The global COVID-19 pandemic had created an unforeseen situation across the country affecting normal academics in schools, academic institutions and universities. These had compelled policymakers, academic think tanks, institutional heads, faculty members and others to quickly adopt online mode of teaching and learning in order to safeguard the well-being of students, faculty, staff and their family members from the spread of the virus. However, adopting to the online mode of teaching and learning was not an easy affair for either the student or teaching community. In spite of all the adversities and impending challenges, students had to adopt with the online mode of learning for which they needed to harness and sharpen their digital acumen and technical know-how. Taking this perspective into consideration, an attempt has been made in the present study to have an understanding of what was meant by digital acumen for students studying postgraduate business studies in the institutions located in and around the National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi and explore the factors influencing the same. For this purpose, the research used a sequential mixed method research design whereby, based on the existing literature and research gaps the first (qualitative) phase, made an attempt to explore the narratives of institutional heads regarding what was meant by digital acumen for postgraduate business study students and what factors influenced the same. The qualitative study led to the identification of three variables, namely support from teachers, support from peers and technical knowledge. During the subsequent quantitative phase of the research, the study explored the influence of these variables on the digital acumen of students based on an online survey among 335 students from the NCR. Data analysis indicates that technical knowledge was the most important mediator of digital acumen among the students. Support from teachers was an important predictor influencing both technical knowledge and support from peers. The variable support from peers has significant influence on technical knowledge thereby establishing the influence on digital acumen of students.

digital acumen, online learning, COVID-19, postgraduate business study students

Akyol, Z., Ice, P., Garrison, D. R., & Mitchell, R. (2010). The relationship between course socio-epistemological orientations and student perceptions of the community of inquiry. Internet and Higher Education, 13(1–2), 66–68.

Amin, H., & Mirza, M. S. (2020). Comparative study of knowledge and use of Bloom’s digital taxonomy by teachers and students in virtual and conventional universities. Asian Association of Open Universities Journal, 15(2), 223–238. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAOUJ-01-2020-0005

Azila-Gbettor, E. M., & Abiemo, M. K. (2021). Moderating effect of perceived lecturer support on academic self-efficacy and study engagement: Evidence from a Ghanaian university. Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, 13(4), 991–1006. https://doi.org/10.1108/JARHE-04-2020-0079

Baran, E., & Correia, A. (2009). Student-led facilitation strategies in online discussions. Distance Education, 30(3), 339–361. https://doi.org/10.1080/01587910903236510

Bejakovi, P., & Mrnjavac, Ž. (2020). The importance of digital literacy on the labour market. Employee Relations, 42(4), 921–932. https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-07-2019-0274

Bergdahl, N., Nouri, J., & Fors, U. (2020). Disengagement, engagement and digital skills in technology-enhanced learning. Education and Information Technologies, 25(2), 957–983. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-019-09998-w

Bokek-Cohen, Y. (2018). Conceptualizing employees’ digital skills as signals delivered to employers. International Journal of Organization Theory and Behavior, 21(1), 17–27. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOTB-03-2018-003

Bordoloi, R., Das, P., & Das, K. (2021). Perception towards online/blended learning at the time of COVID-19 pandemic: An academic analytics in the Indian context, Asian Association of Open Universities Journal, 16(1), 41–60. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAOUJ-09-2020-0079

Brousell, D. R. (2019). In pursuit of digital acumen. Manufacturing Leadership Council. https://www.manufacturingleadershipcouncil.com/in-pursuit-of-digital-acumen-10041/

Cetindamar, K. D., & Abedin, B. (2020). Understanding the role of employees in digital transformation: Conceptualization of digital literacy of employees as a multi-dimensional organizational affordance. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 34(6), 1649–1672. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEIM-01-2020-0010

Chandra, Y. (2020). Online education during COVID-19: Perception of academic stress and emotional intelligence coping strategies among college students. Asian Education and Development Studies, 10(2), 229–238. https://doi.org/10.1108/AEDS-05-2020-0097

