Abstract
Orientation: Generation Z (Gen Z) often considered the more educated generation, struggles with employment and workplace success, largely because of a soft-skills gap.
Research purpose: This scoping review aims to define the soft-skills of working Gen Z professionals and explore their most highly regarded soft-skills, strengths, and weaknesses from the perspectives of employers, industry experts and Gen Z employees. The study also identifies the methods companies use to develop the soft-skills of Gen Z professionals.
Motivation for the study: There is no comprehensive scholarly overview of the current state of research on soft-skills and Gen Z.
Research approach/design and method: This scoping review followed the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology and reported findings using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews checklist method. Twenty articles were selected and utilised for this study.
Main findings: Phase 1 identified a lack of consensus regarding the definition of soft-skills and its taxonomy of skills. Phase 2 revealed that communication, teamwork and interpersonal soft-skills were the most valued yet deficient in Gen Z employees. Communication was recognised as their most significant soft-skill asset. Phase 3 showed employers invest in developing soft-skills through online training, coaching, workshops and experiential learning.
Practical/managerial implications: There is ambiguity surrounding soft-skills and it is imperative to develop communication, teamwork and interpersonal skills in Gen Z professionals.
Contribution/value-add: This study provides insights into the industrial perspectives of Gen Z employees’ soft-skills, value-add, shortcomings and training methods.
Keywords: Generation Z; soft-skills; emotional intelligence; scoping review; Gen Z.
Introduction
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is shifting economies towards service-orientated models that value soft-skills (Daly et al., 2022), particularly as artificial intelligence (AI) takes over technical tasks (Shareef, 2023). Soft-skills are essential for Generation Z to navigate mental health issues (Balbinot et al., 2024) and enhance employability in competitive job markets (Habiyaremye et al., 2022). While employers seek candidates with a mix of technical and soft-skills (Sreehari, 2021), many in Generation Z struggle with these crucial abilities, limiting their job opportunities (Schroth, 2019).
Over the last 10 years, interest in soft-skills as a research topic has grown significantly (Stewart et al., 2016; Succi & Canovi, 2020; Poláková et al., 2023; Wheeler, 2016). However, a unified understanding of soft-skills is elusive because of differing interpretations by experts (Ismail et al., 2023; Marin-Zapata et al., 2022; Touloumakos, 2020). Despite this lack of consensus, both employers and industry experts highlight that Generation Z employees frequently fall short of essential soft-skills in the workplace (DeIuliis & Saylor, 2021; Succi & Canovi, 2020). Interestingly, Gen Z individuals often self-assess their soft-skills highly (Noah & Aziz, 2020), leading to a growing discrepancy known as the soft-skills gap (Singh Dubey et al., 2021), which is evident to employers (Magano et al., 2020; Noah & Aziz, 2020). Research by Kraght and Brøndum (2025) explicitly identifies significant gaps in expectations regarding workplace flexibility, leadership roles and career development. The authors conclude that while Gen Z’s adaptability and digital competencies are assets, their aspirations for rapid growth and independence tend to clash with the structured and performance-driven systems prevalent in many workplaces.
Research on Generation Z professionals reveals a lack of soft-skills demanded by employers (DeIuliis & Saylor, 2021; Horváth-Csikós et al., 2023; Magano et al., 2020; Noah & Aziz, 2020; Pujiawati et al., 2022; Succi & Canovi, 2020) and highlights varying definitions of soft-skills and its underlying taxonomy of skills (Benitez-Marquez et al., 2022; Marin-Zapata et al., 2022). This study aims to fill this knowledge gap by examining the conceptualisation and taxonomy of soft-skills among working Gen Z professionals. It will gather insights from employers, industry experts and Gen Z employees to provide a comprehensive view of Gen Z professionals’ soft-skills landscape. Additionally, the research will identify which training methodologies companies employ to enhance soft-skills among their Gen Z workers, contributing to a better understanding of soft-skills development in the Gen Z workforce.
Soft-skills
The theoretical dispersion underlying soft-skills can be attributed to the wide range of individual skills, values and attributes it covers (Daly et al., 2022). While some scholars maintain soft-skills are non-technical competencies associated with personality, attitude and the ability to effectively connect with others (Stewart et al., 2016), others regard them as a cohesive blend of knowledge, abilities and values that support the effective development of a skill or activity (Rodriguez Martinez et al., 2021). Yet, most definitions of soft-skills share two components: interpersonal and intrapersonal (Ismail et al., 2023; Marin-Zapata et al., 2022).
