Determinants of Digital Competence in the German Creative Industries

This study examines the demand for digital competence articulated by cultural organizations in their job advertisements. In order to do so, job advertisements have been extracted from an online platform that focuses on the cultural and creative industries in Germany (Kulturmanagement Network). The advertisements have been analyzed with regard to how frequently skills and experience that pertain to digital ICT applications are mentioned, which level of skill is required and which factors may influence these frequencies. The results show that advertisements most often do not make any mention of digital skills. When skills are required, they are most likely to fall into the most basic competence level. Examining certain organization types demonstrates that competence levels are distributed unevenly but no individual type can be certainly associated with a preference for digital skills or a certain level of skill. However, the study indicates that there is evidence for a dependent relationship between digital skills and certain functions. An analysis of a test case reveals that advertisements which fall into the function category of Marketing/PR are 28.4% more likely to require any digital skills and 31.2% more likely to specify advanced digital skills. In addition to this, the study confirms the assumption that digital skills are more likely to be mentioned in the context of reproducible outputs. The findings show that Marketing/PR positions that relate to reproducible outputs are the most likely to require advanced digital skills.