Establishing Competency Development Evaluation Systems and Talent Cultivation Strategies for the Service Industry Using the Hybrid MCDM Approach

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The flow of writing needs to be improved. There is a need to have a brief statement or explanation when reporting or discussing research finding from another research which meant to provide its position I the context of this article interest. A brief explanation on why this research relevant and significance in the context of this article is suggested to be provided. There are a lot of interesting information and research findings have been shared, however, there are lack of explanation how these relevant especially in the context of coffee operators’ competency which is the focus of this article.

The article needs to be improved in terms of the structure, and the way its presented. It is suggested to be written in sections such as Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Results and Discussion, and Conclusion. This will provide a clear presentation on what is the author attempt to deliver through this article. For examples the Introduction might be the platform for the authors to provide an overview on the current issues related to the Coffee operators competency which provide the rationale why this research and article is significance to the readers. While in the Literature review, the authors might use the platform to provide all the facts and figures from the literatures or previous  study which related to the issues raised which then will clarify why the research aims is justified.

It is also suggested to improve the way how the methodology being reported by having a Methodology Section. The authors did explain in brief why certain method e.g DEMATEL being used in this study by highlighting a few previous research which has been using this approach. However, it is suggested to put them in a table form which will be more presentable in providing all the necessary related information. The methodology section could also become the platform to concisely explain how the methods being applied in this study. This will provide a better understanding when later reading the findings report.

As for the Conclusion and Suggestion Section, it is probably to put some of the content if appropriate in the Discussion section. The conclusion section should provide  precise, and concise concluding remarks on what has been done, what has been achieved, and what’s next.

Overall, I would suggest the authors to restructure the way how the article being presented to provide a clear flow on what is attempt to be delivered through this article.

Specific comments:

page 2 para 3 --- the author(s) intention to highlight and discuss about public relations practitioners’ role and competencies is quite clear due to current roles of coffee related service providers which require certain public relation skills or competencies to enable them deals appropriately, and accordingly with the customers expectation. However, the discussion in page 3 para 2 need some explanation on how it related to context of this research interest.

  -Explain why research in the hospitality and tourism is significance to this study? How it is related especially regarding to the competency of the coffee service operators?

Page 3 para 1 --- What are that new information and how this related to the context of this article?

Page 3 para 2 --- In related to coffee operators, what might be the 'justice' and 'ethic' issues that could be involved related to indigenous context?

                          --- How might indigenous aspect would influence the types of skills/competencies which might needed by the coffee operators?

                           --- ….. ‘So, the study explores the teaching -focused UIC’s’What does it mean? Please elaborate.

Page 3 para 2 last sentence --- Please elaborate further especially in relation to all of these with teacing-focused universities? What does the author(s) want to deliver from this statement?

Page 3 para 3 --- ‘The quality of employee today is uneven’ – Does it mean, because there is no standard reference for the type of competencies which should be acquired by them? Or there is another reason ragrding this?

Page 4 para 3 Sect 2.1 --- Please include a brief explanation of the current situation of Professional Skills amongst Coffee Operators before discussing this aspect from the perspective of Hospitality sector in order to provide context or relationship between them.

 Page 4 para 3 Sect 2.1 line 10 --- This is referring another study which different from the one that conducted at the South Eastern United States? If that so, it is suggested to provide a brief explanation about this other research.

Page 4 para 3 Sect 2.1 line 11 --- In brief, how do you put these multi-cultural team performance and cross cultural competency in relation to coffee operators competency? How does they related?

Page 5 para 1 line 9 --- How do you put this in the context of coffee operators' perspective?

Page 4 para 3 Sect 2.2 --- Please include a brief explanation of the current situation of Professional Knowledge amongst Coffee Operators before discussing this aspect from the perspective of Chef in Hospitality industry.

Page 4 para 4 Sect 2.2 line 3 --- the statement is referring to which study?

Page 6 para 2 line 12 --- How might we potentially put IR4.0 in the context of Coffee Operators competency development requirement?

Page 6 para 3 Sect 2.3 line 6 --- Which study is exactly referred to?

Page 7 para 2 --- How do you put all these information and research findings in relation to the coffee operators' context. How significance are they to the coffee operators?

Page 8 para 2 --- Table 1 seems does not align with the statement given here?