Still, soft-skills are so expansive that they mean different things to different people (Touloumakos, 2020) depending on the industry (Kiel, 2016), country and context (Wats & Wats, 2009). Thus, it is also known as transferable skills, interpersonal skills, life skills, employment skills, critical skills, social skills, essential skills, emotional intelligence (EQ), behavioural skills and 21st-century professional skills (Daly et al., 2022; Kiel, 2016; Succi & Canovi, 2020). Soft-skills are primarily used interchangeably with EQ (Daly et al., 2022) because of their extensive overlap and blurred boundaries (Kiel, 2016). Ritter et al. (2018) argue that soft-skills are the labour market’s jargon for EQ, whereas Wheeler (2016) maintains that EQ falls under soft-skills. New evidence from a study by Sahar (2024) revealed a positive correlation between soft-skills and EQ, yet many still disagree on the convergence and divergence between these concepts.
Whichever way it is framed, soft-skills are fundamental in giving employees a competitive advantage to secure employment, future-proof their careers and facilitate networking capabilities because they help drive innovation; promote adaptability, resilience and team collaboration; and enable people to build enriching interpersonal relationships (Poláková et al., 2023). Furthermore, soft-skills are instrumental in increasing youth employment when there is job scarcity (Horváth-Csikós et al., 2023), helping to differentiate between equally qualified and experienced candidates (Bano & Vasantha, 2021), enabling graduates’ professional development and career advancement (Poláková et al., 2023), and promoting organisational development and effectiveness (Krawczyk-Sokolowska et al., 2019).
However, these benefits of soft-skills are diminished by the conceptual differences surrounding soft-skills, ultimately hindering this field’s development and validation (Marin-Zapata et al., 2022). Therefore, exploring the conceptual foundation and underlying characteristics of soft-skills is essential.
Generation Z employees
Generation Z (1995–2010) is the youngest of the five economically active generations, which also includes the Baby Boomers (1946–1964), Generation X (1965–1979) and Generation Y (1980–1994) (Bieleń & Kubiczek, 2020). Even though Gen Z is the highest qualified generation yet and is technically savvy (Fry & Parker, 2018; Schroth, 2019), they struggle to secure employment and meet employers’ expectations (Noah & Aziz, 2020; Sharvari & Kulkarni, 2019). In fact, youth unemployment is an international crisis (Fakih et al., 2020; Lambovska et al., 2021), with South Africa having one of the highest youth unemployment numbers in the world, despite the demand for skilled labour (Habiyaremye et al., 2022).
Even though literature strongly suggests that Gen Z employees lack the essential soft-skills employers require (DeIuliis & Saylor, 2021; Horváth-Csikós et al., 2023; Noah & Aziz, 2020; Pujiawati et al., 2022; Succi & Canovi, 2020), Gen Zs believe they have strong social and interpersonal skills and consider it an asset (Cinque, 2016; Stewart et al., 2016). Many attribute this perceptual discrepancy to Gen Z’s lack of self-awareness in identifying their strengths and weaknesses (Magano et al., 2020; Noah & Aziz, 2020; Succi & Canovi, 2020) and their low EQ scores (Machová et al., 2020).
Further research is required to understand Generation Z professionals’ soft-skills, strengths and weaknesses, as current studies on this group are insufficient (Benitez-Marquez et al., 2022; Bieleń & Kubiczek, 2020; Ensari, 2017). Most studies focus on the scholarly or academic perspective of Gen Z rather than on Gen Z in the workplace (Barhate & Dirani, 2022).
The literature that does exist on Gen Z professionals suggests they are a challenge to manage (Benitez-Marquez et al., 2022), and soft-skills development can help to circumvent this and additionally help them secure employment and mitigate the challenges of technological advancements (Magano et al., 2020; Sutil-Martín & Otamendi, 2021). Even though there are many advantages for companies that invest in their employees’ social and emotional skills (Poláková et al., 2023), such development is fraught with challenges, especially for Gen Z with their unique learning style (Singh Dubey et al., 2021). Early and prolonged exposure to technology has impacted Gen Z’s brain development, resulting in a more advanced visual imagery centre than auditory learning centres (Rothman, 2016). This results in a need for a multi-modal, experiential and collaborative approach to learning that encourages self-directed learning (Cinque, 2016; Riley & Nicewicz, 2022; Sharvari & Kulkarni, 2019). However, there is a lack of research on whether companies develop the social and emotional skills of their youngest working cohort and, if so, what methodologies do they employ.
