EXPLORING SKILLS NEEDED FOR DISRUPTIVE DIGITAL BUSINESS

Research Purpose – In today’s disruptive digital business era, many new business models, such as digital start-ups, have emerged, and this phenomenon needs workers with particular skills. The aims of this preliminary empirical research paper are to explore and identify the skills needed for disruptive digital business in the Indonesian context, particularly in the Jakarta region. Design/methodology/approach – This qualitative study conducted semi-structured interviews with ten respondents from various types of Indonesian start-ups, such as unicorn start-up, financial technology and education technology, that have been in operation four to 12 years. The interviews were based on five core questions with the purpose of exploring respondents’ experience regarding skills needed and challenges faced at work in disruptive digital business. Observation was conducted at the Education Technology start-up office located in Jakarta with an aim to investigate workplace environment, and triangulation was used to validate the interviews’ results. Findings – The results show that (1) innovativeness, (2) leadership skills, (3) social interaction, (4) initiative mindsets, (5) self-disruption, (6) critical thinking, (7) management, and (8) analytical thinking are eight pivotal skills identified for managing disruptive digital business. 84 Exploring Skills Needed for Disruptive . . . . . Vol. 28, No. 3 December 2020 © Centre for Indonesian Accounting and Management Research Postgraduate Program, Brawijaya University Practical implications – Innovativeness, leadership and social interaction are the top three skills that are essential for actors in Indonesian digital start-ups to have competitive advantages in this disruptive digital business era. Original/value – This paper explores skills needed for the disruptive digital era in an Indonesian context.


INTRODUCTION
Education and skill of the workforce are among the four pillars of a knowledge-based economy (World Bank Institute, 2008). The term "skill" is used to refer to individual abilities, a concept has been widely studied before by Lawler (1992), Brian and Barry (1998), Kun and Weinberger (2005), Ngang and Chan (2015) and Laar et al. (2020).
Skills are considered as resourcesindividual and organizational traitsthat will enable organizations to have competitive advantage and productivity (Sousa and Rocha, 2017).
Skills are embedded in every employee and become an organization's intangible resources. Every organization is obliged to continually sharpen and improve its employee skills because advanced employee skills show how an organization also learns and grows together, which is ultimately useful for achieving company goals. Because the business market has changed, skills development has become essential as a strategic management tool to cope with the turbulent and uncertain business environment (Nyhan, 1998).
(1) Technical skills, which consist of knowledge about methods, system, rules and structure; (2) Human relations, which consist of knowledge about human behaviour and group processes; and (3) Conceptual skills, which consist of analytical ability, inductive and deductive reasoning.
Meanwhile, Colombo et al. (2019) identified some skills for the labour market of the future are: (1) Hard skills, which consist of information brokerage skills, basic ICT skills, management ICT skills; and (2) Soft skills, which consist of thinking skills, social interaction, application of knowledge, attitudes and values.
In this research, we focus on exploring both the hard and soft skills needed in Indonesian digital start-ups. The term "soft skills" refers to personal attributes that are important to enhance an individual's interaction (Hendarman and Tjakraatmadja, 2012), and "hard skills" refer to an individual's ability to perform on the job and frequently involve activities of knowledge acquisition (Rainsbury et al., 2002). Thus, in the context of Indonesian digital start-ups in the disruptive era, we see both hard and skills are essential.

Disruptive
This section of the literature review shows the exploration of disruptive terms from previous research. Schuelke-Leech (2017) stated that disruptive technologies are closely