Page 9 Sect 3.1 --- It is suggested to put all the information in a table

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Q1: The flow of writing needs to be improved. There is a need to have a brief statement or explanation when reporting or discussing research findings from another research that is meant to provide its position in the context of this article's interest. A brief explanation of why this research is relevant and significant in the context of this article is suggested to be provided. There are a lot of interesting information and research findings have been shared, however, there is a lack of explanation of how these relevant, especially in the context of coffee operators’ competency which is the focus of this article. 

Responses1: 

Thank you very much for the detailed and profound reading of the manuscript as well as for your time and willingness to improve the quality and clarity of the paper.

The study has already modified the sections of the literature review and introduction on pages 1~10.

Q2: The article needs to be improved in terms of the structure, and the way it's presented. It is suggested to be written in sections such as Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Results and Discussion, and Conclusion. This will provide a clear presentation of what is the author attempt to deliver through this article. For example, the Introduction might be the platform for the authors to provide an overview of the current issues related to the Coffee operator's competency which provides the rationale why this research and article is significant to the readers. While in the Literature review, the authors might use the platform to provide all the facts and figures from the literature or previous study related to the issues raised which then will clarify why the research aims is justified. 

Responses 2:  

Thank you very much for the detailed and profound reading of the manuscript as well as for your time and willingness to improve the quality and clarity of the paper. The study has already modified the sections of the literature review on pages 4~10.

Q3 :  It is also suggested to improve the way how the methodology is being reported by having a Methodology Section. The authors did explain in brief why certain method e.g DEMATEL being used in this study by highlighting a few previous research which has been using this approach. However, it is suggested to put them in a table form which will be more presentable in providing all the necessary related information. The methodology section could also become the platform to concisely explain how the methods being applied in this study. This will provide a better understanding when later reading the findings report.

Responses 3:

Thank you very much for the detailed and profound reading of the manuscript as well as for your time and willingness to improve the quality and clarity of the paper. The study has already modified the section of the Introduction on pages 3~4.

Because coffee practitioners still lack the cultivation and training system of coffee professional competence, the quality of coffee employees today is uneven. This study analyzes the coffee service industry's professional competency needs and competency development status. It identifies four aspects (professional skills, professional knowledge, self-efficacy, and personal characteristics) of the competency development based on expert interviews and literature review. The study uses the DEMATEL (Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory) approach to analyze professional competency and determine the driving forces of critical competency development. Besides, the study also obtains the principal component based on the PCA (principal component analysis) approach and uses the ANP (analytic network process) approach to determine the components' weights. Then, the VIKOR (Vlse kriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje) approach can be applied to professional competency development for the coffee service industry. This study surveys four styles of coffee service businesses (international chain coffee, convenience store coffee, global brand chain coffee, and domestic chain coffee). The results can aid stakeholders (service providers, industrial practitioners, customers) in understanding competency development for coffee service businesses and by proposing competency development strategies for coffee service businesses through their competitive advantages of professional competency. The proposed model can aid the stakeholders in identifying critical factors and determining suitable development strategies for coffee service businesses based on their competency development status using the NRM (network relation map) approach. 

Q4 :  As for the Conclusion and Suggestion Section, it is probably to put some of the content if appropriate in the Discussion section. The conclusion section should provide precise, and concise concluding remarks on what has been done, what has been achieved, and what’s next. Overall, I would suggest the authors restructure the way how the article is presented to provide a clear flow of what is attempted to be delivered through this article. 

Responses 4: 

Thank you very much for the detailed and profound reading of the manuscript as well as for your time and willingness to improve the quality and clarity of the paper. The study has already modified the section of the Conclusions and recommendations on pages 32~35.

Q5: 

Specific comments:

page 2 para 3 --- the author(s) intention to highlight and discuss public relations practitioners’ roles and competencies is quite clear due to the current roles of coffee-related service providers which require certain public relations skills or competencies to enable them to deal appropriately, and accordingly with the customer's expectation. However, the discussion on page 3 para 2 needs some explanation on how it related to the context of this research interest.

Responses 5: 

Thank you very much for the detailed and profound reading of the manuscript as well as for your time and willingness to improve the quality and clarity of the paper. The study has already increased some explanations in the section of the literature review on page 2.

