Professional literacy that Taiwan’s bag manufacturing industry talents should possess: Analyzing from a practical perspective

AIM: This research aimed to explore the professional literacies that should be possessed by Taiwan’s bag manufacturing industry talents. This understanding will also help the technical and vocational education system to cultivate talents in Taiwan’s bag manufacturing industry. METHODS: A qualitative research design was adopted. The outline of the interview on the professional literacy of Taiwan’s bag manufacturing industry talents was compiled, and seven interviewees were selected by purposive sampling from those who had worked (including supervisors) in Taiwan’s bag manufacturing industry for 21 to 42 years. One-on-one in-depth interviews with semi-structured interview questions were conducted. Using grounded theory, the content of the in-depth interviews was analyzed and discussed. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: This study discusses what professional literacy of Taiwan’s bag manufacturing industry talents should possess from the practical perspective of Taiwan’s bag manufacturing industry leaders or senior managers. This study shows that bag manufacturing industry talents should possess knowledge, skills, and attitudes and values of common professional literacies. Moreover, bag designers, manufacturing technicians, patternmakers, hand stitchers, and production supervisors should acquire these professional literacies. The results of this study will help Taiwan’s bag manufacturing industry leaders or senior managers to highlight the importance of professional literacy that Taiwan’s bag manufacturing industry talents should possess. CONCLUSION: This study summarized the professional literacy of bag manufacturing industry talents into three major aspects: knowledge, skills, and attitudes and values. Based on this, suggestions are made as a reference for the implementation of curriculum development for talent cultivation in higher education institutions, and a reference for the learning and on-the-job training of bag manufacturing industry practitioners in the workplace.