A scoping review will explore the conceptual foundations and boundaries of soft-skills to clarify how they are perceived in Gen Z professional practice. Moreover, it will help investigate Gen Z professionals’ soft-skills characteristics, strengths and deficiencies as evaluated by employers and industry experts and self-rated by working Gen Z professionals themselves. Finally, this scoping review will provide insight into whether companies invest in the social and emotional learning of their youngest working cohort and, if so, what methodology they employ to develop soft-skills.
Research design
Defining and aligning the objectives and research questions
Scoping reviews identify and summarise the available evidence on a specific topic, field or issue, primarily focusing on mapping existing evidence and highlighting significant characteristics or factors to clarify key concepts and definitions within the literature (Pollock et al., 2023). Typically, these reviews analyse data by quantifying text and counting the frequency of extracted data items; however, they do not address questions related to feasibility, appropriateness, meaningfulness or effectiveness (Pollock et al., 2023).
A scoping review is proposed for this research because it helps clarify key concepts and definitions (Munn et al., 2018), such as soft-skills and their underlying taxonomy of skills as seen from the lenses of employers, industry experts and Gen Z employees. Moreover, a scoping review is helpful for examining new evidence in a field and investigating a topic that has not been extensively researched (Mays et al., 2001), as is the case with Gen Z in the workplace (Bieleń & Kubiczek, 2020; Ensari, 2017). As a scoping review helps to map existing literature regarding its volume, nature and characteristics (Arksey & O’Malley, 2005), it will help to identify and map which soft-skills are highly valued, deemed insufficient or regarded as strengths in Gen Z employees, from the perspectives of employers, industry experts and Gen Z employees. Furthermore, it will help identify whether companies invest in the soft-skills development of their Gen Z employees and which methodologies are commonly used.
Finally, a scoping review seeks to identify and analyse knowledge gaps (Munn et al., 2018; Pollock et al., 2023), which will help to determine any research gaps that emerge from the data. Thus, a scoping review is more suited for this study than systematic literature because of the novelty of the subject matter, its conceptual disparity, its indefinite underlying characteristics, and its objective to identify and analyse knowledge gaps in the field. Moreover, a scoping review has a broader scope than systematic literature with less restricting inclusion criteria (Aromataris et al., 2024). Based on the background outlined above, the research questions formulated for this scoping review are as follows:
- RQ 1: What is the conceptual definition of soft-skills?
- RQ 2: What skills are categorised as soft-skills?
- RQ 3: Which soft-skills are essential for Generation Z employees?
- RQ 4: What are Generation Z employees’ soft-skills deficiencies?
- RQ 5: What are Generation Z employees’ soft-skills strengths?
- RQ 6: How do organisations develop Generation Z employees’ soft-skills?
The scoping review has three phases. Each phase has a purpose and answers specific research questions, as shown in Figure 1.
Framework and study design
This scoping review was conducted following the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology for scoping reviews (Peters et al., 2020) and reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews checklist (PRISMA-ScR) (Tricco et al., 2018). Arksey and O’Malley (2005) originally proposed a methodological framework for scoping reviews that was extended by Levac and colleagues (2010) and further refined by a working group from JBI and the JBI Collaboration (Peters et al., 2020).
The JBI guidelines (Peters et al., 2020) recommend that researchers utilise frequency counts, present information in tables or graphs, and conduct basic qualitative content analysis when appropriate. Additionally, Arksey and O’Malley (2005) suggested employing an analytical framework that merges simple numerical analysis with thematic development for the purpose of scoping reviews.
A priori protocol was developed before the scoping review to pre-define the objectives, methods and reporting of the scoping review, as prescribed by the JBI framework (Aromataris et al., 2024). The protocol was posted on Figshare, a web-based interface designed for academic research data management and dissemination. The protocol provides a plan for the scoping review that ensures the process is transparent and limits reporting bias (Aromataris et al., 2024). Several deviations from the protocol took place and were highlighted and explained under the JBI framework guidelines (Aromataris et al., 2024). Supplementary data can be accessed at https://figshare.com/authors/Cicilia_Visser/18094936.
Inclusion criteria
The inclusion criteria follow Kao et al.’s (2017) recommendation on the population, concept and context (PCC) mnemonic.
Population
The study population consist of economically active Generation Z participants because the research aims to explore the current state of research on young working professionals’ soft-skills. Generation Z is a large generational cohort (Benitez-Marquez et al., 2022) and restricting the scope of participants to include only the older economically active segment of Gen Z serves the purpose of the study and enables a more focussed approach.
