IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/vrs/manmar/v13y2018i1p831-847n8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The need for digital and soft skills in the Romanian business service industry

Author

Listed:
  • Foerster-Pastor Foerster-Metz Ulrike Stefanie

    (The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania)

  • Golowko Nina

    (The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania)

Abstract

The Romanian Business Service Sector developed fast in the last decade. Today it employs more than 120 000 Head Counts and continuously grows. However, companies claim not to get the right skills from employees to pursue the digital transformation from a mere service sector towards a more value-added service. Since it has a very young working population with an average age between 26 and 35 years, it is increasingly important to review the employability skills needed by this industry to safeguard the continuation of the sector. So far, Romanian studies have been deducted reflecting the skills needed from the sector. In the first instance, these studies used the questionnaire methodology or global surveys mostly on a very holistic view (ABSL, 2017; Boşcor and Băltescu, 2014). This paper shows a new approach by deriving the skills needed by employers from their own database: job descriptions of entry positions published in companies or job boards were analyzed within a specified period, allowing an accelerated approach to defining skills needed without a too high time delay given the rapid progressing digitalization. The job descriptions are analyzed by using the method of qualitative content analysis according to Mayring (2014) using specific criteria based on the literature review of employability skills. Key findings confirm demand for hard skills such as languages and IT skills such as Office Suits, Development Environments as well as higher demand for soft skills especially analysis and problem solving induced by digitalization.

Suggested Citation

  • Foerster-Pastor Foerster-Metz Ulrike Stefanie & Golowko Nina, 2018. "The need for digital and soft skills in the Romanian business service industry," Management & Marketing, Sciendo, vol. 13(1), pages 831-847, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:vrs:manmar:v:13:y:2018:i:1:p:831-847:n:8
    DOI: 10.2478/mmcks-2018-0008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.2478/mmcks-2018-0008
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2478/mmcks-2018-0008?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kaplan, Andreas M. & Haenlein, Michael, 2009. "The fairyland of Second Life: Virtual social worlds and how to use them," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 52(6), pages 563-572, November.
    2. Giorgio Di Pietro & Andrea Cutillo, 2006. "University Quality and Labour Market Outcomes in Italy," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 20(1), pages 37-62, March.
    3. Lacity, Mary C. & Willcocks, Leslie P., 2016. "A new approach to automating services," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 68135, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Giuseppe Croce & Emanuela Ghignoni, 2011. "Overeducation and spatial flexibility in Italian local labour markets," Working Papers in Public Economics 145, Department of Economics and Law, Sapienza University of Roma.
    2. Uklańska Anna, 2023. "Robotic Process Automation (RPA) – Bibliometric Analysis and Literature Review," Foundations of Management, Sciendo, vol. 15(1), pages 129-140, January.
    3. Maria De Paola & Francesca Gioia, 2011. "Risk Aversion And Major Choice: Evidence From Italian Students," Working Papers 201107, Università della Calabria, Dipartimento di Economia, Statistica e Finanza "Giovanni Anania" - DESF.
    4. P. Lovaglio & S. Verzillo, 2016. "Heterogeneous economic returns to higher education: evidence from Italy," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 791-822, March.
    5. Krakau, Jan & Feldmann, Carsten & Kaupe, Victor, 2021. "Robotic process automation in logistics: Implementation model and factors of success," Chapters from the Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conference of Logistics (HICL), in: Jahn, Carlos & Kersten, Wolfgang & Ringle, Christian M. (ed.), Adapting to the Future: Maritime and City Logistics in the Context of Digitalization and Sustainability. Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conf, volume 32, pages 219-256, Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Institute of Business Logistics and General Management.
    6. Ghignoni, Emanuela & Verashchagina, Alina, 2014. "Educational qualifications mismatch in Europe. Is it demand or supply driven?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 670-692.
    7. Zara Daghbashyan & Björn Hårsman, 2014. "University choice and entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 42(4), pages 729-746, April.
    8. Kaplan, Andreas M. & Haenlein, Michael, 2016. "Higher education and the digital revolution: About MOOCs, SPOCs, social media, and the Cookie Monster," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 59(4), pages 441-450.
    9. Eisenbeiss, Maik & Blechschmidt, Boris & Backhaus, Klaus & Freund, Philipp Alexander, 2012. "“The (Real) World Is Not Enough:” Motivational Drivers and User Behavior in Virtual Worlds," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 4-20.
    10. Roberto Roson & Emanuela Ghignoni, 2023. "A Numerical Simulation of Educational Mismatch in the Italian Labor Market," Working Papers in Public Economics 241, Department of Economics and Law, Sapienza University of Roma.
    11. Barbara Ermini & Luca Papi & Francesca Scaturro, 2016. "Over-education among italian Ph.D. graduates. Does the crisis make a difference?," Mo.Fi.R. Working Papers 126, Money and Finance Research group (Mo.Fi.R.) - Univ. Politecnica Marche - Dept. Economic and Social Sciences.
    12. Pierre Canisius Kamanzi & Gaële Goastellec & Laurence Pelletier, 2021. "Mass University and Social Inclusion: The Paradoxical Effect of Public Policies," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(3), pages 32-43.
    13. Bosio, Giulio & Leonardi, Marco, 2011. "The Impact of Bologna Process on the Graduate Labour Market: Demand and Supply," IZA Discussion Papers 5789, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Tran, Tuyen Quang & Van Vu, Huong, 2020. "Wage earning differentials by field of study: Evidence from Vietnamese university graduates," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    15. Simon Amez & Stijn Baert, 2019. "Smartphone Use and Academic Performance: a Literature Review," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 19/982, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    16. Juan Acosta-Ballesteros & María del Pilar Osorno-del Rosal & Olga María Rodríguez-Rodríguez, 2018. "Overeducation of Young Workers in Spain: How Much Does the First Job Matter? Social Indicators Research," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 138(1), pages 109-139, July.
    17. Arianna D'Ulizia & Domenica Federico & Antonella Notte, 2024. "The Technological Innovation of the Metaverse in Financial Sector: Current State, Opportunities, and Open Challenges," Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(3), September.
    18. Julian Betts & Christopher Ferrall & Ross Finnie, 2013. "The Role of University Characteristics in Determining Post-Graduation Outcomes: Panel Evidence from Three Canadian Cohorts," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 39(s1), pages 81-106, May.
    19. Kaplan, Andreas M. & Haenlein, Michael, 2010. "Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 59-68, January.
    20. Guenther, Miriam & Guenther, Peter, 2021. "The complex firm financial effects of customer satisfaction improvements," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 639-662.

    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:vrs:manmar:v:13:y:2018:i:1:p:831-847:n:8. 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: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.sciendo.com .

    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.