Training in Digital Skills—The Perspective of Workers in Public Sector

Digital transformation can become a complex process when workers have insufficient skills, which makes training in the digital field essential. Herein, we intend to relate the digital literacy perceived by workers with their training needs for the Portuguese public sector context. Additionally, based on the Human capital theory, we also investigate which professional/demographic characteristics increase training propensity in digital fields. Through an online questionnaire, a dataset with information on 573 workers was obtained. The data analysis was made by using a probabilistic regression model and additional statistical techniques. The results revealed that workers with higher levels of education and higher professional skills have higher probability of participating in training in the digital field. On average, workers reveal low levels of digital knowledge (2.7 in a 1–5 scale) and low participation in training in the digital fields (72% of the sample had no training over the last two years), but the majority present a willingness to participate in future training sessions, especially in the fields of Dataset management, Cybersecurity and Communication systems. This study provides information on training in the digital field of public workers, which is essential for public organizations to better prepare for digital transformation. Additionally, it contributes to a very recent literature on digital learning, and it can be extended to other contexts.