Survey ranking of job competencies by perceived employee importance: Comparing China's three regions

Abstract

AbstractThe acquisition of skills that match job requirements has become an issue in human resource development. A uniform but vague list of desirable skills often provided by policymakers or advocated by scholars is used as a guide in education and training programs in China. Using survey data, this study analyzes the core skills that workforces in China consider to be important in carrying out job routines in different jobs, different industries, and different geographical regions. This study surveyed 25,933 employees from 397 randomly sampled firms of four counties in each of the East, Central, and West regions of China. Twenty kinds of job skills were deduced from interviews conducted in the field. Five categories of skills were identified by the employees: dispositional characteristics, technical know‐how skills, job basics, problem solving, and communication. Using a hierarchical model, the analysis is focused on whether employees in different occupations ( for example, managerial, professional, salesperson, frontline workers) had different perceptions of required job skills. The results show both differences related to occupation and work experience and similarities in perceived job competencies among industries and across three regions.