The nexus between digital skills/competences and work: A bibliometric study

The widespread use of computers and other new information and communication technologies (ICT) in every realm of society has increased the demand for specific skills and competences for people at any age and stage of life to use and work with ICT effectively. Summarised under the terms "digital skills" and "digital competences" by the European Commission in 2018, these concepts still lack clarity and are characterised by some ambiguity though much research has been devoted to them. Given that these two concepts are of high topicality with regard to current labour market developments, like skills mismatch, the digital divide or the design and implementation of occupational retraining programmes, the main purpose of this paper is to contribute to a more clear-cut understanding of the nexus between digital skills/competences and work. To accomplish this goal, we carry out a bibliometric study consisting of both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Our main findings are that research on the nexus between digital skills/competences and work is evolving and this research field is anchored in many different scientific disciplines and shares thematic overlaps with various other areas such as higher education research. The qualitative part of our analysis reveals that this research field is defined by six building blocks with one motor theme on "digital literacy". Furthermore, employment or employability as well as the effects of changing technologies at the workplace are the most crucial topics addressed in this research field, reflecting the high value attributed to digital skills/competences in determining the employability of the current and future workforce

Evaluierung des Förderungsprogramms IÖB-Toolbox

Innovationsfördernde öffentliche Beschaffung (IÖB) ist in Österreich seit 2007 Thema und in der nationalen Agenda der Innovationspolitik strategisch wie inhaltlich gut verankert. Wesentliche Meilensteine der Umsetzung des 2012 beschlossenen Leitkonzepts für eine innovationsfördernde öffentliche Beschaffung der letzten Jahre sind auf organisatorischer Ebene die Etablierung eines IÖB-Service Netzwerkes mit der IÖB-Servicestelle als Knotenpunkt und komplementären IÖB-Kompetenz- und Kontaktstellen. Die gegenständliche Evaluierung baut auf der Zwischenevaluierung des Förderungsprogramm von 2021 auf, in welcher die Genese und die Entwicklung der IÖB-Toolbox in der ersten Programmphase (2019-2020) im Vordergrund stand. Ziel der vorliegenden Untersuchung ist es, die Konzeption und die bisherige Umsetzung des Förderungsprogramms seit dessen Start im Jahr 2019, über die zweite Förderperiode (2021) bis hin zur aktuellen, dritten Förderperiode (2022-2023) gesamthaft zu beleuchten

A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions globally. Left unchecked, these emotional changes might have a wide array of adverse impacts. To reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions, we tested the effectiveness of reappraisal, an emotion-regulation strategy that modifies how one thinks about a situation. Participants from 87 countries and regions (n = 21,644) were randomly assigned to one of two brief reappraisal interventions (reconstrual or repurposing) or one of two control conditions (active or passive). Results revealed that both reappraisal interventions (vesus both control conditions) consistently reduced negative emotions and increased positive emotions across different measures. Reconstrual and repurposing interventions had similar effects. Importantly, planned exploratory analyses indicated that reappraisal interventions did not reduce intentions to practice preventive health behaviours. The findings demonstrate the viability of creating scalable, low-cost interventions for use around the world