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This paper aims to present the findings from a European study on the digital skills gaps in tourism and hospitality companies.

Mixed methods research was adopted. The sample includes 1,668 respondents (1,404 survey respondents and 264 interviewees) in 5 tourism sectors (accommodation establishments, tour operators and travel agents, food and beverage, visitor attractions and destination management organisations) in 8 European countries (UK, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Hungary, Germany, the Netherlands and Bulgaria).

The most important future digital skills include online marketing and communication skills, social media skills, MS Office skills, operating systems use skills and skills to monitor online reviews. The largest gaps between the current and the future skill levels were identified for artificial intelligence and robotics skills and augmented reality and virtual reality skills, but these skills, together with computer programming skills, were considered also as the least important digital skills. Three clusters were identified on the basis of their reported gaps between the current level and the future needs of digital skills. The country of registration, sector and size shape respondents’ answers regarding the current and future skills levels and the skills gap between them.

The paper discusses the digital skills gap of tourism and hospitality employees and identifies the most important digital skills they would need in the future.

The fourth industrial revolution and its disruptive technological advances are leading to continuous significant changes in the labour markets, which affect employees and employers of all sizes.

Currently, organisations are experiencing considerable skill shortages and talent mismatches: the skills that organisations are looking for do not align with those available in the labour market. This means that matching available candidates on the market with job vacancies is unlikely. In addition, the increasing wage pressure in occupations linked with the most in-demand skills and in high-skills industries has become a reality.

The immaterial assets of a business, such as the competences and skills of its workforce and leaders, are the most significant elements in providing a competitive advantage is a fact no one in the present era would argue against.

While big corporations dispose more resources and capabilities to deal with these challenges, small businesses – considered the foundation of many healthy communities – have limited assets to face such global and complex dynamics.

This chapter acknowledges the significance of small businesses in the global landscape and their key role as ‘job generators’ in enabling an inclusive economic growth in developed as well as in emerging countries. And in this context gives focus to the crucial issue how of small businesses can overcome the skill and the talent gap, and which strategic shifts they can put in place in order to withstand these environmental constraints.

To this end, this chapter provides a broad investigation of international reports discussing the role played by external factors – such as governments and their policy frameworks – and the concept of knowledge sharing.

Moreover, it examines the influence of internal factors. Specifically explored is the key role of the human resources function in attracting skilled graduates, upskilling its workforce, establishing a total reward and talent development strategy and engaging in job design.

This chapter is of particular relevance to owner managers, general and HR managers of small businesses, but also public officials and private institutions. It identifies and offers practical solutions for small businesses that aim to transform themselves to successfully cope with skills shortages and the war for talent in the age of digitalisation.

Introduction: Skills are vital for the survival of an organisation to meet its objectives through producing goods and services. Due to their importance, they are among the sought-after aspects of employment. However, organisations need more skilled employees to bridge the gaps due to disruptions, shifts in consumer demands and needs, and transformations in the global world.

Purpose of the Study: This study aims to identify various skill gap in talent, competencies, and experience emerging in the hospitality sector. It will also present some challenges to the hospitality sector that faces due to the skill gap identified.

Industrial and Academic Justification of the Study: The study examines the needs and challenges from academic and industry perspectives. Hence, it provides significance for academics and industry to apply the findings to address skill gap.

Research Gap: Previous research has focused on different aspects of skills in other countries. This study will look at the issue globally and the recent trends emerging from disruptions and shifts in consumer behaviour.

Results and Findings: Though the study is ongoing, the findings show that specific skill gap exist, particularly in emerging technologies, digitisation, data, robotics, and various job openings from different countries’ perspectives, hospitality, and the tourism industry.

Practical Implications: The findings have implications for the tourism and hospitality industry as a whole, as well as individual organisations. The tourism and hospitality industry should apply these suggestions, such as operational skills, digital skills, and interpersonal skills in various sections of tourism and hospitality organisations

This research paper explores the development of four categories of skills (operational, informational, strategic and digital fluency) as dimensions of the digital intelligence. The purpose of the pilot study is to determine the consequences of these gaps on PR practices and the directions for educational adaptation.

A questionnaire was applied on a convenience sample of 98 PR students from Romania, in March 2014. The majority of students (n = 88) were of 20 to 25 years of age.

The results of the survey showed an approximately equal level of development for each of the four skills in the sample of PR students (with a lower degree for the information skills). The general level of development is rather good and shows that the “digital literacy” acquirement is a need for the specialists from older generations to communicate with younger publics.

