Competency Model of Chinese Internet Product Managers

Abstract

In recent years, the internet industry in China went through dramatic development, to which product managers made a great contribution. This study aimed to define what qualities are required for internet product managers to be competent. This study reviewed the literature on product managers’ competency in traditional industries and interviewed three product managers and three recruiters to complement the item pool. Thirty-eight items were selected and then rated on importance by 318 product managers from 173 internet companies in China. Six competency factors were extracted with an exploratory factor analysis: reliability, planning, creativity, leadership, integrity, and user-study. Creativity might be a special requirement for product managers in the internet industry. Internet product managers can use our model to improve their competency. Human resource practitioners can use our model to select, cultivate, and train internet product managers. Previous competency models of product managers focused on traditional industries. This study explored the competency model of internet product managers.