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related to innovation. The terms "disruptive technology" or "disruptive innovation" started with Schumpeter (1934), Tarde (1969) and Rogers (2003), and then Christensen (1997) published The Innovator's Dilemma. Organizations and business owners today must realise that disruptive technologies will create the winners and the losers in addition to many changes. Disruptive technologies are identified with several conditions: (1) Emerging IT, such as the boom of the internet, mobile technologies, artificial intelligence, big data, and robotics, are potentially causing changes in organizations and society (Sousa and Rocha, 2017;Vasconcelos et al., 2017); (2) When an organization focuses on the Internet of Things, then it will have the possibility of sharing equipment, network system, devices, and information using an internet communication protocol (Guinard et al., 2011); (3) Cloud technology is a model that allows access to an omnipresent network upon request from a shared pool such as servers and storage (Chard et al., 2010); (4) Big data, which is a phenomenon that has potential value for the development of new management techniques and analysis (Sousa and Rocha, 2017); and (5) Artificial intelligence, a computer system development that has the ability to do tasks that require human intelligence and has numerous applications in industry (Thompson and Miller, 2018).
In this paper, we focus on how the disruptive era has changed the nature of business and work. Therefore, we intended to explore what specific skills are needed to manage a business in this disruptive era.

Digital Business
The concept of business model is helpful to gain a deeper understanding of the business logic of a company by explaining how value is created, delivered and captured (Remane et al., 2017). The digital business model is a business model categorised as such due to the digital technologies that trigger fundamental changes in these value dimensions (Scallmo, et al., 2017). Digital business has three unique characteristics: (1) Digital products and services can be reproduced, becoming exponentially more valuable as more users join i.e., Instagram, Facebook (Varian,1999); (2) In digital business, value is determined when already in use by customers i.e., online learning, mobile payment (Vargo and Lusch, 2008); and (3) Digital business models rely on a digital platform to benefit from the ecosystem they build (Lansiti and Levien, 2004).
In this research, we use digital start-up as representative of digital business.
Start-up refers to an organization formed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model (Blank, 2010), whereas digital start-up is a business model that uses a digital platform to do all its business operation.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY/APPROACH
To answer the research question, we use a qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews with ten respondents equipped with an ethics statement and consent form. This qualitative research involves working with rich data, such as journals, articles, regional and international news, in-depth interviews, and observation, which allows researchers to construct a new understanding of the underlying social reality and phenomenon (Sale et Vol. 28 al., 2002). According to Newing (2011), the strength of qualitative interviews is in providing background information and context, generating ideas and providing in-depth information on each participant's views, perspectives and motivations. We conducted qualitative semi-structured interviews and observation with aim to better understand and explore what kind of skills are needed by actors who work at digital start-ups in Indonesia.   Figure 1, we selected respondents from three types of digital start-ups, which are digital marketplace (Indonesian unicorn's start-up), education technology and financial technology, have been operating between four and 12 years, and all are located in Jakarta. We chose digital start-ups in the Jakarta region as research objects because this region has the largest number of start-ups in Indonesia (MIKTI, 2018). Table 1 shows the list of the ten respondents and their start-up's profiles.  We aimed to explore and gain insight from their experiences and perspectives regarding what hard skills and, particularly, soft skills are needed at work in digital startups as a form of disruptive digital business. For these reasons, we chose respondents that have work experiences at digital start-ups from one year two months to 12 years.
Furthermore, we intended to explore how respondents deal with disruptive digital business since their first year and what skills they used to manage that condition.
Meanwhile, the observation was conducted at an education technology start-up office located in Jakarta on April 18 th, 2019, with the aim of investigating the work and social environment at the digital start-up. Saunders et al. (2016) state that a validity test is an essential for appropriateness of the measures researchers use, the accuracy of the analysis of the results, and generalizability of the findings. In order to validate the accuracy of the interview results, we used triangulation. In triangulation, "The researcher makes use of multiple and different sources, methods, investigators, and theories to provide corroborating evidence" (Creswell, 2013 p. 251).
Once we finished the semi-structured interviews, we performed triangulation by discussing the results of the in-depth interview transcripts and crosschecked with the president of the educational technology start-up as his superior to gain insight. The president of the education technology start-up also ensured quality and helped with checking between transcripts and implementation. Triangulation was also conducted by insight gained from the CEO of the digital marketplace (Indonesian unicorn) when he The International Journal of Accounting and Business Society

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Postgraduate Program, Brawijaya University 93 shared knowledge and a question and answer session at a Knowledge Café event at SBM-ITB on Saturday, July 27th, 2019. The analysis and interpretation of interview results will be discussed in the findings and conclusion session.