The third category of skills (strategic skills) has been coded as a set of actions – instead of being coded as a set of self-assessed abilities – which created differences in measuring.

The results showed the level of public relations students related to the development of new skills in the digital environment.

This study aims to explore the opinions of Built Environment Professionals (BEP) on the usage of fourth-generation digital technologies in the construction industry.

This study adopts a qualitative research approach and conducts semi-structured interviews with Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) professionals to explore the adoption and utilisation of fourth-generation digital technologies in the construction industry. The semi-structured interviews allowed the participants to elaborate on their experiences, and thematic analysis was employed to identify and analyse significant themes related to the topic.

Accounts from BAME construction professionals reveal that the increased popularity of fourth-generation digital technologies, also known as Industry 4.0 technologies, does not necessarily result in increased usage. This is because many of these new technologies have not been embraced and are unpopular in certain circles. A more significant revelation is the impact of BAME community settings on determining the career pathways of most individuals, which often do not support the construction or digital technology pathways within the construction industry.

Research targeting ethnic minorities may not necessarily yield a large response due to the sensitivity of the issues raised. However, conducting a nationwide research with a larger sample size drawn from various locations in the UK could achieve more robust findings and uncover additional issues. Meanwhile, the results of this research can serve as a framework for more extensive investigations.

The research offers valuable recommendations to industry and academia regarding the need to address the specific challenges faced by the BAME community in terms of digital technology adoption. These issues are often overlooked in most discussions about digital technology.

The study provides critical recommendations that are relevant to Further and Higher Education (HE) institutions, industries, construction organisations, government bodies, etc. Recommendations include a call for collaboration between educational institutions, industry partners and local communities to facilitate awareness and orientation programmes within the community.

The accelerated digital transformation and the growing emphasis on privacy, safety and security present ongoing challenges for cybersecurity experts. Alongside these challenges, the multidisciplinary, everchanging and complex nature of the cybersecurity domain has further challenged the acquisition and retention of cybersecurity talent. Empowering reskilling and upskilling in cybersecurity necessitates efficacious educational endeavours which promote self-confidence and foster a growth mindset. The purpose of this paper is to highlight that cultivating self-efficacy in cybersecurity education can help promote competency development and effectively address the prominent skills gaps. This notion applies equally to both aspiring individuals pursuing a career in cybersecurity and professionals in the field who may wish to better articulate the skills they already possess, the skills they lack and newly surfacing skills that need to be developed.

The study discusses the imminent need for adopting a “skills-first” approach in cybersecurity and explores innovative pedagogies and professional frameworks that can inform and frame such an approach. Subsequently, a critical analysis of the importance of self-efficacy towards motivating and supporting upskilling in cybersecurity is performed. A case study is presented, expanding the authors’ previous work on cybersecurity professional development, to demonstrate the mediating role that self-efficacy can play in developing core cybersecurity competencies. The case study presents the design of a new cybersecurity curriculum in the context of postgraduate, synchronous distance cybersecurity education, and it is utilised as a basis to discuss how the proposed curriculum cultivates self-efficacy attitudes.

A skills-first approach is becoming the new norm in contemporary workplaces. This work highlights the importance of actively nurturing self-efficacy attitudes through innovative cybersecurity curricula that can be tailored to the learners’ needs, instigating a drive for learning and, ultimately, helping learners effectively upskilling by portraying a self-directed learning path and a professional growth mindset in cybersecurity.

The authors present the importance of cultivating self-efficacy in higher and lifelong education to foster reskilling and upskilling in cybersecurity. An innovative cybersecurity curriculum was constructed and delivered with a group of learners demonstrating how self-efficacy can be leveraged through interactive, reflective and self-assessment educational activities that enhanced motivation and self-awareness, curiosity, attention to detail and resilience – key skills for a successful career in cybersecurity.

The emergence of new digital technologies in the 21st century has propelled individuals to use technology in their daily lives. Individuals now require a specific set of skills, competencies and knowledge to use these devices efficiently, intelligently yet with responsibility. The purpose of this research was to design, develop and validate a digital literacy scale (DLS) using the exploratory factor analysis (EFA).

