The concept of competence: a thematic review and discussion

Abstract

Purpose This paper follows three objectives. The paper aims to demonstrate a synoptic view of the historical evolution of competence, significant growth and changes in conversation. The second objective is to investigate the meaning and definitional usage of competence and competency. The third objective is to present a synoptic view of different dimensions of competence. Design/methodology/approach This paper reviews the selected literature spanning from 1959 to date from various databases using the following keywords: competence, competency, employee competence, employee competency, competency management and competency-based management. A total of 170 studies were selected in the first wave. In the second wave, a detailed assessment was made, as suggested by Tranfield Denyer and Smart, to ascertain the relevance of the articles. In this way, only 63 studies were selected for the review. This study also considers other relevant literature. Findings The historical evolution demonstrates that competence scholarship has focused on use of the concept in different fields and contexts, theoretical frameworks for competence development and strategic relevance of competence-based (demand-based) human resource management. Results also suggest that the term competency and competence are interchangeably usable. Finally, the review summarizes a total of 16 dimensions of competence, studied in various contexts and classifies them into hard and soft competence and further dividing them into knowledge, skill and self-actualization-related competence. Research limitations/implications This paper discusses various research implications for human resource development scholars and professionals. Originality/value This paper is a unique attempt to review the literature on three themes of employee competence.

Factors Affecting the Employees’ Loyalty in The Mobily Telecom Company, Saudi Arabia

“…The competencies are encompassing the criteria for the longrun achievements, the IQ level, the ability to manage tasks in time, qualification, and the higher level of knowledge for assessing what is the critical assessment for current operations. The authors highlighted the ability to provide intellectual operations a creative link and the assessments of the analytical issues are two major competencies that provide employees an opportunity to further look for employment (Zacca and Dayan, 2018;Salman et al, 2020). The loyalty level is lower in the countries with individualist support including Australia.…”

Problems of Professional Education of Russian Philology Students

“…To successfully implement the above algorithm of professional reflection, a student needs a thorough knowledge of the structure and functioning of society, as well as a set of different competencies related to information processing (according to M. Salman, Sh.A. Ganie, I. Saleem [12], up to 16 types of competencies can be used). The following is the data obtained by the authors on the names of those specific professions that are of interest to Russian Philology students of the Russian Federation.…”

Employee Competencies as Predictors of Organizational Performance: A Study of Public and Private Sector Banks

“…However, McClelland (1973), an American social scientist, popularized and significantly developed the concept through his influential work ‘Testing for competence rather than for intelligence’. He opines that an individual’s behavioural traits and characteristics rather than traditional knowledge and aptitude tests largely determine his/her performance and success in a particular situation/job (for a detailed discussion on the historical development of competence concept, competence vs competency debate and classification of cometencies, see Salman, Ganie & Saleem, 2020). According to Parry (1996), employee competence refers to ‘a cluster of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that affect a major part of one’s job (a role or responsibility), that correlates with performance on the job, that can be measured against well-accepted standards and that can be improved via training and development’.…”