Coffee practitioners need to handle customers' various needs and complaints, so strengthening the core competencies of public relations becomes more critical for coffee practitioners. Therefore, A growing body of research has analyzed the role of public relations practitioners and conceptualizes the body of knowledge needed by public relations practitioners. These studies try to find critical competencies or behaviors for the public relations practitioners’ role, but systematic studies of the core competencies are still lacking. Researchers try to find the core competencies through the depth interviews with the 17 top UK communicators. The study identified ten behaviors or core competencies for senior communication practitioners in publicly held companies and the public sector's ten core competencies for those communication practitioners. The study analyzed core competencies and identified future research directions for competency development of public relations practitioners [1]. 

Q6: Explain why research in hospitality and tourism is significant to this study? How it is related especially to the competency of the coffee service operators? Page 3 para 1 --- What is that new information and how is this related to the context of this article?

Responses 6: 

The study has already increased some explanations in the section of the literature review on page 2.

The coffee service industry is part of the hospitality service industry, so the coffee practitioners need to own the professional knowledge and skill in hospitality service. The study of tourism and hospitality management internships explored these cooperative education experiences to complement students’ learning and enhance integrated competence and knowledge. Researchers analyzed the relationship between previous knowledge and internship experience and explored the internship experience with regard to increasing students’ new skills and enhancing the link between academic theories and practical application. The study adopted a mixed methodology to evaluate the quantitative data based on the 339 questionnaire respondents and examine the qualitative outcomes through the students’ focus groups. The study found that previous knowledge can prepare them for internships, and the classroom discussion can aid their practical experiences in the case of Case University. Besides, the results pointed out that classroom education can increase new competencies and skills that they can use during their internship programs. The research result of Case University also offered new information for further research [3]. 

Q7: Page 3 para 2 --- In relation to coffee operators, what might be the 'justice' and 'ethic' issues that could be involved related to the indigenous context? --- How might the indigenous aspect influence the types of skills/competencies which might need by the coffee operators? 

Responses 7: 

The study has already increased some explanations in the section of the literature review on page 3.

The coffee practitioners need to know the relative coffee knowledge, such as the background of origin sources, the geographical environment of coffee beans, planting style, and fair trade process. The authentic cultural and heritage elements often adapt to develop new tourism destination products. Therefore, the development of new tourism destination products sometimes encounters justice and ethics issues in the indigenous area. Therefore, hospitality and tourism students need to understand indigenous cultural knowledge in the colonial settler country. So, these hospitality and tourism students need to learn about local ways, knowing, being, and developing local indigenous cultural competencies to create a respectful relationship with indigenous populations. This study tried to explore the process of embedding and developing indigenous learning outcomes in a tourism business program and suggested basic principles for planning a more inclusive community engagement process. Canada’s Ontario Confederation College was the leader of indigenous education and established the eco-adventure program and tourism travel in Thunder Bay. Besides, the Ontario Confederation College built a comprehensive vision of institutional transformation through the indigenous learning community and indigenous community engagement [5]. 

Q8: --- ….. ‘So, the study explores the teaching-focused UIC’s’What does it mean? Please elaborate. Page 3 para 2 last sentence --- Please elaborate further, especially in relation to all of these with teaching-focused universities? What does the author(s) want to deliver from this statement?

Responses 8: 

The study has already increased some explanations in the section of the Introduction on page 3.

Practical internship experience can aid the coffee practitioners in understanding the working environment and operation model for various coffee shops/coffee businesses. It can integrate theoretical knowledge and practical experience to solve the real problems of on-site coffee shops/coffee businesses. The UICs (university-industry collaborations) become more and more important for the graduates' employability competencies. So, the study explores the teaching-focused UICs. The study adopts the three-staged mixed-methods to evaluate the critical factors which can influence the employability competencies based on the Indian HEIs (Higher Education Institutes). Researchers analyze the Indian HEIs and their partners through 53 interviews and find the critical factors which facilitate/hinder the teaching-focused UICs. The researchers gathered and tested these factors which influence the HEIs' propensity to form teaching-focused UICs by the Indian HEIs’ websites. The study analyzes the impact on the employability competencies of graduates. The research finding considers that the teaching-focused UIC collaborations with HEIs can enhance the domain-specific employability competencies of UICs programs’ graduates. Besides, industrial embeddedness, academic embeddedness, discipline variety, and HEI's size can enhance UIC participation and industrial collaborations for teaching-focused universities [6]. 