The scoping review includes the opinions, perceptions and expectations of employers and industry experts. The latter includes human resource (HR) experts, academics, consultants and recruiters. Employers entail anyone in a leadership and team management position to whom the Gen Z employee reports. Evidence sources were gathered from Gen Z professionals to get first-hand input on their soft-skills expectations, experience and perceptions. Thus, the data were gathered and analysed from the vantage point of three role-players: employers, industry experts and Gen Z employees.
Concept
This study includes all concepts and terminology pertaining to the non-cognitive skills of the economically active Generation Z population. The terminology included in this study selection were soft-skills and employability skills because it was most frequently cited and used interchangeably in the literature search.
Context
Generation Z entered the workplace as recently as 2019 (Schroth, 2019), which coincides with the volume of research carried out on Gen Z in the workplace that depicts an incremental spike from 2018 onwards, peaking in 2019 (Benitez-Marquez et al., 2022). Therefore, this scoping review considered only research evidence on the soft-skills of economically active Gen Z from 2019 to 2024.
The scoping review includes all research evidence on the soft-skills of economically active Gen Z across all industries, nationalities, geographical locations, genders, qualifications and educational backgrounds. All evidence sources were considered regardless of the language and translated into English with the help of Google Translate software. Primary, secondary and documentary analyses were included in the study on the condition that they adhere to the inclusion criteria stated above.
Types of sources
According to Aromataris et al. (2024), a scoping review may draw on data from any evidence source and research methodology. Therefore, inclusion criteria include studies from peer-reviewed journals and industry reports if the resources helped answer the relevant research question. This consists of all qualitative studies and designs, quantitative studies, experimental and quasi-experimental studies, observational studies and systematic literature studies.
Search strategy
The search strategy aimed to locate all primary and secondary sources, published studies, articles, reviews, unpublished industry reports and conference papers. The keywords used for the search included ‘gen z’, ‘gen z employees’, AND ‘soft-skills’, ‘soft-skills gap’, OR ‘emotional intelligence’, ‘social-emotional intelligence’, AND ‘workplace’, ‘economically active’, OR ‘employers’ soft-skills expectations’ AND ‘gen z professionals’, AND ‘gen z soft-skills strengths’, OR ‘gen z emotional intelligence strengths’, AND ‘gen z soft-skills deficiencies’ OR ‘gen z emotional intelligence deficiencies’, OR ‘gen z lack soft-skills’ AND ‘employment’ AND ‘workplace’, OR ‘gen z lack emotional intelligence’, AND ‘workplace’, AND ‘organisations’. Different variations of these keywords were also used to optimise the search results. Seven electronic databases and the evidence sources’ reference lists were screened. The electronic databases included Scopus, Web of Science, EBSCO, APA PsychNet, ResearchGate, Google Scholar and Stellenbosch University’s library catalogue. Stellenbosch Library Catalogue is an electronic, multi-database search engine that includes Scopus, EBSCO and Web of Science platforms. The search strategy, index terms and keywords were adapted for each database to optimise results.
Study selection
Three independent reviewers employed a two-step search strategy to sift through the volume of evidence. During step one, the titles and abstracts were scanned for relevant keywords, index terms and inclusion criteria. Only abstracts and titles pertinent to the research objectives and questions were included. These evidence sources were used during step two to develop a complete search strategy on the various database platforms. A pilot study was conducted to test the process. Following the search, all citations were uploaded onto EndNote, a referencing management software, and onto Covidence. Covidence is a screening and data extraction tool for conducting systematic and scoping reviews.
After the initial pilot test, the reviewers screened titles and abstracts and labelled them with a yes, no or maybe vote next to each article. Only abstracts and titles relevant to the research objective and questions were included. Any selection disputes between the independent reviewers were discussed, and a consensus was reached on which evidence sources to include in the full-text review. A total of 410 abstracts and titles were screened and narrowed to 128 articles for the full-text screening.
The full-text documents of the 128 articles were downloaded from the relevant databases, uploaded onto EndNote, and then uploaded onto Covidence for the full-text review. The full-text articles were assessed against the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and each reviewer voted either a yes or no next to the article. The reasons for exclusions were either the article needed to be stronger, the full-text was inaccessible or it did not comply with the inclusion criteria. Disagreements between the reviewer votes were discussed and resolved; the full-text documents were narrowed to 20 articles for the final data extraction (Appendix 1: Table 1-A1). The scoping review’s workflow was mapped using the PRISMA extension for scoping review, the PRISMA-ScR (Tricco et al., 2018), as seen in Figure 2.
