoso/v202y2024ics0040162524000751.html

Digital skills at work – Conceptual development and empirical validation of a measurement scale

Author

Listed:
  • Audrin, Bertrand
  • Audrin, Catherine
  • Salamin, Xavier

Abstract

In today's increasingly digitalized work environments, the need for digital skills is on the rise. Surprisingly, current frameworks of digital skills fail to specifically address the identification and measurement of digital skills in the workplace. The objective of this research is thus to develop a framework and a validated scale for digital skills at work. To do so, we employ a multi-step process that includes a thorough literature review, cognitive interviews with five experts, two pilot surveys (respectively n = 22 and n = 106), and a full validation survey (n = 923) among professionals. The findings consist of a comprehensive framework and a validated scale for digital skills at work. The framework entails 8 dimensions: Technology use, Cybersecurity, Content management, Communication and collaboration, Critical inquiry, Responsibility, Well-being, and Identity and development. The final scale consists of 52 items. This work enables to better understand individuals' skillsets and organizational requirements in terms of digital skills for the future of work. Both practical and research implications are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Audrin, Bertrand & Audrin, Catherine & Salamin, Xavier, 2024. "Digital skills at work – Conceptual development and empirical validation of a measurement scale," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:202:y:2024:i:c:s0040162524000751
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2024.123279
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162524000751
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.techfore.2024.123279?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tahir Farid & Sadaf Iqbal & Jianhong Ma & Sandra Castro-González & Amira Khattak & Muhammad Khalil Khan, 2019. "Employees’ Perceptions of CSR, Work Engagement, and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: The Mediating Effects of Organizational Justice," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-16, May.
    2. Erik Brynjolfsson & Danielle Li & Lindsey Raymond, 2025. "Generative AI at Work," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 140(2), pages 889-942.
    3. Schwarzmüller, Tanja & Brosi, Prisca & Duman, Denis & Welpe, Isabell M., 2018. "How Does the Digital Transformation Affect Organizations? Key Themes of Change in Work Design and Leadership," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 29(2), pages 114-138.
    4. Angel Belzunegui-Eraso & Amaya Erro-Garcés, 2020. "Teleworking in the Context of the Covid-19 Crisis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-18, May.
    5. Riina Vuorikari & Yves Punie & Stephanie Carretero Gomez & Godelieve Van Den Brande, 2016. "DigComp 2.0: The Digital Competence Framework for Citizens. Update Phase 1: the Conceptual Reference Model," JRC Research Reports JRC101254, Joint Research Centre.
    6. Kautz, Tim & Heckman, James J. & Diris, Ron & ter Weel, Bas & Borghans, Lex, 2014. "Fostering and Measuring Skills: Improving Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Skills to Promote Lifetime Success," IZA Discussion Papers 8696, IZA Network @ LISER.
    7. Lythreatis, Sophie & Singh, Sanjay Kumar & El-Kassar, Abdul-Nasser, 2022. "The digital divide: A review and future research agenda," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    8. Jorge de Andres-Sanchez & Angel Belzunegui-Eraso & Amaya Erro-Garcés, 2023. "Perception of home teleworking during COVID-19 crisis in Spain: significant factors and assymetrical influence on acceptance and resistance," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 45(2), pages 358-378, August.
    9. Angelucci, Manuela & Angrisani, Marco & Bennett, Daniel M & Kapteyn, Arie & Schaner, Simone G., 2020. "Remote Work and the Heterogeneous Impact of COVID-19 on Employment and Health," IZA Discussion Papers 13620, IZA Network @ LISER.
    10. Maravilhas, Sérgio & Martins, Joberto, 2019. "Strategic knowledge management a digital environment: Tacit and explicit knowledge in Fab Labs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 353-359.
    11. Harkiolakis, Tatiana & Komodromos, Marcos, 2023. "Supporting knowledge workers’ health and well-being in the post-lockdown era," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118409, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. David H. Autor, 2015. "Why Are There Still So Many Jobs? The History and Future of Workplace Automation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(3), pages 3-30, Summer.
    13. Sabrina Zeike & Katherine Bradbury & Lara Lindert & Holger Pfaff, 2019. "Digital Leadership Skills and Associations with Psychological Well-Being," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-12, July.
    14. Tatiana Harkiolakis & Marcos Komodromos, 2023. "Supporting Knowledge Workers’ Health and Well-Being in the Post-Lockdown Era," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-12, February.