Q9: Page 3 para 3 --- ‘The quality of employee today is uneven’ –Does it mean, because there is no standard reference for the type of competencies which should be acquired by them? Or there is another reason regarding this? 

Responses 9: 

The study has already increased some explanations in the section of the Introduction on page 3.

Because coffee practitioners still lack the cultivation and training system of coffee professional competence, the quality of coffee employees today is uneven. This study analyzes the coffee service industry's professional competency needs and competency development status. It identifies four aspects (professional skills, professional knowledge, self-efficacy, and personal characteristics) of the competency development based on expert interviews and literature review. 

Q10: Page 4 para 3 Sect 2.1 --- Please include a brief explanation of the current situation of Professional Skills amongst Coffee Operators before discussing this aspect from the perspective of the Hospitality sector in order to provide context or relationship between them. 

Responses 10: 

The study has already increased some explanations in the section of the literature review on page 4 .

In the first wave of the coffee revolution in 1940 during World War II, instant coffee and Robusta coffee beans prevailed. Even those coffee beans of poor quality sold like hotcakes. They used low-grade coffee beans to reduce costs, resulting in a mass of low-quality coffee/fast food culture. Then, in 1966, the second wave of the coffee revolution began. American Avery founded Peet’s Coffee, promoting European deep-roasted and fresh-grounded brewing, using high-altitude Arabica beans to enhance the flavor. And Peet’s Coffee apprentice Starbucks introduced Italian cappuccinos and lattes, opened a chain of coffee shops, and initiated the globalization of coffee. By the third wave of the coffee revolution in 2003, other people leading the trend included innovative civilians seeking to counter the second wave of coffee oligarch Starbucks. Using single-estate coffee beans, led by light roast to identify the advantages of coffee beans, the barista forms connections with consumers through the professional coffee brewing process. They teach consumers about coffee style and how to taste coffee. There was no division of labor in early cafes. A counter was responsible for all competency projects. In the third wave of the coffee revolution, people have paid more and more attention to the quality of coffee, thus leading to “specialty coffee.” To achieve the high quality of coffee beans and excellent sources of origin. There has been a specialization in the division of labor; the competency is divided into three areas: roasting, coffee tasting, and brewing. We have to determine their competency positioning and understand the difference and importance of attitude and knowledge. 

Q11: Page 4 para 3 Sect 2.1 line 10 --- This is referring to another study that differs from the one that was conducted in the South Eastern United States? If so, it is suggested to provide a brief explanation of this other research. Page 4 para 3 Sect 2.1 line 11 --- In brief, how do you put these multi-cultural team performance and cross-cultural competency in relation to coffee operators' competency? How do they relate? 

Responses 11: 

The study has already increased some explanations in the section of the literature review on page 5 . [8]

Cultural understanding and cross-cultural competency can strengthen coffee practitioners to understand various customers' different service needs and increase practitioners' service quality and teams' performance. Cross-cultural competency can increase team performance and improve the multi-national hotel companies' organizational effectiveness. The study obtained 738 valid questionnaire samples based on the six multi-national hotel companies in Thailand. The researcher adopted SEM (Structural equation modeling) technique to analyze the relationship structure between multi-cultural team performance and cross-cultural competency. The research found that intercultural competency has a direct and positive influence on multi-cultural team performance. In the study, the researcher offered practical management advice and cross-cultural theory in the hospitality industry and established an evaluation framework of intercultural competency through Thai multi-national hotels [8].

Q12 : Page 5 para 1 line 9 --- How do you put this in the context of coffee operators' perspectives? 

Responses 12: 

The study has already increased some explanations in the section of the literature review on page 5.

Coffee practitioners often play different roles in their career development process based on career development. Excellent coffee practitioners need to strengthen professional competence and cultivate their business administration skills for solving decision problems of operation management and business development. Previous studies pointed out that some residency curriculums lack business training components and practice management and the satisfaction with training was low for the residency curriculums. Medical services have generally moved to be business-centric. Dermatology is a unique medical field because most patients choose private practices more than large-scale hospitals. However, competent business skills can help the professional physician run a successful clinic. Thus, the study surveyed the current state of business administration training for dermatology resident physicians in Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-approved programs as of 2017-2018. The study found that resident physicians both desired and paid attention to business administration training, but the current residency curriculum is insufficient and inadequate for dermatology resident physicians. Therefore, the study suggested that encouraging and promoting the balancing the core competencies and teaching of business administration skills can help the dermatology resident physicians in their future career development [10]. Soft skills were an essential part of the crucial competencies in management related to competency research. The study explored how managers teach soft skills on the job and provided the faculty understanding of the process for replicating the efforts of managers. The researcher adopted grounded theory and established an evaluation framework based on the soft skills five-factor model. The study also analyzed the practical implications of soft skills and discussed how managers teach soft skills on the job [11]. 