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FIGURE 2: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews checklist workflow. |
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Data extraction
The data were extracted using a data extraction form on Covidence. A single-reviewer extraction process was followed, and the ‘Extraction 2’ template on Covidence was used as a guideline because it allowed for flexibility and customisation. During the extraction phase, a two-stage process consisting of extraction and consensus was followed. During stage one, a single reviewer extracted the data, and during stage two, a team member checked that the data were relevant to the inclusion criteria, objective and research questions.
The data extraction form has standard details such as title, author(s), publication year, country, and type, key findings and limitations, in addition to study-specific information such as soft-skills definitions, soft-skills taxonomy, soft-skills valued in Gen Z employees, soft-skills lacking in Gen Z employees, soft-skills strengths in Gen Z employees and soft-skills development methods in the workplace. Appendix 1: Table 1-A1 provides an overview of the general characteristics of the evidence sources. Appendix 1: Table 2-A1 and Appendix 1: Table 3-A1 reflect the definitions and complete taxonomy lists of soft-skills relevant to RQ 1 and RQ 2. Appendix 1: Table 4-A1 and Appendix 1: Table 5-A1 depict the soft-skills most valued in Gen Z employees (RQ 3), the soft-skills deficiencies (RQ 4) and strengths (RQ 5) of Gen Z employees and the development methodologies companies use to educate these skills (RQ 5).
Data synthesis
The frequency counts and basic qualitative content analysis outlined by the JBI framework (Pollock et al., 2023) aims to answer the research questions, clarify the concept of soft-skills, identify the critical soft-skill characteristics of Gen Z professionals and provide an overview of how soft-skills are developed in the workplace. A basic qualitative analysis was employed as a descriptive method to analyse the resources, using open coding to categorise the concepts and characteristics of soft-skills into overarching categories and to help identify common themes, as well as patterns of convergence, divergence or discrepancies. Open coding entails examining the sources of evidence and noting initial thoughts, possible categories or comments to investigate what is occurring within the data, thereby clarifying the objective and the review question (Pollock et al., 2023). The frequency count of soft-skills across literature sources is shown in Appendix 1: Table 4-A1 and Appendix 1: Table 5-A1.
Ethical considerations
This article followed all ethical standards for research without direct contact with human or animal subjects.
Results
Characteristics of the evidence sources
Several key characteristics emerged from the data, as seen in Table 1. Most studies utilise a quantitative research design, descriptive reporting and purposive sampling, with surveys and questionnaires as research methods. The publication types were predominantly journal articles, except for two industry reports, one book chapter and a conference paper. Nine of the 20 studies used documentary or secondary analysis as the first part of a two-stage process. The data were extracted based on adherence to the inclusion criteria, study objective and research questions. Thus, data from irrelevant sections of the articles were not captured.
| TABLE 1: Characteristics of the evidence sources. |
The population comprised 14 employers, 7 industry experts and 4 Generation Z employees, totalling 25 participants across the 20 evidence sources. The sample population differed for each study. Several studies had two participant samples in one study, whereas others had very few participants in a category of investigation. The unequal distribution and representation of the three participant samples made it difficult to compare results because some were underrepresented, and others were over-represented in several categories of investigation.
The respondents’ industries included information technology (IT), electrical and electronics products (E & E), education and academic institutions, manufacturing, recruitment services, e-commerce and the digital market, as well as the tourism and hospitality industry. The studies spanned several continents, including (1) Asia: Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Bangladesh and Palestine; (2) Europe: Italy, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania; (3) East Africa: Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda; (4) the United States and 5) Australia. Table 1 summarises the study characteristics.
Presentation of results
Phase 1
Definition of soft-skills: From the conceptual synthesis and the taxonomy of soft-skills, one can infer that almost every evidence source had a different opinion on what constitutes as soft-skills. Most evidence sources quoted other authors’ conceptual definitions of soft-skills, which were not included in the scoping review because they did not portray their own interpretation of soft-skills. The complete list of authors, definitions and taxonomy of soft-skills is tabulated in Appendix 1: Table 2-A1.
Seven of the 20 evidence sources defined soft-skills, as seen in Table 2. Yet, they differ significantly, with little similarity between the seven conceptual interpretations of soft-skills. The conceptual descriptions of soft-skills varied significantly from personal characteristics to behaviours, competencies, traits and/or values.
| TABLE 2: Evidence sources’ definitions of soft-skills. |
The taxonomy of soft-skills: The conceptual disparity is equally evident in the taxonomy of soft-skills, as all the evidence sources differ in how they classify and categorise soft-skills. A total of 112 soft-skills were identified across the evidence sources, and a frequency count determined which soft-skills were mentioned more than once across the studies, as seen in Appendix 1: Table 3-A1. The soft-skills cross-referenced more than once were added to a reduced list of 52 (see Figure 3).