FINDINGS
This study aimed to explore and identify what skills are needed for disruptive digital business in the Indonesian context, particularly in the Jakarta region. Ten respondents answered and shared their experiences regarding skills that are used to support daily work and job performance along with challenges they face working at digital start-ups in this disruptive era. We analysed all the verbatim responses and had several codings. Eight themes emerged: (1) critical thinking, (2) self-disruption, (3) leadership skills, (4) analytical thinking, (5) management skills, (6) innovativeness, (7) social interaction skills, and (8) initiative mindsets.
Among the ten respondents, critical thinking skill was mentioned by Tutor Manager (having 18 subordinates with three years' work experience at the education technology start-up) as one of the essential skills required in the digital business of education.

"For my position as Tutor Manager, I really need critical thinking skills, analytical thinking, scientific reasoning, and also I need managing people skills because I must manage and organize many tutors as my subordinates." -SY, Tutor Manager. May 2019
In an education technology start-up, having strong critical thinking is essential because the ability to think rationally is the core of the digital education business.

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This skill is unique and was stated by the founder of the Indonesian unicorn startup. Self-disruption refers to skills possessed by open-minded employees, who do not like the comfort zone and are accustomed to looking for new ideas to give more value to the work they do.
"I always encourage my team to do self-disruption. It means they should have a mindset that there is something to be disrupted or change to be better and not live in a comfort zone." -AZ, CEO, July 2019 Two of the ten respondents acknowledged that self-disruption is one of the critical soft skills for managing a disruptive digital business in order to obtain company competitiveness.

"What I like the most about working at a digital marketplace is everyone has passion to generate an idea and make positive change." -LT, Product Category Senior Manager, March 2019
A similar experience about self-disruptive ability was shared by the senior managerial at another digital marketplace (Indonesian unicorn). Always creating a fresh idea and delivering positive change in their everyday work seems to be a pivotal soft skill for a digital start-up in the unicorn category. (

3) Leadership skills
Four of the ten respondents shared how important leadership skills are in digital start-ups. A senior manager at the digital marketplace (Indonesian unicorn) who has six subordinates admitted that leadership skills are important to managing a team. One of digital start-up characteristics is remote working, and relevant with Blank (2010), who stated that a start-up is a temporary organization that tries to find a business model that is repeatable and scalable. Thus, in this phase, all of the digital start-up's employees should have the ability to manage and lead themselves to achieve the company's goal.
(4) Analytical thinking The ability to examine anything that relates to daily work and problems in detailed systematic information was also mentioned by the respondent at an education technology start-up who usually deals with the project and meets what the client needs.

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The ability to the do plan-do-check-act cycle is also important and needed in digital start-ups. In particular, this hard skill becomes a pre-requisite for managers and Clevels to manage their teams.

(6) Innovativeness
Six of the ten respondents acknowledged that innovativeness is a vital skill needed by a digital start-up in any stage. A senior manager at a digital marketplace We also found from the interview results that employees from all levelsstaff level, supervisor, manager, senior manager and C-levelall shared that working at digital start-ups requires innovativeness skills. The innovations they mentioned not only gave birth to ideas that make products or services that can meet the needs and desires of the community, but also include innovating in everyday work to be more effective and efficient, such as shared by technical talent acquisition at the financial technology startup mentioned above.

(7) Social interaction skills
This soft skill, which shows an individual's ability to have effective communication and interaction in his/her community, was mentioned by three of ten respondents at this research. From the interview results, we learned a lower-level management representative, an HR generalist at the financial technology start-up, admitted that a novice worker at digital start-up must be able to bring him/herself.

"Besides having initiative and leadership skills, I think we should be active and confident working at a digital start-up" -OL, HR Generalist, August 2019
We analyse that good communication and coordination in formal and informal contexts are also important in one team and across teams.

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"I see that many potential employees still have a lack of confidence, so they should boost their self-confidence level, and they will become greater…" -AZ, Chief Executive Officer, July 2019 From the interview results, we found that many employees of digital start-ups have an outstanding hard skill in fulfilling their tasks, but they also face a lack of selfconfidence. These phenomena were explored by the founder of a digital marketplace (Indonesian unicorn) and become constructive opportunities for academicians, schools and universities to provide suitable syllabus and learning models to meet this skill need.