Q13 :  Page 4 para 3 Sect 2.2 --- Please include a brief explanation of the current situation of Professional Knowledge amongst Coffee Operators before discussing this aspect from the perspective of a Chef in the Hospitality industry.

Responses 13: 

The study has already increased some explanations in the section of the literature review on pages 5~6. [8]

Professional knowledge competence can aid coffee practitioners in understanding relative coffee professional knowledge to understand the critical problem of the working field and find the available solution. Therefore,   professional knowledge competence includes professional coffee knowledge (roasting, tasting, brewing, and service) and knowledge of the business operation and organization management. In the hospitality industry, the chef is the most challenging profession, and the chef needs both artistic innovation and scientific mastery. So, chefs require not only culinary skills but also managerial competence. The study explored the chef’s perception of a successful career and how to develop competencies on the job. The study used a self-administered questionnaire that includes 27 competency items based on Cyprus’ chef professionals. Researchers found that the technical competencies of culinary-specific were critical, followed by management and leadership competencies. In contrast, the respondents considered the conceptual (creative-adaptive) competencies less important [12]. 

Q14: Page 4 para 4 Sect 2.2 line 3 --- the statement is referring to which study?

Responses 14: 

The study has already increased some explanations in the section of the literature review on page 6.

Another study explored the relationship between the finance discipline and hospitality education. Although academia seems to consider finance-related competencies necessary for hospitality education, the related literature remains inconclusive. Zopiatis et al. (2019) tried to explore the value and potential role of finance-related courses in hospitality education and understand the conceptual capital issue in hospitality education. The study considered that the finance discipline can enhance hospitality education through the meaningful connection between the two disciplines, and offered practical suggestions for industry stakeholders and hospitality education researchers [15]. 

Q15: Page 6 para 2 line 12 --- How might we potentially put IR4.0 in the context of Coffee Operators' competency development requirement? 

Responses 15: 

The study has already increased some explanations in the section of the literature review on pages 6~7. [8]

In the Industry 4.0 era, what competencies are necessary? The study explores the professional competencies in the Industry 4.0 era through the literature review and scientific mapping. Researchers analyze the three academic databases (Web of Science, Scopus, and Science Direct) in 2010~2018. The systematic literature review examines these critical field researchers and their focus revealed topics through the SciMAT software. The research finds these competencies, which include the contemporary knowledge (algorithms, data analysis, automation, general systems theory, information and communication technology, software development and security, and sustainable development theory) and critical skill (self-management, flexibility, adaptability, innovation, communication, initiative, collaborative work, teamwork, interdisciplinary, problem-solving, creativity, pro-activity, giving and receiving feedback, self-organization, strategic vision of knowledge, and leadership). The study points out that the industry 4.0 era's core competencies should develop through professional education and integrate these resources and efforts from governments, universities, and companies. Besides, these professional competencies also lead to the new industrial revolution and improve future industrial competitiveness[17] Learning contemporary knowledge and critical skill can aid the coffee practitioners in strengthening initiative and self-management competency and then build the team organization and solving the practical decision problem in the working field together. 

Q16: Page 6 para 3 Sect 2.3 line 6 --- Which study is exactly referred to?

Responses 16: 

The study has already increased some explanations in the section of the literature review on page 7. [8]

A study found that practitioners who have passed professional skills certification feel more satisfied with their positions and report greater chances for promotion. Therefore, some studies noted that financial experts working in hotels have obtained a “Certified Hospitality Accountant Executive” (CHAE) designation. They think that the CHAE designation has no real monetary value. However, compared with those without this certification, they are more likely to be promoted. The study interviewed professional hotel accounting supervisors who have this certification. Three-quarters said that the CHAE certificate demonstrates a person’s professionalism, and two-thirds believed that the CHAE honorific attests to a person’s technical expertise. This research found that people designated CHAE were satisfied with their position and occupation [18].

