Employees' Digital Competency Development in the Construction and Automotive Industrial Sectors

Abstract

Nowadays, many companies make a great deal of effort to take full advantage of digital transformation and stay ahead of their competitors. The influence of digitalisation on manpower development and human capabilities as well as on the business environment, in general, is especially noticeable in the construction and automotive sectors. That is why the main purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of new digital technologies on employee competency development in Czech construction and automotive companies. The quantitative methodology is based on primary data collection conducted from July through October 2020 using the CAWI method. As a result, 27 responses from Czech construction companies and 39 responses from Czech automotive companies have been gathered in Survio software, processed and analysed by using descriptive statistics and Pearson's chi-square test of independence. The qualitative data analysis applied in this paper includes three semistructured interviews with human resource managers of selected Czech companies in the automotive industry. The advantages and disadvantages of the Covid-19 pandemic situation from the point of view of human resource management and employee training have also been analysed in the presented case study. The findings in this paper confirm that creating a digitally ready workforce and changing the employees' mindset towards the new style of doing their jobs remain significant challenges to deal with in the Czech construction and automotive industries. Implications for Central European audience: This paper focuses primarily on the training and professional development of people employed in the construction and automotive sectors, which have been highly affected by the ongoing digitalisation of business and the current Covid-19 pandemic situation. As the results further demonstrate, the widespread use of digital technologies can definitely help to enhance employees' digital competencies. However, the employees still have to get used to a digitalised workplace. In such conditions, the role of human resource managers is key in the implementation of continuous training as part of the corporate culture.

A thematic analysis of the organisational influences on digitalisation in construction firms

“…Despite that digitalisation in construction may have been accelerated due to the pandemic (Mazurchenko and Zelenka, 2022) (Mazurchenko et al, 2020), drive financial incentives (Ninan et al, 2022), and prioritise feedback (Shojaei et al, 2022). However, the organisational influence on the adoption of innovation remains a complex interaction, and the understanding of it is limited across the construction context (Lin and Yi, 2022).…”

Fatores críticos de sucesso em projetos de transformação digital na indústria automobilística brasileira

“…Creating a digitally qualified workforce and changing the employees' mind-set for adapting to new tools and methods of digital work are still a significant obstacle, which often requires extensive training and development programs (Mazurchenko & Zelenka, 2021). Cyber security and data protection are great challenges as the automotive companies depend increasingly on digital technologies, meaning that they need robust security measures to protect their data and digital systems (Brandtner, Mayrboeck & Zimmermann, 2022).…”

Innovation-driven human resource management practices: A systematic review, integrative framework, and future research directions

“…In general, this was empirically analyzed in several studies but limited in terms of research contexts. This issue was examined in the context of dynamic and complex industries, including manufacturing (Rajiani et al, 2016;Para-Gonzalez et al, 2018), automotive (Mazurchenko & Zelenka, 2022), start-ups (Jebali & Meschitti, 2020), IT (Mauro et al, 2020). In addition, the research was conducted in small and medium-sized enterprises (Llinas & Abad, 2020;Parwita et al, 2021;Sun & Mamman, 2022).…”

“…In particular, attention is paid to various training programs that strengthen employees' capabilities, which are important for creating organizational innovations (Lu et al, 2015). This means digital competence (Mazurchenko & Zelenka, 2022) that refers to knowledge, skills and attitudes towards the use of digital tools and solutions by employees. For example, Mazurchenko and Zelenka (2022), analyzing organizations from the automotive industry in the Czech Republic, concluded that the widespread use of digital technologies could definitely contribute to enhancing digital competences of employees, and thus to generating the potential for innovation.…”

“…This means digital competence (Mazurchenko & Zelenka, 2022) that refers to knowledge, skills and attitudes towards the use of digital tools and solutions by employees. For example, Mazurchenko and Zelenka (2022), analyzing organizations from the automotive industry in the Czech Republic, concluded that the widespread use of digital technologies could definitely contribute to enhancing digital competences of employees, and thus to generating the potential for innovation. Additionally, researchers find that employee retention increases the organization's ability to innovate (Papa et al, 2020).…”