Professional Digital Competence: Definition, Frameworks, Measurement, and Gender Differences: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

In the current context of increasing digitization, professionals need to be digitally competent. In addition, women’s low participation in the technology field indicates the persistence of a digital gender gap in the economic and social spheres. A key aspect to help reducing digital inequality is the role that the digital competence (DC) plays in the professional development of women, allowing them to enter to a job market still coped by men. The current systematic literature review, following the PRISMA protocol, analyzes the existing definitions of professional DC, the frameworks used to develop it at the workplace, and the gender differences observed. Four main ideas emerge from the review of the 41 selected articles: (1) the need of an enabling professional DC definition to help understand how it operates specifically in professional environments; (2) the expanding role of the DigComp framework to carry out initiatives for assessing, training, developing, advising, or certifying digital competence in professional environments; (3) the identification of seven key dimensions of professional DC; and (4) the need of future studies that go further in the measurement of women’s professional DC, as a response of the lack of data about gender differences in this field. Although the limitations of a systematic literature review, such as publications and database bias, these results are aimed at fostering a shared definition and framework of professional DC that standardizes the measurement and development of this competence, allowing workers, and women in particular, to adapt to the digital transformation, assuring equal access to qualified jobs.