Q17: Page 7 para 2 --- How do you put all this information and research findings in relation to the coffee operators' context. How significant are they to the coffee operators? 

Responses 17:  

The study has already increased some explanations in the section of the literature review on pages 7~8.

Self-concept and self-efficacy can develop sustainable behaviors for students. So, the study tried to enhance participatory ecological learning for students through mangrove forest ecotourism. Researchers explored the relationship between self-concept and self-efficacy and the students’ sustainability by participatory ecological learning. The study used structural equation modeling for 128 participants through the PLS (partial least squares). The research found that self-concept had no significant effect on the students’ behavior, but self-efficacy significantly impacted the students’ sustainability behavior[22]. Therefore, self-concept and self-efficacy can develop coffee practitioners' self-learning and build sustainable professional competence development behaviors.

Q18: Page 8 para 2 --- Table 1 seems does not to align with the statement given here? 

Responses 18: 

The study has already increased some explanations in the section of the literature review on page 9 . [8]

This study establishes the evaluation model based on the four evaluation aspects (professional skills, professional knowledge, self-efficacy, and personal characteristics) and 16 criteria for professional competency development through expert interviews and literature reviews. Associated with the PS (Professional skills) aspect, there are four evaluation criteria: coffee roasting skills (PS1), coffee tasting skills (PS2), coffee brewing skills (PS3), and customer service skills (PS4). Concerning the PK (Professional knowledge) aspect, four evaluation criteria define the identification of sources of raw materials (PK1), roasting parameter setting (PK2), grinding extraction knowledge (PK3), and hand modulation knowledge (PK4). Associated with the SE (Self-efficacy) aspect, there are four evaluation criteria: responsibility and professionalism (SE1), workplace ethics and professional ethics (SE2), emotional control and resistance to stress (SE3), and crisis response and judgment ability (SE4). Concerning the PC (Personal characteristics) aspect, there are four evaluation criteria: optimism and positive thinking (PC1), affinity and service enthusiasm (PC2), work performance and efficiency (PC3), and mutual assistance and teamwork (PC4). The four aspects, their associated evaluation criteria, and their respective descriptions are present in Table 1.

Q19: Page 9 Sect 3.1 --- It is suggested to put all the information in a table

Responses 19:

Because the table cannot show too much context, so the authors hope still to keep the current condition.    

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear authors,

this paper is too long to be scientific paper. Also the title does not clearly shows what is in manuscript.

Many of the tables should be merged together.

Introduction part is too long, and the first reference is on second page.

Description of well known methods should not be so long, just use reference for additional knowledge.

This paper has potential, but it need major revisions.

Author Response

Dear authors,

This paper is too long to be a scientific paper. Also, the title does not clearly show what is in the manuscript. Many of the tables should be merged together.

Responses 1:

Thank you very much for the detailed and profound reading of the manuscript as well as for your time and willingness to improve the quality and clarity of the paper. The study has already modified the title on page 1.

New title:

Establishing the competency development evaluation systems and talent cultivation strategies for the service industry using the hybrid MCDM approach

Q2: The introduction part is too long, and the first reference is on the second page. Description of well-known methods should not be so long, just use references for additional knowledge. This paper has potential, but it needs major revisions.

Responses 2:

Thank you very much for the detailed and profound reading of the manuscript as well as for your time and willingness to improve the quality and clarity of the paper. The study already modified the section of Introduction on page 1~4.  

Reviewer 3 Report

Dear Authors and Editors,

Thank you for inviting me as one of the reviewers for this manuscript. This study has significant practical implications for analyzing the professional competency needs and competency development status of the coffee service industry. This study identified four aspects (professional skills, professional knowledge, self-efficacy and personal characteristics) of the competency development based on expert interviews and a literature review. The study uses the DEMATEL approach to analyze professional competency and determine the driving forces of critical competency development. Besides, the study also obtains the principal component based on the PCA (principal component analysis) approach and uses the ANP (analytic network process) approach to determine the components’ weights. Then, the VIKOR (Vlse kriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje) approach can be applied to professional competency development for the coffee service industry. The problem is worth investigating and adheres to the scientific scope of the Journal. The editorial requirements are satisfied. I have some constructive comments in the attachment.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Thank you for inviting me as one of the reviewers for this manuscript. This study has significant practical implications for analyzing the professional competency needs and competency development status of the coffee service industry. This study identified four aspects (professional skills, professional knowledge, self-efficacy, and personal characteristics) of the competency development based on expert interviews and a literature review. The study uses the DEMATEL approach to analyze professional competency and determine the driving forces of critical competency development. Besides, the study also obtains the principal component based on the PCA (principal component analysis) approach and uses the ANP (analytic network process) approach to determine the components’ weights. Then, the VIKOR (Vlse kriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje) approach can be applied to professional competency development for the coffee service

industry. The problem is worth investigating and adheres to the scientific scope of the Journal. The editorial requirements are satisfied. I have some constructive comments in the attachment.