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FIGURE 3: The reduced list of 52 soft-skills. |
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However, there is considerable overlap between these 52 skills, as many are related concepts that can be grouped together. Thus, the list of 52 soft-skills was narrowed down to 21 categories based on their relatedness, as shown in Figure 4.
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FIGURE 4: The core list of 21 soft-skills categories. |
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From the data source, EQ emerged as the biggest category in the classification of soft-skills. Emotional intelligence formed the biggest category because it is fundamentally very similar to soft-skills, as many of these skills can be classified under the domains and competencies of EQ. Communication skills were the second most cited soft-skills category among the evidence sources, followed by cognitive performance and thinking skills, such as critical and analytical thinking. Thus, the dataset revealed EQ, communication and critical-analytical thinking skills as the most significant soft-skills categories. On the contrary, subject knowledge was the least cited skill and formed the smallest category of soft-skills.
Phase 2
Table 3 summarises the findings of Phase 2. The study is based on 20 evidence sources, but the sample populations, consisting of employees, industry experts and Generation Z employees, varied within each evidence source. In Phase 2.1, a sample population of 21 referred to the most sought-after soft-skills in Gen Z employees, compared to 10 samples referring to Gen Z’s soft-skills deficiencies in Phase 2.2 and six samples identifying Gen Z’s soft-skills strengths in Phase 2.3. In Phase 2.2 and Phase 2.3, the numerical variance between the highest-scoring and lowest-scoring skills was so little that it was not reflected in the summary in Table 3 and because of the volume of soft-skills mentioned three times or less in Phase 2.2 or once in Phase 2.3. The full report is available in Appendix 1: Table 5-A1.
| TABLE 3: A summary of the findings in Phase 2. |
The value of soft-skills for Generation Z employees: Figure 3 identifies a list of 52 soft-skills that were identified as highly valuable for Gen Z employees. The list was compiled by calculating the frequency of times a sample population mentioned each soft-skill. The soft-skills with the highest frequency count are summarised in Table 3. Teamwork, communication and interpersonal skills emerged as the top three soft-skills most sought-after in Generation Z professionals, as reported by a sample of 12 employers, 7 industry experts and 2 Gen Z employees. Although Gen Z did not rate interpersonal skills at all, other role-players scored it highly. Figure 5 provides a graphical illustration of the most highly rated soft-skills for Gen Z professionals. On the contrary, the sample population reported ambition, conflict resolution and empathy, among other skills, as the least important soft-skills for Generation Z employees (Appendix 1: Table 5-A1).
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FIGURE 5: Graphical illustration of the most valued soft-skills. |
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The uneven population sample distribution made it difficult to compare results because of their different sample size and voting patterns. For example, employers and industry experts rated analytical thinking and interpersonal skills highly, yet the Gen Z employees’ sample did not mention them. Conversely, employers and industry experts rated creativity and work ethic low to moderate, yet Gen Z employees rated it highly.
Soft-skills deficiencies of Generation Z employees: The data analysis revealed a list of 31 soft-skills Generation Z employees lack in the workplace (Appendix 1: Table 5-A1). The list was compiled by calculating the frequency of times a sample population mentioned each soft-skill deficiency. The sample population comprised five employers, two industry experts and three Gen Z employees. The results showed communication skills were by far the most deficient soft-skills in the Gen Z working cohort, followed by teamwork and interpersonal skills, as well as leadership and negotiation skills.
Soft-skills strengths of Generation Z employees: A list of 24 soft-skills strengths was identified among Generation Z employees (Appendix 1: Table 5-A1). The items were gathered from a small sample size, with only six participants across all the evidence sources mentioning Gen Z professionals’ soft-skills strengths. The participant sample comprised four employers, one industry expert and one Gen Z employee.
A frequency count revealed little consensus among the evidence sources on Gen Z employees’ soft-skills strengths, except one soft-skill mentioned twice: communication. Ironically enough, communication was highlighted in the scoping review as the most valued soft-skill for Gen Z employees, their most pertinent soft-skills deficiency in the workplace and a strength. This contradiction can be attributed to the fact that one of the two samples rated communication as a strength in the Gen Z participant sample. Many authors argue that Gen Z are not conversant of their soft-skills deficiencies and rate these skills as strengths (Noah & Aziz, 2020; Stewart et al., 2016; Succi & Canovi, 2020).
