Designing a Competency Model for Digital Marketing Managers with Thematic Analysis Method

The Internet, social media, mobile applications, and other digital communication technologies have become part of the daily lives of people around the world. According to recent statistics published in January 2020, 4.54 billion people worldwide are active Internet users, encompassing 59 percent of the world population. Due to the importance of digital marketing for organizations and the critical role of digital marketing managers, the purpose of the present study was to design the competency model of digital marketing managers. This research was applied in terms of purpose. The research was conducted using the thematic analysis method. The sampling used in this study was cluster and snowball sampling methods. Data collection tools were in-depth interviews with digital marketing managers and experts (in fields such as IT, Internet retail, digital media, ICT, electronic learning, etc.). A total of 17 interviews were conducted until the theoretical saturation was achieved. After collecting data, the written interview codes were analyzed. The findings of the study (after conducting the three stages of open, axial, and selective coding) indicated that digital marketing managers’ competency model was formed with 114 codes and 26 concepts in three categories including technical-specialized competencies, human-behavioral competencies, and analytical competencies. The final model could provide valuable suggestions for designing recruitment systems, conducting needs assessment, redefining performance appraisal system, optimizing career path management system, etc.