Entrepreneurship in times of crisis is not a new phenomenon. Entrepreneurship is important because it supports the processing of economic crises by relocating resources that promise new activities to replace those that will become obsolete. Entrepreneurship is an instrument that dynamizes economies and promotes the flexibility of the productive fabric through creativity and innovation.

Although the older people are the less likely they are to find employment, it is interesting to know the age of the people who are currently undertaking e-commerce because of the pandemic crisis of Covid-19, since digital skills are inherent to the younger generations of society (digital natives).

Some characteristics that stand out in an entrepreneur are confidence, fortitude, innovation and commercial facet. However, another of the entrepreneur's traits to be considered should be their digital skills; since, initially, they lack ways to make their product or service known to an interconnected society, so they need their own tools, techniques, tactics and strategies for digital entrepreneurship.

The growing studies on digital competencies in entrepreneurship activities, give rise to the relationship between technology and its ability to improve processes.

The use of applications can facilitate daily tasks. Entrepreneurs face different tasks related to the management and administration of their own business and somehow become allologists of their venture. Applications are emerging to cover certain needs and facilitate daily human activities.

The digital environment has grown faster than the capacity of the educational system to guide and train in digital universes.  The use of technology is demonized instead of educating about it. It is assumed that applications are easy to adopt, as they are usually intuitive; as well as it has been proven that there is an impact of the technological environment on the level of entrepreneurship.

In a study on the use of applications by early-stage entrepreneurs, the entrepreneurs indicated that they preferred applications based on their functionality, prestige, popularity and ease of use. That is why potential entrepreneurs are digital natives according to the ease with which they assimilate the tools, techniques, tactics and strategies that help them in their digital entrepreneurship.

As a result of social distancing, entrepreneurs had to look for creative ways to foster and maintain the connection, being social networks and videoconferencing applications the essential tools to offer their products and services.

Today, it is not enough to be a literate citizen; one must also have digital competencies. ICTs are developing faster than they can be regulated and adapted in traditional teaching and learning environments, i.e. through the classroom. In the case of digital competencies, the social outpaces the scholastic.

Digital competence is defined as the confident, critical and creative use of ICTs to achieve goals related to work, employability, learning, leisure, inclusion and/or participation in society.

Among researchers, there is some difficulty in reaching a consensus on the conceptualization of digital competence due to the various terms used (digital skills or tools; digital, technological, media, information or ICT literacy; e-tools; among other interpretations), which is challenging to reach a dominant coincidence.

Digital competencies go beyond the ability to work with computers and know how to use the Internet. On the one hand, competence refers to the activation of conjugated dimensions and knowledge; while digital competence is both the ability to search, select, process and apply information from a set of sources, and the ability to strategically use the information obtained to improve the position of the subjects themselves in society. It is composed, therefore, of instrumental, informational and strategic skills.

On the one hand, basic skills refer to the instrumental use of digital devices and media, which are the basis of strategic skills to develop learning and perform tasks with such tools.

The European DIGCOMP framework defines five typologies of digital competence:

1.    Technical skills: operational skills for the use of information technology.

2.     Formal skills: use of hypermedia.

3.     Digital literacy: when a person is technologically competent.

4.     Digital strategic ability: effective and efficient use of digital tools.

5. Empowering and/or expansive ability: set of skills, knowledge and specific attitudes for the correct development and performance of subjects in today's digital world.

The last typology of digital competence is characterized by including communication and content creation skills, and is related to potential and/or expansive aspects of the competence itself.

Several studies point out the lack of objective means to measure digital competencies due to the lack of a conceptualization; some studies base this type of measurement on the teaching environment, but outside this universe the evaluations are not very precise in empirical research.

Ala-Mutka proposes two types of procedures: one focused on performance tests and the other on self-assessments, which consist of measuring the performance and achievement of a series of tasks. Other authors have conducted studies on Internet proficiency to measure levels of digital proficiency. There are European trends (Eurostat) that base their indicators on surveys and questionnaires, which are divided into: a) access and use; b) knowledge and skills, and; c) attitudes and motivations.

Martin & Grudzlecki's model of digital literacy levels focuses on assessing the situation of the individual, and is composed of three levels that describe the need for individuals to develop a personal or professional use project.

Jesús Conde proposes a conceptual model of digital competence from a sociocultural approach. The third level of this model (1. instrumental level; 2. strategic level; and, 3. expansive level) corresponds to a digital transformation level that includes technological skills related to the construction and creation of new things by means of ICT.

Without realizing it, we are migrating from Web 3.0 (assisted by artificial intelligence) to Web 4.0 (generation of decision making with artificial intelligence). Do entrepreneurs and users in general need to worry about having digital skills? Of course they do. Being one step ahead in the use of digital technology lies in knowing how to exploit it in both its functions and its benefits.

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By: Sandra Hernandez

[Bitter Trend - Tesis digital]