The other 23 soft-skills strengths were mentioned only once by the evidence sources, indicating that no discernible soft-skill strength could be attributed to Gen Z employees. Also, some skills listed as soft-skills strengths did not fall under this scoping review’s taxonomy of soft-skills, which again illustrates the blurry boundary of conceptual definitions and what constitutes soft-skills.
Phase 3
Methods for developing soft-skills in the workplace: The scoping review revealed 11 soft-skills development methodologies used to develop Gen Z employees. Figure 5 shows a frequency count of the most popular soft-skills development methodologies in the workplace. Online learning courses emerged as the most popular development methodology, followed by coaching, on-the-job development, technology-driven and AI approaches, development courses and workshops. There is no detail regarding any of these development methodologies, but evidence suggests that combining AI technology and coaching in the format of an AI coaching chatbot would satisfy Gen Z’s strong propensity towards technology and experiential learning (Lattie et al., 2019; Mai et al., 2022). Thus, an AI coaching chatbot would encapsulate all the soft-skills development methods mentioned in the evidence sources, namely, online learning, on-the-job development, collaborative and self-directed learning, roleplay, SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis and in-depth development (Figure 6).
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FIGURE 6: Methods for soft-skills development in Generation Z employees. |
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Discussions
The scoping review was conducted to clarify the conceptual definition of soft-skills, explore the research available on Gen Z professionals’ soft-skills characteristics and discover how companies develop their youngest working cohort in soft-skills.
Phase 1: Definition and classification of soft-skills
Definition of soft-skills
The scoping review revealed a disparity in the conceptual definition of soft-skills and that its interpretations vary widely. This aligns with a literature review by Ismail et al. (2023), which suggests that the concept of soft-skills is interpreted differently by various experts and stakeholders. The systematic literature review findings of Marin-Zepata et al. (2021) show that there needs to be a more solid theoretical foundation on soft-skills and more consensus on its definition. According to the authors, the conceptual disparity of soft-skills stifles the development of the field.
Categorisation of soft-skills
The conceptual disparity in defining soft-skills is equally evident in their classification, as sources vary widely in what they regard as soft-skills. Each evidence source had lengthy lists of skills categorised as soft-skills. Touloumakos (2020) argues that the term soft-skills and its infinite categories have expanded so considerably that their meaning has become vague and ambiguous, ultimately impacting the design of development curricula for soft-skills.
Thus, after reducing the list of 108 soft-skills to 52 and grouping related concepts, a reduced list of 21 soft-skills was identified. In the taxonomy of soft-skills, emotional intelligence, communication and critical-analytical thinking were the skill categories most mentioned across all the evidence sources. Soft-skills related to EQ were mentioned considerably more across evidence sources than any other. This is because EQ and soft-skills proficiency are interwoven concepts, and research consistently shows a strong correlation between these two concepts (Sahar, 2024; Troshina et al., 2019). In fact, soft-skills overlap extensively with various models of EQ, including the mixed-models approach (Bar-On, 1997; Boyatzis, 2018; Goleman, 2001) as well as the trait model (Petrides, 2009; Petrides & Furnham, 2001). According to Wheeler (2016), this interrelationship is because EQ forms the basis of soft-skills.
The scoping review reiterated previous researchers’ findings of conceptual and theoretical dispersion (Marin-Zepata et al., 2021). It revealed little consensus between evidence sources on the conceptual interpretation of soft-skills and its parameters. The volume of skills classified as soft-skills bears testimony to the permeability and blurriness of its boundaries and the need to define and demarcate soft-skills. Moreover, the study revealed that soft-skills overlap considerably with EQ, reiterating previous studies highlighting the lack of a clear conceptual definition and theoretical foundation of soft-skills (Marin-Zepata et al., 2021) and its interrelatedness with EQ (Kiel, 2016; Sahar, 2024).
Phase 2: Exploring the soft-skills characteristics of Generation Z professionals
Valued soft-skills in Generation Z professionals
According to the scoping review, communication, teamwork and interpersonal skills are the top-ranking soft-skills rated by employers, industry experts and Generation Z employees. These findings correlate with a previous systematic review by Noah and Aziz (2020), which states that communication, teamwork and interpersonal skills are the most in demand when recruiting and appointing Gen Z candidates. The review findings also support a study by Lubis and Dalimunthe (2019), which asserts that the types of soft-skills necessary for the Z Generation include interpersonal skills, communication skills, work ethic and leadership skills.
