ORCID
- Krzysztof Kubacki: 0000-0002-4002-5996
Abstract
This study extends current understanding of digital competence by exploring alternative skill sets harnessed by digitally disadvantaged groups that enable their practices to continue. By combining practice theory with the socially extended mind framework, we address the research question: What forms of offline competence support the integration of digital practices among a disadvantaged consumer group, and how do these competences influence the cohesion and continuity of their practices? Through an ethnography of a ‘Street Church’ community, we demonstrate how different forms of offline social interaction (i.e., sequential, synchronised, substitutive) and group culturefunction as valuable resources for guiding digital practices, without requiring practice carriers to embody digital skills. This study challenges conventional conceptualisations of competence, illustrating that competence no longer needs to be embodied but can be borrowed. This shifts the focus away from what defines competence to how different forms can produce similar outcomes inpractices.
DOI Link
Publication Date
2025-11-07
Publication Title
Marketing Theory
ISSN
1470-5931
Acceptance Date
2025-10-16
Deposit Date
2025-11-12
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Recommended Citation
Stewart, C., Yap, S., & Kubacki, K. (2025) 'Borrowed competence: Socially extending the mind to extend digital practices', Marketing Theory, . Available at: 10.1177/14705931251394757
