Results and Discussions

4.1 Results of pilot research

4.1.1 The reliability and validity of questionnaire

The overall reliability of the questionnaire was good, with a Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient of .914. Regarding the validity, the research contents were revised through three times Delphi Technique by business owners, engineers and department directors in printing companies and the questionnaire also were checked by expert meeting to set up the content validity.

4.1.2 Analysis of survey results of pilot study

The identification and cultivation of professionals’ cross-domain employability related to E-Business is an important research issue for the printing industry in present-day Taiwan. The cross-domain employability of printing industry professionals has been obtained by induction and expressed in terms of eight main indicators and 24 sub-indicators as shown in Table 2. The researchers utilized the pretest and three times Delphi method to obtain 8 indicators and 24 sub-indicators. The image-processing ability, pre-press network integration ability, business operation ability, production/manufacturing ability and editing/design ability are related to E-Business, because all these jobs needed to use computers, networks while working in the company all the time. During the last decades, research and development (R&D) activities have become substantial parts of innovation research to explain the innovation ability and competiveness of sectors and enterprises (Santamaria, Nieto, & Barge-gil, 2009). The innovation ability becomes the necessity ability in many companies. The teamwork and work attitude belong to the attitudes of Mentkoski’s competencies, however all these two abilities are the vital employability in the printing

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Table 2. Analysis of survey results of pilot study Analysis of opinions

Regarding the printing industry

 90.9% considered the printing industry as a high-tech industry;

 64.2% considered it impossible for the printing industry to be replaced by multimedia and disappear;

 63.6% believed the printing technology must gradually upgrade and transform itself;

38.8% considered the development of professional certification for printing to be of substantial use for production;

 90% believed R&D ability ought to be strengthened;

 83.6% believed that Taiwan’s printing technology industry is too small to reach economy of scale for cost reduction.

Regarding the professionals

 96% believed that the reason printing professionals are not easily available is that school teaching does not match industry needs;

 94.6% found that schools and universities offer too few professional courses in printing related to E-Business, resulting in graduates having difficulties getting connected to the real work and having much less professional know-how than expected by employers;

 76.3% considered the professional skills required for the printing industry are excessively complex and that professionals need to have cross-domain employability;

 92.8% considered the working environment not good enough to attract professionals.

Cross-domain employability (indicators and sub-indicators)

 Image-processing ability (color correction skill, color management, software application);

 Innovation ability (innovative design, innovation/R&D, creative application);

 Pre-press network integration ability (E-Business, network application, remote transmission, computer maintenance/repair);

Business operation ability (business planning, printing-related foreign language skill, commercial estimating);

 Editing/design ability (type/typesetting, multimedia production, aesthetic drawing);

 Production/manufacturing ability (printing press machine operation, CTP plate operation, job scheduling);

 Work attitude (dedication to work, professional ethics, enthusiasm for learning);

 Teamwork (problem-solving ability, communication/coordination ability, ability to react instantly to emergency).

4.1.3 E-Business chains key printing competence-based

In response to the needs of the future development of the printing industry, the professional work areas in which cross-domain employability related to E-Business is required for printing professionals are, by order of importance: screen printing, fast printing, package printing, industrial printing, special printing, cultural printing, and electronic printing. An examination of the

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requirements of cross-domain employability for these areas shows the predominance of professional competences, which implies that the respondents still place great importance on the cultivation of professional capabilities, and that they value employees’ professional performance, using it as a measure of the value represented by them within corporate organizations. This shows that the competence-based concept is concretely realized in the production activities of printing businesses.

4.1.4 New path of printing courses in Taiwan printing industry

The survey results obtained at the level of science and technology universities shows that the courses that may serve to cultivate students’ cross-domain employability related to E-Business are, by order of degree of need: general introduction to printing integration, color management, design printing, remote network application, image process, printing production management, innovation/R&D, printing cost estimation and planning, mechanical application, materials application, and information equipment maintenance and repair. There can be positive aspects to this ambiguity, if these students acquire the tools that are needed to continue to learn (Baily, 2002), and have not shut off too many possible paths by their failure to decide and prepare.

It can be observed that courses related to professional areas like planning, design, production, management, application, maintenance/repair, and innovation/R&D are of concrete needs to Taiwan’s printing industry. However, “education for all” does not equal “employment for all”

(Palmer, 2007) and the issue of how to further match classroom courses with the competences required for cross-domain employability so as to optimize course planning and design will be another important research area.

4.2 Results of pilot research and AHP analysis 4.2.1. Description of samples

Among the valid recovered samples, males represented 69.7%, far above the female percentage of 30.3%. The 31- to 50-years old represented the largest age group. As to the category of printing services, those belonging to industries related to printing came out at the top with a whopping 78.9%. The other most represented groups are: in terms of job titles, business owners and technical production staff; in terms of seniority, those who have worked for 16-20 years in the industry (the vast majority of all respondents having a seniority of over 3 years); and in terms of business size, those with 21-50 employees. The details are shown in Table 3.

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Table 3. Description of samples

N Percentage Accumulated percentage Age

distribution

21-30 years old 15 19.7 19.7

31-40 years old 24 31.6 51.3

41-50 years old 24 31.6 82.9

51-60 years old 9 11.8 94.7

Above 61 years old 4 5.3 100.0

Total 76 100.0

Category of work

Printing-related industries 60 78.9 78.9 Electronics-related industries 11 14.5 93.4

Education-related industries 1 1.3 94.7

Other industries 4 5.3 100.0

Total 76 100.0

List of job titles

Person in charge 14 18.4 18.4

(Vice) General manager 8 10.5 28.9

(Vice) Manager 6 7.9 36.8

(Vice) factory director 4 5.3 42.1

Director (Section chief) 9 11.8 53.9

Business personnel 8 10.5 64.5

Technical production personnel 16 21.1 85.5 General administrative personnel 1 1.3 86.8

Technology colleges 1 1.3 88.2

General universities 2 2.6 90.8

Professional training institutions 6 7.9 98.7

Others 1 1.3 100.0

Total 76 100.0

Seniority distribution

Under 3 years 15 19.7 19.7

3-5 years 8 10.5 30.2

6-10 years 13 17.1 47.3

11-15 years 11 14.5 61.8

16-20 years 16 21.1 82.9

Over 20 years 13 17.1 100.0

Total 76 100.0

4.2.2. Analysis of the results of the AHP

4.2.2.1 Construction of an AHP pairwise matrix schema

Based on the cross-domain employability indicators of E-Business obtained from the results of the pilot research, an AHP pairwise matrix was constructed (as in Figure 3) to be used as the basis for the compilation of the AHP questionnaire.

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