DCI Self-Assessment Tool

Digital Competencies Index — DCI

Digital Competencies Index — DCI

Background and Challenges

This project was made possible by the participation of the research team partners :

We live in an era of constant change where the rapid and marked evolution of digital technologies is forcing both organizations and individuals to rethink how they operate, reinvent themselves, and go digital. The success of organizations depends on the ability of its members to constantly learn and adopt different digital tools such as social networks, mobile applications, cloud computing, data analytics, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, machine learning or blockchain networks.

People not technologies enable successful digital transformations. It is therefore essential that organizations, as well as the individuals within them, understand the challenges ahead and are able to assess their digital competencies.

While there are a few recent tools aimed at assessing digital competencies or innovation culture, the majority of these tools cover limited/partial aspects of key aspects related to digital transformations or are not suitable for easy and effective use by organizations.

To address this gap, the ESG+ research team partnered with the Canassurance Blue Cross team to develop a digital competencies self-assessment tool for individuals to assess their digital competencies and practices related to digital culture.

The partnership between ESG+ and Blue Cross as well as the collaboration with the CIRANO team allows us to offer you free access to the "DCI Self-Assessment - Digital Competencies Index" tool.

This self-assessment is done through an online questionnaire covering the following dimensions :

  • Digital Literacy.
  • Digital self-efficacy and inventiveness
  • Collaborative work in the digital age
  • Digital adaptability and flexibility
  • Information Literacy - Analytical Maturity
  • Digital Hygiene

DCI self-assessment

Objectives and Operation

The Digital Competencies Research Team has developed, in partnership with Blue Cross Canassurance, ESG+, and CIRANO, the "DCI Self-Assessment - Digital Competencies Index" tool.

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the self-assessment tool are:

  • Assess YOUR digital competencies PROFILE and compare yourself with other respondents;
  • Provide each respondent with a detailed assessment of the underlying dimensions of HIS or HER digital competencies PROFILE;
  • Obtain an overall picture of the digital competencies of all respondents in order to prepare and disseminate an aggregated and anonymized report of the results;
  • To provide, in the event that multiple members of the same group will complete the DCI, an aggregated digital competencies assessment report for the group.

VOLUNTARINESS.

Use of the "DCI Self-Assessment - Digital Competencies Index" tool is completely voluntary. You may refuse to answer the questions that will be asked of you. However, in such a situation, it is possible that the absence of answers to certain questions will affect the accuracy of your digital competencies profile assessment.

ANONYMITY AND CONFIDENTIALITY.

Information are collected anonymously, they will be kept confidential and only members of the research team will have access to it. This information will be used only for the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of synthesized results. Data and results from this project, as well as publications that will report on them, such as scientific or professional articles, will be disseminated in an aggregated and anonymized manner, i.e., without identifying you. We do not record your email address in the clear, nor do we store your IP address.

CREATING AN IDENTIFIER

In order to use the "DCI Self-Assessment" tool, you will need to create an account:

  • To save the answers provided if you leave before completing the entire questionnaire OR if there is any interruption while completing the questionnaire (e.g., connection failure);
  • To resume where you left off before completing the questionnaire, in the case of an interruption;
  • IMPORTANT: This information will be kept confidential by the researchers and will not be used for any other solicitation.

USE

IMPORTANT In this questionnaire, you will be asked to provide responses to self-report questions (e.g., I like to think of new ways to use digital tools). In order to build a REALISTIC and REPRESENTATIVE profile of your digital competencies, we advise you to RESPOND WITHOUT HESITATION to the questions, as your first impressions usually best reflect your thinking. There are no right or wrong answers. You should answer the questions as honestly as possible. Remember, YOU will benefit from the results. You will be able to identify your strengths as well as digital competencies that need improvement. There is no time limit to complete the questionnaire, although we think it should take about 40-45 minutes to complete.

CESSATION

You may stop completing the survey at any time and return to it at any time. If you wish to stop permanently, simply press the "Quit" button. Incomplete questionnaires will not be considered, which will prohibit the use of the information collected.

Participate

As a Participant or Organizer

In order to use the "DCI Self-Assessment tool" and get YOUR individual digital competencies PROFILE, you need to press the "Participant" button which will take you to a registration form. This will compare your results to the pool of ALL respondents who have completed the questionnaire at the time you complete yours. You will be able to compare your results to the average results of other participants.