    15. Di Vaio, Assunta & Palladino, Rosa & Pezzi, Alberto & Kalisz, David E., 2021. "The role of digital innovation in knowledge management systems: A systematic literature review," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 220-231.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Luo, Peikun & Chen, Yongqing & Shan, Donglu & Wang, Pengcheng, 2025. "Internet use, social capital and high-quality employment," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    2. Bentley, Sarah V. & Schleiger, Emma & McCrea, Rod & Coates, Rebecca & Hobman, Elizabeth, 2025. "Public perceptions of responsible innovation: Validation of a scale measuring societal perceptions of responsible innovation in science and technology," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christoph Riedl & Eric Bogert, 2024. "Who Benefits from AI? Self-Selection, Skill Gap, and the Hidden Costs of AI Feedback," Papers 2409.18660, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2026.
    2. Alexander Cuntz & Carsten Fink & Hansueli Stamm, 2024. "Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property : An Economic Perspective," WIPO Economic Research Working Papers 77, World Intellectual Property Organization - Economics and Statistics Division.
    3. Bohren, Noah & Hakimov, Rustamdjan & Lalive, Rafael, 2024. "Creative and Strategic Capabilities of Generative AI: Evidence from Large-Scale Experiments," IZA Discussion Papers 17302, IZA Network @ LISER.
    4. William G. Resh & Yi Ming & Xinyao Xia & Michael Overton & Gul Nisa Gurbuz & Brandon De Bruhl, 2025. "Complementarity, Augmentation, or Substitutivity? The Impact of Generative Artificial Intelligence on the U.S. Federal Workforce," Papers 2503.09637, arXiv.org.
    5. Marie-Pierre Dargnies & Rustamdjan Hakimov & Dorothea Kübler, 2025. "Behavioral Measures Improve AI Hiring: A Field Experiment," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 532, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    6. Eckhardt Bode & Stephan Brunow & Ingrid Ott & Alina Sorgner, 2019. "Worker Personality: Another Skill Bias beyond Education in the Digital Age," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 20(4), pages 254-294, November.
    7. Faruk Alpay & Bugra Kilictas & Taylan Alpay & Hamdi Alakkad, 2025. "Idempotent Equilibrium Analysis of Hybrid Workflow Allocation: A Mathematical Schema for Future Work," Papers 2508.01323, arXiv.org.
    8. de la Torre-Ruiz, José Manuel & Ferrón-Vílchez, Vera, 2024. "Determinants of managerial perceptions of the impact of telework: The effect of information communication technology support, trust, and frequency of communication," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    9. Peeyush Agarwal & Harsh Agarwal & Akshat Rana, 2025. "What Work is AI Actually Doing? Uncovering the Drivers of Generative AI Adoption," Papers 2510.23669, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2025.
    10. Raphael Auer & David Köpfer & Josef Švéda & Raphael A. Auer, 2024. "The Rise of Generative AI: Modelling Exposure, Substitution, and Inequality Effects on the US Labour Market," CESifo Working Paper Series 11410, CESifo.
    11. Aldasoro, Iñaki & Armantier, Olivier & Doerr, Sebastian & Gambacorta, Leonardo & Oliviero, Tommaso, 2024. "The gen AI gender gap," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    12. Azio Barani, 2022. "Le competenze personali e caratteriali come abilit? predittive di prestazioni future: i contributi di Heckman, Goleman e Pellerey nel prezioso dialogo interdisciplinare tra studi organizzativi, economici, etici, psicologici e pedagogici," QUADERNI DI ECONOMIA DEL LAVORO, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2022(115), pages 229-248.
    13. Chen, Xiaoxiao & Yang, Jiayi & Wu, Bo, 2025. "How is artificial intelligence shaping the labor demand of firms? ——evidence from text-mining analysis of listed companies," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(10).
    14. Deheng Xiao & Can Zhang & Yongjian Huang, 2024. "Digital economy policy and enterprise digital transformation: Evidence from innovation and structural effect," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 45(4), pages 2348-2359, June.
    15. Mao, Qilin & Shi, Buchao, 2026. "Intelligent manufacturing and green innovation along the supply chain," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    16. Orlando Gomes, 2025. "The Human Capital — Artificial Intelligence Symbiosis and Economic Growth," De Economist, Springer, vol. 173(2), pages 331-365, July.
    17. Bode, Eckhardt & Gold, Robert, 2018. "Adult training in the digital age," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy, vol. 12, pages 1-14.
    18. Ofori, Isaac K. & Gbolonyo, Emmanuel Y. & Vezzulli, Andrea, 2025. "Heterogeneous effects of frontier technology adoption on economic growth in Africa," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 526-540.
    19. Fernanda Bethlem Tigre & Paulo Lopes Henriques & Carla Curado, 2025. "The digital leadership emerging construct: a multi-method approach," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 75(1), pages 789-836, February.
    20. Gmyrek, Pawel, & Winkler, Hernan, & Garganta, Santiago,, 2024. "Buffer or bottleneck? : employment exposure to generative AI and the digital divide in Latin America," ILO Working Papers 995376288702676, International Labour Organization.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:202:y:2024:i:c:s0040162524000751. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00401625 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.