A quantitative research methodology was used for this study, whereby a unipolar 5 point Likert scale self-report questionnaire was designed to measure the digital skills of the participants. Digital literacy was divided into an exhaustive and broad list of six modules-media literacy, information literacy, communication literacy, technology literacy, visual literacy and computer literacy. The questionnaire was administered to a sample of the 2,755 Year 12 and Year 13 students of randomly selected 33 secondary school students in Fiji. Sample adequacy of the sample was tested using the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test.

The EFA results prove the existence of the six modules of digital literacy that are being utilized in this research to design the DLS. The factor loadings or the correlation coefficients range from 0.3 to 0.8; therefore, all the 60 items were kept to design the DLS. The Cronbach Alpha value of 0.90 confirmed the internal consistency and reliability of the newly designed DLS.

The research limitation of the study was the sample size. A broader sample would have made the results better. Research implications are; there is no scale in the south Pacific to measure digital literacy. The newly designed and developed scale is the first one that can be used to measure the digital literacy of the south Pacific populace and bridge the gap of the digital divide.

The developed and validated scale can be used to measure the digital literacy of individuals both in the south Pacific and beyond. The scale covers important aspects of the much needed 21st century skills. Once digital literacy is measured, relevant stakeholders can develop instruments to improve the digital literacy of individuals.

The DLS can prove to be an important tool for society. In the 21st century people are required to have digital literacy to survive and thrive. Thus this tool can be used to measure digital literacy and further improve the digital literacy of the people.

The framework has been adopted from the work of Covello (2010) however, the definitions of digital literacy and other literacies are modified to meet the requirements of the 21st century. The tool is unique in its nature in the south Pacific and beyond. Looking at the digital literacy tools in literature, this tool covers all the aspects of digital literacy in the 21st century.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-10-2021-0532.

This study aimed to examine the current and needed levels of the digital information literacy (DIL) skills of Pakistani librarians and further explored the strategies of and barriers to its acquisition and/or enhancement.

Using the quantitative approach, a cross-sectional survey was conducted. A convenience sample of Pakistani university librarians was recruited. Out of 225 distributed questionnaires, only 180 surveys were returned, a response rate of 80%. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analyzes.

The present status of DIL skills was found low and there is a high demand for its acquisition. The results also explored that the present level of DIL skills is not matching with its required level and thus training is needed. Further, strategies adopted for its attainment were identified including training programs, seminars and social media. Additionally, barriers in the attainment of DIL skills were also established including librarians’ lack of interest, poor internet facilities, absence of users’ demand, no training programs and lack of collaboration between the faculty and librarians.

This study was limited to librarians serving in three different universities of Pakistan. The findings of this study may motivate librarians toward the adoption of digital innovations. This study also informs librarians to recognize gaps in their DIL skills and should attempt to diminish it using diverse strategies. The results also inform the concerned authorities about the barriers faced by librarians in the acquisition of DIL skills and can plan for training programs. Additionally, LIS curriculum should be revised to incorporate topics related to the learning of innovative digital skills. Finally, results motivate librarians to attain DIL skills that possibly augment their performance.

This study is the first attempt in Pakistan that examined supply-demand mismatches, adoption strategies and acquisition barriers in the context of librarians’ DIL skills serving in the university libraries of Peshawar. As the current status of DIL skills of Pakistani librarians was found low, thus university authorities should organize professional development programs for librarians to acquire and/or enhance the DIL skills.

This paper aims to identify the gap existing between the current and future needs regarding digital skills, as well as the training needs for the 2030 horizon in Spanish tourism organisations belonging to five subsectors (accommodation, food and beverage, destination management, visitor attractions and travel agents and tour operators).

A mixed research methodology, which combined qualitative and quantitative approaches, served as the basis for this research work. Qualitative research took place between April 2018 and March 2019 and went through three stages: desk research, focus groups and interviews. Quantitative research developed from January to June 2019 by means of an online administered survey (Qualtrics). In total, 139 Spanish tourism organisations participated.

Tourism organisations analysed consider that digital skills are still an unresolved issue. Employees are willing to operate in environments where technology has an increasingly leading role. However, organisations believe that there remains a lot to be done until employees have, both at present and by the year 2030, a suitable level of digital skills enabling them to operate in the tourism subsectors analysed.

This study is framed within the European project called Next Tourism Generation (NTG), which involves 14 partners from eight countries. The findings obtained will help to develop a Europe Blueprint Strategy for digital skills within the tourism and hospitality sector, to provide employees, employers, entrepreneurs, teachers, trainers and students with a set of core digital skills represented in a skills matrix.