Chen, C., Landa, S., Padilla, A., & Yur-Austin, J. (2021). Learners’ experience and needs in online environments: Adopting agility in teaching. Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching and Learning, 14(1), 18–31. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIT-11-2020-0073

Ching, Y., & Hsu, Y. (2013). Peer feedback to facilitate project-based learning in an online environment. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 14(5), 258–276. http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1524/2655;  https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v14i5.1524

Dhawan, S. (2020). Online learning: A panacea in the time of COVID-19 crisis. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 49(1), 5–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047239520934018

Fisher, M., & Baird, D. E. (2005). Online learning design that fosters student support,
self-regulation, and retention. Campus-Wide Information Systems, 22(2), 88–107. https://doi.org/10.1108/10650740510587100

Gautam, D. K., & Gautam, P. K. (2021). Transition to online higher education during COVID-19 pandemic: Turmoil and way forward to developing country of South Asia–Nepal. Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching and Learning, 14(1), 93–111. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIT-10-2020-0051

George, G., & Thomas, M. R. (2020). Quarantined effects and strategies of college students – COVID-19. Asian Education and Development Studies, 10(4), 565–573. https://doi.org/10.1108/AEDS-04-2020-0054

Gilbert, M. (2018). Student performance is linked to connecting effectively with teachers. Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching and Learning, 12(3), 311–324. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIT-05-2018-0010

Harris, N., & Sandor, M. (2007). Developing online discussion forums as student centred peer e-learning environments [concise paper]. Proceedings of ASCILITE, Singapore, December 2–5. www.ascilite.org/conferences/singapore07/procs/harris.pdf

Hooper, D., Coughlan, J., & Mullen, M. R. (2008). Structural equation modelling: Guidelines for determining model fit. The Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods, 6, 53–60.

Howard, S. K. (2013). Risk-aversion: understanding teachers’ resistance to technology integration. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 22(3), 357–372.

Huang, S., Eslami, Z., & Hu, R. S. (2010). The relationship between teacher and peer support and English-language learners’ anxiety. English Language Teaching, 3(1), 32–40. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v3n1p32

Ismaili, Y. (2021). Evaluation of students’ attitude toward distance learning during the pandemic (Covid-19): A case study of ELTE university. On the Horizon, 29(1), 17–30. https://doi.org/10.1108/OTH-09-2020-0032

Karunanayaka, S. P., Rajendra, J. C. N., Ratnayake, H. U. W., & Naidu, S. (2016). Peer-facilitated discussions to enhance OER-based e-learning. Asian Association of Open Universities Journal, 11(1), 90–104. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAOUJ-07-2016-0022

Kiefer, S. M., Alley, K. M., & Ellerbrock, C. R. (2015). Teacher and peer support for young adolescents’ motivation, engagement, and school belonging. RMLE Online, 38(8), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/19404476.2015.11641184

Kline, R. (2005). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (2nd ed.). Guilford.

Kulal, A., & Nayak, A. (2020). A study on perception of teachers and students toward online classes in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi District. Asian Association of Open Universities Journal, 15(3), 285–296. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAOUJ-07-2020-0047

Laurillard, D., Derrick, J., & Doel, M. (2016). Building digital skills in the FE sector: Future of skills and lifelong learning. Government Office for Science, London.

Leifler, E. (2020). Teachers’ capacity to create inclusive learning environments. International Journal for Lesson and Learning Studies, 9(3), 221–244. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLLS-01-2020-0003

Leino Lindell, T. (2020). Teachers calling for organizational support to digitalize teaching. International Journal of Information and Learning Technology, 37(5), 323–339. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJILT-02-2020-0017

Lindberg, O. J., Olofsson, A. D., & Fransson, G. (2017). Same but different? An examination of Swedish upper secondary school teachers’ and students’ views and use of ICT in education. International Journal of Information and Learning Technology, 34(2), 122–132. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJILT-09-2016-0043

