2026
Insights · Research Papers
Original research in professional education.
Advancing the evidence base for competency-based professional education in digital marketing.
Selected papers
Recent research.
Open-access papers from the A Factor research programme.
2026
Why most digital marketing certifications fail employers
2025
A diagnostic instrument for marketing competence
Faculty
The people behind A Factor
Practitioners and builders — not observers. Every faculty member has held the role they teach.
VK
Vikram Khanna
Head of Performance Marketing
SwiggyRM
Riya Mehrotra
Director — Brand Strategy
MamaearthAN
Arjun Nair
VP — Growth & Analytics
RazorpayPG
Priyanka Ghosh
Head of Content
Zomato
Why we publish research
Peer-reviewable, not promotional.
A Factor conducts original research with a single objective: advancing the methodology of competency-based professional education. This is not thought leadership produced for marketing purposes. It is peer-reviewable research that interrogates assumptions, tests frameworks, and contributes to the empirical foundation upon which effective education must be built.
The research published here addresses fundamental questions that the digital marketing education industry has largely neglected — how competence should be measured, what predicts workplace readiness, and how curriculum design can be structurally aligned to role requirements.
See the Competency Model →Following evidence where it leads.
These are not rhetorical questions. They require data, rigorous methodology, and the intellectual honesty to follow evidence where it leads — including when it challenges prevailing practice.
Findings inform the design of the Competency Model, the calibration of assessment instruments, and the architecture of every programme in the Programme Catalogue.
Empirical methods
Peer review
Open access
Featured research
Current paper from the research programme.
Each paper undergoes internal review and is prepared to a standard suitable for external peer review and academic publication.
Competency-based assessment in digital marketing education: a framework for measuring professional readiness
This paper presents a validated framework for assessing competency development in digital marketing professionals. Drawing on empirical data from structured assessment instruments, the study establishes measurable indicators of role readiness across ten competency domains and proposes a methodology for distinguishing professional capability from knowledge recall.
Lead author: A Factor research team
Forthcoming
Open access
Recent papers
Selected papers from the programme.
Each paper below contributes to one of four research domains that collectively define A Factor's research agenda.
Role readiness as a predictor of professional performance
A longitudinal study of digital marketing graduates. Analysis of cohort data reveals that competency-based readiness measures are significantly more predictive of workplace performance than traditional academic metrics or certification status.
Longitudinal
Forthcoming
Bridging the curriculum gap
How industry role definitions can inform pedagogical design in marketing education. Using the A Factor Role Framework as a case study, the research demonstrates how role-driven curriculum design produces measurably different learning outcomes.
Case study
Forthcoming
Quantifying the skills gap
An empirical analysis of employer expectations vs. graduate capabilities in digital marketing. The findings indicate that the gap is not primarily one of knowledge, but of integrated professional judgement and applied analytical capability.
Empirical
Forthcoming
Scenario-based assessment validity
A methodological examination of why scenario-based instruments better predict applied competence than recall-based examinations — and what this means for the design of professional readiness assessments.
Methodology
Forthcoming
Integrative learning design in marketing pedagogy
A study of how integrated, competency-aligned learning architectures outperform channel-isolated curricula in producing professionals who can operate across the marketing function.
Learning design
Forthcoming
Employer perspectives on graduate readiness
A structured-interview study of hiring managers across digital marketing functions. Themes include the competencies employers see as most absent, the most reliable signals of capability, and what they wish education would change.
Qualitative
Forthcoming
Research themes
Four interconnected research domains.
Each domain addresses a distinct methodological question; together, they form a comprehensive research agenda for competency-based professional education.
01
Competency-based assessment methodology
Developing and validating instruments that measure professional competence rather than knowledge recall. Research examines how scenario-based, integrative methods can reliably distinguish surface familiarity from genuine capability.
Assessment design
02
Role readiness measurement
Defining and operationalising the concept of role readiness — the point at which a professional possesses the integrated competencies required to perform effectively in a specific position.
Readiness
03
Digital marketing pedagogy
Investigating how digital marketing should be taught as a professional discipline rather than a collection of tool-specific skills. Curriculum architecture, learning design patterns, and instructional approaches.
Pedagogy
04
Industry–academia gap analysis
Quantifying the structural disconnect between what educational institutions produce and what the digital marketing profession requires. Combines employer data, graduate outcome analysis, and competency benchmarking.
Empirical
Research standards
Active
Empirical methodsRequired
Internal reviewPre-publication
External peer reviewSubmission-ready
Open accessDefault
Research standards
The standard of rigour we demand of our own education.
A Factor holds its research to the same standard of rigour that it demands of its educational methodology. Every paper published under the A Factor name adheres to established empirical methods, transparent data reporting, and a commitment to intellectual honesty that prioritises accuracy over narrative convenience.
Read Publications →Empirical methods
Research is grounded in observable, measurable data — assessment instruments, graduate outcome tracking, employer surveys, structured competency evaluations. Conclusions follow from evidence, not first principles.
Evidence-led
Peer review
All A Factor research undergoes internal review before publication and is prepared to a standard suitable for submission to external peer-reviewed journals. External review status is noted on each paper.
Reviewed
Open access commitment
Research that informs professional education methodology should be accessible to the people it affects. Published papers are made available without charge. The purpose is to advance the discipline, not to gatekeep it.
Free access
Transparent data
Where research draws on assessment, survey, or outcome data, the methodology, sample, and analytical approach are reported in full. Reproducibility is the foundation of credibility.
Reproducible
Access the research.
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