Competencies and digital marketing skills needs for public relations in Thailand.

Abstract

Technology evolution and digital convergence result in competencies and skills gaps among communicators in Thailand. It changes human ecosystems and the way of communications. Since media landscapes have been transformed, the demand of new competencies and skills sets among public relations practitioners have to be shifted. Thus, new competencies and skills needs have been studied focusing on middle managements who are in risk of being lost in the game. The semi-structure interview and discussion questions were used to explore top managements’ opinions towards middle managements as well as exploring insights of middle managements about their confidence in digital knowledge. The research objectives are to find out the existing skills gaps and formulate the effective solutions to bridge the gaps. There are 20 interviewees, 6 top management executives from communication agencies, media and entertainment firms, and a public organisation. And 14 middle-management employees from various industries such as real estate, event organiser, public relations agencies (both international and local), film production, and a digital TV station.