Responses :

Thank you very much for the detailed and profound reading of the manuscript as well as for your time and willingness to improve the quality and clarity of the paper. 

Q1: The abstract clearly and concisely states the content of the study. I appreciate that the authors also declare the practical use of their analyzes. Thus, I suggest that the authors mention the proposed methods and highlight the key results/ findings in the abstract section.

Responses 1:

Thank you very much for the detailed and profound reading of the manuscript as well as for your time and willingness to improve the quality and clarity of the paper. The study already has increased some critical findings in the abstract section on page 1.   

Thank you very much for the detailed and profound reading of the manuscript as well as for your time and willingness to improve the quality and clarity of the paper. The study already has increased some critical findings in the abstract section on page 1.  

Abstract: Former coffee baristas only needed to learn basic coffee brewing skills. Today, in addition to coffee brewing skills, they also need to be able to identify the quality of coffee beans, select the appropriate way of roasting coffee, and explain the growing regions and production processes for different coffees to customers. As the competency of coffee practitioners gradually becomes specialized and complicated, understanding professional competency needs is critical to effectively cultivating a new generation of coffee practitioners. Further, without this understanding, we will also not be able to maintain the competitiveness of coffee industry practitioners in the third wave coffee revolution. This study tries to understand the consumers’ service needs and coffee competency needs for the coffee industry and to determine the driving forces of professional competency needs for the coffee (beverage) industry. We can understand the coffee competency needs and analyze the status and gaps in coffee professionals’ competency. Therefore, this study attempts to identify the professional competency needs of coffee industry practitioners (coffee operators and coffee workers) and consumers and introduces four major aspects (professional skills, professional knowledge, personal characteristics, and self-efficacy) to construct the competency needs and determine the network relation map (NRM). Research results point out that the PK (professional knowledge) was the dominant aspect and the SE (self-efficacy) was the being dominated aspect. Then the PK aspect affects the aspects of PS (professional skills), PC (personal characteristics), and SE SE (self-efficacy), and the PS aspect affect the aspects of PC and SE. Then the PC aspect affects the SE aspect. Besides, this study can aid various coffee service businesses to establish the competency development strategy map and re-define coffee professionals’ competency to reach the professional competency goal by selecting, training, and using talents.

Q2: The Introduction provides sufficient background and includes relevant references. The list of contact is adequate and is in the journal format. Only relevant references are used. I suggest that the definitions of MCDM and DEMATEL should be defined earlier before using the term abbreviations.

Responses 2: 

Thank you very much for the detailed and profound reading of the manuscript as well as for your time and willingness to improve the quality and clarity of the paper. The study already has increased the definitions of MCDM, and DEMATEL in the introduction section on pages 1~2.

The quality of coffee employees today is uneven, so this study tries to analyze the professional competency needs and competency development status of the coffee service industry. This study identified four aspects (professional skills, professional knowledge, self-efficacy, and personal characteristics) of the competency development based on expert interviews and a literature review. The study uses the DEMATEL (Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory) approach to analyze professional competency and determine the driving forces of critical competency development. Besides, the study also obtains the principal component based on the PCA (principal component analysis) approach and uses the ANP (analytic network process) approach to determine the components’ weights. Then, the VIKOR (Vlse kriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje) approach can be applied to professional competency development for the coffee service industry. This study surveys four styles of coffee service businesses (international chain coffee, convenience store coffee, global brand chain coffee, and domestic chain coffee). The results can aid stakeholders (service providers, industrial practitioners, customers) in understanding competency development for coffee service businesses and by proposing competency development strategies for coffee service businesses through their competitive advantages of professional competency. The proposed model can aid the stakeholders in identifying critical factors and determining suitable development strategies for coffee service businesses based on their competency development status using the NRM (network relation map) approach.