However, if you want to be able to anonymously compare the digital competencies profiles of specific respondents, such as members of a team, department, or even a service, you should press the "Organizer" button. This will allow you to invite people you have identified to complete the self-assessment questionnaire. Thus, as an organizer you will have access to a dashboard to see the (anonymous) results of the people who will answer the questionnaire.

PLEASE NOTE: In order to use the "DCI Self-Assessment tool" and answer the questions, we ideally suggest that you use a personal computer or even a tablet. Although the questionnaire has been optimized for personal computers and tablets, it can also be completed on a smartphone.


Participant

Click here to register and take the survey.

You will be able to compare your results to those obtained on average by other participants.


organizer

Click here to register your organization and invite your colleagues to take the survey.

You will have access to a dashboard to see the (anonymous) results of those who take the survey.

Partnership Origin

DCI Development and Dissemination

Blue Cross Canassurance is a non-profit organization (NPO) whose mission is to provide insurance products. Like many organizations, Blue Cross Canassurance embarked on a digital transformation initiative a few years ago in order to be more connected, more engaged, more human and more agile. The Blue Cross Canassurance digital transformation team quickly realized that the major challenge of all digital transformations was not technical, but human. Indeed, it is essential that employees have an adequate and adapted level of digital competencies in order to succeed in a digital transformation.

Since the majority of existing tools for measuring digital competencies are limited, the Canassurance Blue Cross digital transformation team proceeded, in partnership with ESG+ and three ESG-UQAM researchers specialized in the field, namely Simon Bourdeau, Claudine Bonneau and Régis Barondeau, to the development of a self-assessment tool for digital competencies and practices related to digital culture.

Moreover, this project was partially financed by the Ministère de l’Économie et de l’Innovation du Québec as part of the MEI-CIRANO research partnership entitled "Socio-economic impacts of digital transformation in Quebec and innovative public policies". This funding allowed to 1) Transform the "paper" version of the tool for measuring digital competencies and practices related to digital culture into a digital tool, accessible on the web via the CIRANO website; 2) Disseminate this tool and make it accessible and usable by as many people and organizations as possible, in Quebec or elsewhere, citizens or employees, large or small organizations, public or private; and 3) Collect, over time and across different sectors, data on digital skills and practices related to digital culture.

Now that the self-assessment tool for digital competencies and practices related to digital literacy is completed, Canassurance Blue Cross wishes to give back to the community by making the "DCI Self-Assessment - Digital Competencies Index" tool available to all individuals and/or organizations who wish to obtain an assessment of their digital competencies. Since Blue Cross Canassurance is an NPO, giving back to the community is part of its values, its DNA. Thus, Blue Cross Canassurance wishes to give back not only through its philanthropic actions, but also by affirming its values in its digital transformation

Research Team

Simon Bourdeau, principal investigator

Simon is an associate professor in the Department of Analytics, Operations and Information Technology (AOTI) at the School of Management Sciences (ESG) of the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) since 2012. He holds several professional certifications including Project Manager Professional (PMI-PMP), Professional Scrum Master and Business Continuity Professional (CBCI). He holds a PhD in Information Systems from HEC Montreal. He is also an active member of several academic and professional research groups and centers, including CIRANO, GReSI (HEC Montreal) and PMI-Montreal.

His research interests include digital transformation projects, digital competencies, project team dynamics, operational risk, and innovation. His research work has been published in scientific and professional journals such as, for example, Management Research Review, ACM CHI, IEEE Software, European Journal of Information Systems and Gestion as well as in several conference proceedings and book chapters. Since 2013, he is a certified Serious Play™ LEGO Facilitator © and uses Serious Play methodologies in teaching and research. Over the past few years, Simon has given several presentations, training and workshops (e.g. design thinking, risk management) in both academic and professional settings.

Claudine Bonneau, co-researcher

Claudine is an associate professor in the Department of Analytics, Operations and Information Technology (AOTI) at the School of Management Sciences (ESG) of the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) since 2011. She is a member of the Centre interuniversitaire de recherche sur la science et la technologie (CIRST), as well as of the Laboratory for Communication and the Digital (LabCMO) where she leads the research axis “Work practices, collaborations and professional worlds”. She holds a PhD in communication from UQAM. Before joining the academic world, she held management positions at Ubisoft and Bell Canada.