Mishra, L., Gupta, T., & Shree, A. (2020). Online teaching-learning in higher education during lockdown period of COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Educational Research Open, 1, 100012. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedro.2020.100012

Muirhead, W. D. (2000). Online education in schools. International Journal of Educational Management, 14(7), 315–324. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513540010378969

Nadkarni, S., & Prügl, R. (2021). Digital transformation: A review, synthesis and opportunities for future research. Management Review Quarterly, 71(2), 233–341. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11301-020-00185-7

Naidu, S. (2006). E-learning: A guidebook of principles, procedures and practices. Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia. http://cemca.org.in/ckfinder/userfiles/files/e-learning_guidebook.pdf

Öncül, G. (2020). Defining the need: Digital literacy skills for first-year university students. Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, 13(4), 925–943. https://doi.org/10.1108/JARHE-06-2020-0179

Parry, S. (2018). Fit indices commonly reported for CFA and SEM. Cornell Statistical Consulting Unit, Cornell University. https://www.cscu.cornell.edu/news/Handouts/SEM_fit.pdf

Rizvi, Y. S., & Nabi, A. (2021). Transformation of learning from real to virtual: An exploratory-descriptive analysis of issues and challenges. Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning, 14(1), 5–17. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIT-10-2020-0052

Salleh, S. (2016). Examining the influence of teachers’ beliefs towards technology integration in classroom. International Journal of Information and Learning Technology, 33(1), 17–35. http://doi.org/10.1108/IJILT-10-2015-0032

Sarea, A., Alhadrami, A., & Taufiq-Hail, G. A.-M. (2021). COVID-19 and digitizing accounting education: Empirical evidence from GCC. PSU Research Review, 5(1), 68–83. https://doi.org/10.1108/PRR-10-2020-0034

Sarker, M. F. H., Mahmud, R. A., Islam, M. S., & Islam, M. K. (2019). Use of e-learning at higher educational institutions in Bangladesh: Opportunities and challenges. Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, 11(2), 210–223. https://doi.org/10.1108/JARHE-06-2018-0099

Sunarjo, E., (2021). Why digital and information literacy are so important to education? https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/news-and-press-releases/why-digital-and-information-literacy-are-so-important-education

Tamm, L., Duncan, A., Vaughn, A., McDale, R., Estell, N., Birnschein, A., & Crosby, L. (2019). Academic needs in middle school: Perspectives of parents and youth with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 50(9), 3126–3139. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-019-03995-1

Tan, C. (2021). The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on student learning performance from the perspectives of community of inquiry. Corporate Governance, 21(6), 1215–1228. https://doi.org/10.1108/CG-09-2020-0419

Tejedor, S., Cervi, L., Pérez-Escoda, A., & Jumbo, F. T. (2020). Digital literacy and higher education during COVID-19 lockdown: Spain, Italy, and Ecuador. Publications, 8(4), 48. https://doi.org/10.3390/publications8040048

Timperley, H., Wilson, A., & Fung, I. (2007). Teacher professional learning and development: Best evidence synthesis iteration (BES). Ministry of Education.

Tuamsuk, K., & Subramaniam, M. (2017). The current state and influential factors in the development of digital literacy in Thailand’s higher education. Information and Learning Science, 118(5/6), 235–251. https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-11-2016-0076

Xia, J., Fielder, J., & Siragusa, L. (2013). Achieving better peer interaction in online discussion forums: A reflective practitioner case study. Issues in Educational Research, 23(1), 97–113. http://www.iier.org.au/iier23/xia.pdf

Yassin, A. A., Razak, N. A., Saeed, M. A., Al-Maliki, M. A. A., & Al-Habies, F. A. (2021). Psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on local and international students in Malaysian universities. Asian Education and Development Studies, 10(4), 574–586. https://doi.org/10.1108/AEDS-05-2020-0098

Zia, A. (2020). Exploring factors influencing online classes due to social distancing in COVID-19 pandemic: A business students perspective. International Journal of Information and Learning Technology, 37(4), 197–211. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJILT-05-2020-0089