Roadmap for Establishing a Common Channel for Digital Skills Development

Roadmap for establishing a common channel for digital skills development Developing employees’ digital skills in the Jönköping Region MASTER THESIS WITHIN: Informatics NUMBER OF CREDITS: 30 Credits PROGRAMME OF STUDY: IT, Management and Innovation AUTHOR: Efosa Ehigiator, Ahmed Alathami TUTOR: Christina Keller, Johannes Schmidt JÖNKÖPING Dec. 2019 Acknowledgments We would like to express our gratitude to God who made it possible for us to complete this thesis. We would also like to appreciate our supervisors Johannes Schmidt and Christina Keller for their valuable insights, feedback, encouragement and advices during our research. We would also like to thank the entire Informatics department at Jibs from the professors to our course mates for their supports and feedback. We would also like to thank our interviewees; Mr. Jan Karlson of the Digital board. Mr. Fredrik Karlsson, Mr. Håkan Hammarin and Mr. Kenneth Hellman of Nässjo municipality; also Mr. Gunnar Bergman, Mr. Roger Wegert and Mr. Dimitrije Gilezan of Jönköping municipality; finally, Mr.Andersson Martin, Mrs. Gunilla Cedervall of Habo municipalities for participating in our research and providing us with detailed insights on their experiences and relevant information related to our topic. Last but not least, we would like to thank our families for their prayers, encouragement and support during the whole thesis period. ii Master thesis in Informatics, 30 Credits Title: Roadmap for establishing a common channel for digital skills development: developing employee’s skills in the Jönköping region Authors: Efosa Ehigiator, Ahmed Alathami Tutor: Christina Keller, Johannes Schmidt Date: December 2019 Key terms: Digital skills, Innovative learning, E-learning, Cloud Computing Abstract Background: In the past few decades, organizations has shifted towards digitalization. Making it necessary for employees within an organization to acquire the necessary digital skills to cope with digitalization. These skills are necessary for employees to carry out their daily activities without setback. It is therefore important for an organization to provide a channel or an avenue for employees to acquire these skills without stress or difficulty. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to explore an innovative strategy for digital skills development for employees, which can foster communication and collaboration and improve employees work performance within the organization. Method: A qualitative study was used to conduct the research. The authors used semi- structured interviews to collect data from employees of the municipalities being studied. The interviewees were employees from Nässjö, Jönköping and Habo municipalities. From the interview findings an analysis was performed comparing the findings between the three municipalities. Conclusion: The results outline some of the benefits of using innovative learning systems for digital skills development of employees and how these leaning systems can improve employees’ performance. Organizations should make it a priority to continually reinvest in developing employees’ digital skills in the public sector and need to be aware about the barriers to adopt innovative learning methods. Some of these barriers are lack of training programs, lack of managerial support among others. A coherent strategy is needed to address these barriers and facilitate skills development process. Further research regarding other alternative methods to improve employees’ digital skills that were not discussed in this research can be explored by other researchers using larger samples, different theories and data collection methods. iii Table of Contents 1. Introduction ......................................................................................... 8 1.1 Background ..................................................................................................... 8 1.2 Problem ........................................................................................................... 8 1.3 Purpose ............................................................................................................ 9 1.4 Research questions ......................................................................................... 10 1.5 Delimitations .................................................................................................. 10 1.6 Definitions ...................................................................................................... 10 1.7 Disposition ..................................................................................................... 11 2. Theoretical Framework .................................................................... 12 2.1 E-government Initiatives in Public Organization ......................................... 12 2.2 Digital Skills ................................................................................................... 13 2.2.1 Operational Skills .............................................................................................. 13 2.2.2 Formal Internet Skills ........................................................................................ 14 2.2.3 Information Internet Skills ................................................................................ 14 2.2.4 Strategic Internet Skills ..................................................................................... 14 2.3 Innovative Learning: The Concept of E-learning ......................................... 15 2.3.1 Benefits of E-learning ....................................................................................... 15 2.3.2 Ways of Implementing E-learning .................................................................... 16 2.3.3 Barriers in E-learning Implementation ............................................................ 17 2.3.4 E-learning in The Public Sector ....................................................................... 19 2.3.5 The Implementation of E-learning in E-government Settings ........................ 21 2.4 Technology Readiness ................................................................................... 22 2.4.1 E-learning Readiness and Motivation .............................................................. 23 2.5 E-learning Network Systems ........................................................................ 25 2.5.1 Basic Concepts of Cloud Computing as a Tool for E-learning ........................ 26 iv 2.5.2 Advantages of Cloud-based E-learning: ........................................................... 29 2.6 Technology Adoption Framework ................................................................ 30 2.6.1 Technology Context .......................................................................................... 31 2.6.2 Organizational Context ..................................................................................... 31 2.6.3 Environmental Context ..................................................................................... 32 3. Research Methodology ...................................................................... 33 3.1 Research Philosophy ..................................................................................... 33 3.1.1 Interpretivism Philosophy ................................................................................. 33 3.2 Research Approach ....................................................................................... 34 3.2.1 Research Methods: Qualitative ......................................................................... 34 3.3 Research Strategy: Case Study ..................................................................... 35 3.4 Data Collection .............................................................................................. 35 3.4.1 Primary data ...................................................................................................... 35 3.4.2 Secondary Data ................................................................................................. 36 3.5 Research Quality ........................................................................................... 37 3.5.1 Credibility .......................................................................................................... 37 3.5.2 Reliability .......................................................................................................... 37 3.5.3 Validity .............................................................................................................. 38 3.5.4 Transferability ................................................................................................... 38 3.5.5 Research Ethics ................................................................................................. 38 3.6 Data Analysis ................................................................................................. 38 4. Empirical findings ............................................................................. 40 4.1 Habo Municipality ........................................................................................ 40 4.1.1 Municipality Overview ...................................................................................... 40 4.2 Jönköping Municipality ................................................................................ 42 4.2.1 Overview ............................................................................................................ 42 4.2.2 Interview Findings ...........................................................................................

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