This study includes five sections. Section 2 discusses the service needs of coffee service businesses regarding professional competency development factors for the coffee service industry. Section 3 establishes an evaluation system of professional competency development for the coffee service industry. The study determines the critical influence factors for empirical cases for the coffee service industry using the hybrid MCDM technique in section 4. This section also discusses the competency development force for the coffee service industry and evaluates the advantage of professional competency for four styles of coffee service businesses using the hybrid MCDM (Multiple Criteria Decision Making) approaches. Finally, this study also provides some suggestions in Section 5.

Q3: I suggest section 2 should be changed into a Literature review. Sub-sections in section 2 (4 main dimensions) are detailed and well-arranged with numerous references. In this form, It is certainly very beneficial for the reader and will allow easy orientation to the results already obtained. However, I suggest that the authors cite the relevant references for the descriptions of subdimensions in Table 1. 

Responses 3: 

The study already has modified the Literature review section in section 2 on page 9.

This study establishes the evaluation model based on the four evaluation aspects (professional skills, professional knowledge, self-efficacy, and personal characteristics) and 16 criteria for professional competency development through expert interviews and literature reviews. Associated with the PS (Professional skills) aspect, there are four evaluation criteria: coffee roasting skills (PS1), coffee tasting skills (PS2), coffee brewing skills (PS3), and customer service skills (PS4). Concerning the PK (Professional knowledge) aspect, four evaluation criteria were defined: identification of sources of raw materials (PK1), roasting parameter setting (PK2), grinding extraction knowledge (PK3), and hand modulation knowledge (PK4). Associated with the SE (Self-efficacy) aspect, there are four evaluation criteria: responsibility and professionalism (SE1), workplace ethics and professional ethics (SE2), emotional control and resistance to stress (SE3), and crisis response and judgment ability (SE4). Concerning the PC (Personal characteristics) aspect, there are four evaluation criteria: optimism and positive thinking (PC1), affinity and service enthusiasm (PC2), work performance and efficiency (PC3), and mutual assistance and teamwork (PC4). The four aspects, their associated evaluation criteria, and their respective descriptions are present in Table 1.

Q4: I suggest Section 3 should be changed into Proposed methods. I found that the authors presented the combinations of methodology and results. This is quite interesting. However, it is not common in this journal, and studies applied MCDM models from the existing literature review. I suggest that the authors consider presenting the proposed methods and results separately. In the current form of this manuscript, I found that the authors did not mention how to collect data and who are experts to give judgments for MCDM models. Because of subjective MCDM methods, the results depend on the experts’ experiences/ research domains, business areas… I suggest the authors should revise this point to have a better understanding of the DEMATEL technique. 

Responses 4: 

The study already has modified the Proposed methods section and increased some sample information explanations in section 3 on page 10.

3. Proposed methods

    This study interviewed stakeholders of professional competence development for coffee practitioners (coffee operators, coffee practitioners, and customers) for the surveys. The research generalizes four aspects (professional skills, professional knowledge, self-efficacy, and personal characteristics) and 16 criteria by the stakeholders' interview. Through the paper and online questionnaire survey, the researcher evaluates satisfaction, importance, and aspects of the evaluation system by the various stakeholders (coffee operators, coffee practitioners, and customers). The survey was collected from 2020.11 to 2021.3 and collected 150 and 108 valid samples. The reliability of the satisfaction and importance by the Cronbach. The satisfaction reliability result was 0.970, and the importance reliability result was 0.979. The reliability results of satisfaction and importance were higher than the suggested reliability level of 0.7. The evaluation system aspects reliability was 0.932, indicating that the aspect was high reliability (Table 2).

Table 2 The analysis of reliability (Cronbach)

Q5: The study provided here contributes information and practical uses to find (competency evaluation index) rank and determine the coffee service businesses’ benchmark. The findings are crucial because they will enable service providers of coffee service businesses to understand better and control critical indicators. As a result, operators may improve their strategies with four styles to enhance their businesses. The presented study may be valuable for stakeholders in various other sectors in terms of managerial implications.

In my opinion, this manuscript should be considered in MINOR REVISION before publication. Best regards,

Responses 5: 

Thank you very much for the detailed and profound reading of the manuscript as well as for your time and willingness to improve the quality and clarity of the paper.