Knowledge, skill and attitude gap of university taught digital marketers
Bierhold, Tom (2020)
Pro gradu -tutkielma
2020
School of Business and Management, Kauppatieteet
Kaikki oikeudet pidätetään.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2020082663202
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2020082663202
Tiivistelmä
Purpose:
The purpose of this study is to identify and address the gap between the course curricula of universities in digital marketing skills, knowledge, and attitudes in comparison to the ideal state which is based on an extensive literature review digital marketing KSA extended with state-of-the-art secondary data sources.
Design/Methodology/Approach:
Professors and teachers of the University of Twente and the Lappeenranta-Lathi University of Technology were interviewed and their answered compared to an ideal model deriving from the literature review. The literature review thus combines scientific and popular public literature in order to define the ideal state required by the industry. This study provides a framework that can be used to evaluate the digital marketing curricula of other universities.
Findings:
This study found that the UT and the LUT both miss out on teaching digital marketing students all the KSA required by practice. The biggest identified gap is between the skills taught within the domains of content management and design and impact. The second biggest difference was spotted in the area of attitudes. Knowledge wise, more attention should be devoted to the domains of content management and design and impact.
Research limitations:
A major limitation is the small sample size which is based on the case study design of this study. Therefore, it can serve to transfer the implications to other HEI context, but the findings are not generalizable.
Originality/ Value:
A few studies identify and address the gap between academics and practice. None of these studies has a focus on improvement of digital marketing curricula. The framework provided in this study can be used to analyze the gap between digital marketing in practice and what is taught at universities.
The purpose of this study is to identify and address the gap between the course curricula of universities in digital marketing skills, knowledge, and attitudes in comparison to the ideal state which is based on an extensive literature review digital marketing KSA extended with state-of-the-art secondary data sources.
Design/Methodology/Approach:
Professors and teachers of the University of Twente and the Lappeenranta-Lathi University of Technology were interviewed and their answered compared to an ideal model deriving from the literature review. The literature review thus combines scientific and popular public literature in order to define the ideal state required by the industry. This study provides a framework that can be used to evaluate the digital marketing curricula of other universities.
Findings:
This study found that the UT and the LUT both miss out on teaching digital marketing students all the KSA required by practice. The biggest identified gap is between the skills taught within the domains of content management and design and impact. The second biggest difference was spotted in the area of attitudes. Knowledge wise, more attention should be devoted to the domains of content management and design and impact.
Research limitations:
A major limitation is the small sample size which is based on the case study design of this study. Therefore, it can serve to transfer the implications to other HEI context, but the findings are not generalizable.
Originality/ Value:
A few studies identify and address the gap between academics and practice. None of these studies has a focus on improvement of digital marketing curricula. The framework provided in this study can be used to analyze the gap between digital marketing in practice and what is taught at universities.