Her research interests focus on digital technologies, collaboration and new work practices. In addition to contributions to edited volumes (such as Experiencing the New World of Work, Cambridge University Press, and New Ways of Working: Organizations and Organizing in the Digital Age, Palgrave), she has published in the scholarly journals Educational Technology Research and Development, Communication, Research & Practice, and International Journal of Project Management.

Régis Barondeau, co-researcher

Régis is an associate professor in the Department of Analytics, Operations and Information Technology (AOTI) at the School of Management Sciences (ESG) of the University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM) since 2017. He is a member of the Laboratory for Communication and the Digital (LabCMO). He holds a PhD in administration from UQAM. Before joining the academic world, he held a management position in the parapetroleum sector in Angola. He also worked for several years as a consultant in the field of information technology.

His research objects focus on blockchain technologies, technology intelligence, wiki collaboration and more generally on the adoption and impact of digital technologies. Over the last few years, Régis has given numerous presentations and workshops in academic and professional circles (wiki collaboration, online security and privacy, technology watch and blockchain).

Bibliography

All of the questions used in the DCI Self-Assessment tool were adapted or based on questions or items from the following scientific publications:

  1. Alwin, D. F., and Krosnick, J. A. 1991. "The Reliability of Survey Attitude Measurement: The Influence of Question and Respondent Attributes," Sociological Methods & Research (20:1), pp. 139-181.
  2. Bourdeau, S., Aubert, B., and Bareil, C. 2020. "The Effects of It Use Intensity and Innovation Culture on Organizational Performance: The Mediating Role of Innovation Intensity," Management Research Review).
  3. Carretero, S., Vuorikari, R., and Punie, Y. 2017. "Digcomp 2.1: The Digital Competence Framework for Citizens with Eight Proficiency Levels and Examples of Use," Joint Research Centre (Seville site).
  4. Gill, M., and VanBoskirk, S. 2016. "The Digital Maturity Model 4.0," Benchmarks: Digital Transformation Playbook.
  5. Junaid, N. 2018. "Technological Proactivity: Development of a Measure and Initial Test."
  6. Kane, G., Philipps, A. N., Copulsky, J. R., and Andrus, G. R. 2019. The Technology Fallacy: People Are the Real Key to Digital Transformation. Cambridge, MAssachusetts: The MIT Press.
  7. Marcolin, B. L., Compeau, D. R., Munro, M. C., and Huff, S. L. 2000. "Assessing User Competence: Conceptualization and Measurement," Information Systems Research (11:1), pp. 37-60.
  8. Nelson, K., Courier, M., and Joseph, G. W. 2019. "An Investigation of Digital Literacy Needs of Students," Journal of Information Systems Education (22:2), p. 2.
  9. Ng, W. 2012. "Can We Teach Digital Natives Digital Literacy?," Computers & education (59:3), pp. 1065-1078.
  10. Ortiz de Guinea, A., and Webster, J. 2015. "The Missing Links: Cultural, Software, Task and Personal Influences on Computer Self-Efficacy," The International Journal of Human Resource Management (26:7), pp. 905-931.
  11. Rousseau, D. M. 2018. "Making Evidence-Based Organizational Decisions in an Uncertain World," Organizational Dynamics (47:3), pp. 135-146.
  12. Schein, E. H. 1985. Organizational Culture and Leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
  13. van Laar, E., van Deursen, A. J., van Dijk, J. A., and de Haan, J. 2019. "Determinants of 21st-Century Digital competencies: A Large-Scale Survey among Working Professionals," Computers in human behavior (100), pp. 93-104.
  14. Viberg, O., Mavroudi, A., Khalil, M., and Bälter, O. 2019. "Validating an Instrument to Measure Teachers Preparedness to Use Digital Technology in Their Teaching,Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy (15:01), pp. 38-54.
  15. Vuorikari, R., Punie, Y., Gomez, S. C., and Van Den Brande, G. 2016. "Digcomp 2.0: The Digital Competence Framework for Citizens. Update Phase 1: The Conceptual Reference Model," Joint Research Centre (Seville site).
  16. Westerman, G., Soule, D. L., and Eswaran, A. 2019. "Building Digital-Ready Culture in Traditional Organizations,MIT Sloan Management Review (60:4), pp. 59-68.