(8) Initiative mindset
Two of the ten respondents acknowledge that having a mindset to take action without their superior's instruction is an important skill needed at digital start-ups.

"Initiative is very pivotal, because initiative comes from employees and leaders. When employees have initiative. and leaders drive them...much more ideas will emerge, and this is creating innovation for this company" -LT, Product Category Senior Manager, March 2019 "I encourage myself and my team to have initiative mindsets because fresh ideas come from initiative…" -ACA, Social Media Manager, June 2019
We found that an initiative mindset is an asset and becomes an innovation driver for all employee levels because, from this soft skill, more fresh ideas will develop that could be commercialised by the company if feasible.

CONCLUSIONS
In summary, to answer the research question about what are skills needed to manage disruptive digital business in Indonesia context, this research presents evidence that there are eight skills needed to manage a disruptive digital business in Indonesia.
They require both soft skills, which consist of innovativeness, leadership, social The International Journal of Accounting and Business Society

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Postgraduate Program, Brawijaya University 99 interaction, initiative mindset, self-disruption, and critical thinking, and 2) hard skills, which consist of management skills and analytical thinking. This result was supported and relevant to previous study regarding skills needed in the future, which are information brokerage skills, basic ICT skills and management skills as part of the hard skills set, and social interaction, thinking skills and applications of knowledge as a soft skills set (Colombo et al.,2019).
From the results, we also found that soft skills sets are more needed in digital start-ups, where, based on the results of coding and themes, we found that innovativeness is the priority and was widely reported by six of the ten respondents. In the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the word "innovativeness" is defined as the quality of being innovative. We conclude from the interview transcripts that innovativeness skill is an employee's ability to be innovative in their jobs. This is not only about creating a new product or service; it also includes innovation for work process to be more effective and efficient. This result also supported and related to Ortiz-Villajos and Sotoca (2017), which acknowledges that there is a positive and significant relationship between innovation and business survival. Furthermore, we found in Indonesian disruptive digital business that innovation is not only vital for business survival, but innovativeness becomes a significant driver for the growth of digital start-ups, as stated by one respondent (president of the education technology start-up).
Leadership skill is second in the priority skills that referred by respondents. We conclude that leadership skill is the ability to lead oneself to achieve better job performance and to lead and help other employees achieve goals. This result supported

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and is relevant to previous research that leadership skill is one of the essential skills needed to manage a digital business (Sousa and Rocha, 2017).
We found that social interaction skill with all stakeholders is the third soft skill as referenced by three of ten respondents. We conclude that social interaction skills have a pivotal role in building and maintaining the digital start-up ecosystem in today's sharing economy. Botsman and Roger (2011) (3) social interaction. We also found specific skills named "selfdisruptive" skills. Because digital start-up includes a mindset of survival and entrepreneurism, having self-disruptive mindset is an advantage for business growth. We conclude that a self-disruptive mindset and an execution to do something better and bravery to change oneself to be a better person are vital in this context.
Finally, we acknowledge that this preliminary result needs to be followed up with further research. Thus, we suggest future research could expand research object to another region of Indonesia regarding holistic results and add focus group discussion to The International Journal of Accounting and Business Society

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Postgraduate Program, Brawijaya University 101 collect primary data. Future research could also examine the effectiveness of selfdisruptive skills to accelerate digital start-up innovation.

Appendix 1. Relevant questions from semi-structure interview:
Q1. Respondents profiles, such as; name, age, how long been working, job position, job description, does have subordinates or not?
Q2. "Could you share your experiences about skill used to support daily's work and to achieve your job performance?".
Q3. "Could you share your experiences about the challenges you face while working at digital startups?".
Q4. "How about your comment and suggestion regarding skills that needed in digital startups?".
Q5. "Is there any innovation that you create?" if "yes" answer, "How about the process to create your innovation?", "What skills you needed to create innovation in your work?".

Respondent 1
Name