Demand for Employees’ Digital Skills in the Context of Banking 4.0

Abstract

Digitalisation and technical development in the financial service sector have aimed to secure, increase the quality, and satisfy the interests of both customers and financial institutions in the current turbulent era. Together with this situation, there is a need to develop digital employees’ competencies in the financial sector. This paper aims to analyse the topical issue of digitalisation and demand for employees’ digital skills in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic situation based on global secondary data and primary data collected by the authors in the Czech Republic. The main research objective of the paper is to provide a theoretical framework for digitalisation and its drivers in the financial sector, introduce the phenomenon of Banking 4.0 concerning the required competencies, and identify gaps and barriers for faster and more effective development based on the literature review and selected primary and secondary and data analysis. Descriptive statistics and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient have been used to fulfil this goal. A semi-structured in-depth interview with three human resources (HR) specialists of a selected Czech bank also has been conducted. The paper brings an overview of the latest research studies in the field of digital competencies in general and specifically in the financial sector. Although the primary data is limited in scope (i.e. ten middle-sized and large financial and insurance companies), it provides a unique view of the situation with digitalisation in financial institutions. It shows current developments, trends and barriers within the example of a bank case study. The paper is motivated by the current situation in the banking sector in connection with digitalisation. It aims to emphasise the growing influence of digital technologies on employees, managers and companies, and the importance of systematically implementing digital skills development approaches on the companies’ strategic level.

Evaluation of the Benefits Generated by Sustainability 4.0: A Study of the Perception of Banking Sector Customers

“…The descriptive statistics data are in line with current trends in the banking scenario, reflecting the growing willingness of consumers to adopt digital channels, as observed in the works of [9,34]. The high average in the question about replacing face-to-face services (4.3) suggests an acceptance of this transition, in line with the growing digitalization in several sectors.…”

“…The first two factors are related to economic aspects and the last to environmental aspects. It is suggested that the points with greater agreement are precisely those to which the customer is already feeling the benefits, with the reduction in service time and the increased satisfaction and practicality in subscribing to financial services, which is in line with the main findings of studies by [9,32,34]. Furthermore, the use of digitalization in the banking segment makes a noticeable reduction in waste and unnecessary inputs for current demands.…”

“…The study by [34] addresses digitalization and technical development in the financial services sector, aiming to guarantee security, increase quality, and meet the interests of current customers and financial institutions. The main objective is to offer a theoretical framework for digitalization and its drivers in the financial sector, introduce the phenomenon of Banking 4.0 in relation to the necessary skills, and identify gaps and barriers for faster and more effective development, through a review of the literature and data analysis.…”

A thematic analysis of the organisational influences on digitalisation in construction firms

“…Despite that digitalisation in construction may have been accelerated due to the pandemic (Mazurchenko and Zelenka, 2022) (Mazurchenko et al, 2020), drive financial incentives (Ninan et al, 2022), and prioritise feedback (Shojaei et al, 2022). However, the organisational influence on the adoption of innovation remains a complex interaction, and the understanding of it is limited across the construction context (Lin and Yi, 2022).…”

Banks 4.0 in the Context of sustainable development: A literature review and research framework

“…It is decentralized because it is not governed by any authority or agency [56]. It is regarded as a "trust-building machine" [57]. The blockchain assists banks in implementing optimal information-processing mechanisms [58].…”