Even though the sample sizes differed considerably between the three participant groups, all three agreed that communication and teamwork are essential. However, the Generation Z employee sample did not recognise interpersonal skills as necessary; instead, they rated creativity and work ethic as valuable soft-skills. Nonetheless, it can be deduced that social skills are valuable for Generation Z professionals because they enable them to connect with others, communicate effectively and work well with colleagues in a team. Communication skills were ranked consistently high across all evidence sources, indicating that it is the most sought-after skill in Generation Z professionals. Communication skills are an extensive concept. None of the evidence sources expressly indicated what aspect of communication they valued, except for Yen et al. (2023), who mentioned the ability to communicate in English, which showed that good communication skills referred to fluency in English as a foreign language.
Soft-skills deficiencies of Generation Z employees
Communication, teamwork and interpersonal skills were found equally lacking in Gen Z employees. Again, this scoping review’s results are consistent with Noah and Aziz’s (2020) findings. Leadership and negotiation skills ranked equally deficient. Besides the data obtained from the scoping review, there is a lack of evidence supporting the notion that Gen Z professionals must develop their leadership and negotiation skills.
Soft-skills strengths of Generation Z employees
The scoping review’s findings on Generation Z employees’ soft-skills strengths contradict the findings on their soft-skills deficiencies. Communication skills are listed as a soft-skill deficiency and a soft-skills strength in Generation Z employees, even though the sample population differed widely. Also, only two respondents mentioned communication skills as a strength, as opposed to 18 voting it as deficient.
Phase 3: Methods for developing soft-skills in the workplace
The research evidence shows employers value and invest in the social and emotional education of Gen Z employees. This work reiterates previous studies’ findings that Generation Z enjoys non-traditional teaching and learning methods (Cimatti, 2016). As a generational cohort, they prefer visual learning (Rothman, 2016), which is self-directed and experiential (Riley & Nicewicz, 2022; Sharvari & Kulkarni, 2019) and where they can set their own pace of learning (Seemiller & Grace, 2017).
The scoping review reveals that Gen Zers prefer online learning, coaching, on-the-job development, AI technology and workshops to develop their soft-skills at work. Digital technology is useful for teaching Gen Z soft-skills in the workplace because it conforms to their learning preferences. Cimatti (2016) concurs that digital technology is an effective tool in teaching soft-skills to young people, in addition to experts’ seminars, coaching and tutoring. The six evidence sources that stated the development methodologies used to advance soft-skills in Gen Z employees did not clearly differentiate whether the development methodologies were employers’ development preferences or Gen Z’s development preferences. To avoid negative outcomes in today’s competitive global market, businesses must create effective soft-skills training programmes to address the skills deficit of Gen Z (Dean & East, 2019) and align with their unique needs for continuous professional development and flexibility (Kraght & Brøndum, 2025).
Future research
The scoping review highlighted the conceptual disparities among the 20 evidence sources in defining soft-skills and their underlying skill categories of working Generation Z professionals. Future researchers must investigate the soft-skills of Gen Z employees from an industry perspective to help clarify its conceptual and categorical disparity and differentiate it from closely related concepts such as EQ. Generation Z has only recently entered the job market, which presents an opportunity for further studies on Gen Z working professionals (Benitez-Marquez et al., 2022). More studies are needed on working Gen Z professionals’ soft-skills characteristics, strengths, potential contribution of their unique skill set and how companies train soft-skills in their youngest working cohort.
The scoping review reiterated Noah and Aziz’s (2020) findings that communication, teamwork and interpersonal skills are the most desirable soft-skills in Gen Z employees, yet simultaneously the most lacking skills in Gen Z professionals. Future research is necessary to ascertain whether developing these soft-skills helps to narrow the soft-skills gap. Future researchers can employ a mixed-methods approach, incorporating a qualitative study to provide a deeper understanding of soft-skills, alongside quantitative research with a larger sample of employers and Gen Z that would objectively indicate the soft-skills required for Gen Z employees and what they entail.
Furthermore, the scoping review highlighted that there is limited research on how companies cultivate soft-skills in Gen Z professionals and which training methodologies are best suited to the needs of this youngest working cohort. The scoping review’s evidence sources highlighted the significance of investing in social and emotional education or described the types of soft-skills development offered to their youngest working cohort without elaborating on the format, structure, duration or presentation methods of such development. This opens the door for prospective researchers to investigate the efficacy and format of such development, what content it would cover, the optimal time and the delivery method. Also, researchers must investigate employers’ soft-skills development preferences versus Gen Z’s preferences to evaluate whether they align and, if not, where and how preferential development discrepancies can be bridged.
Finally, data from the scoping review revealed that corporates prefer to use digital technology, specifically online learning and AI technology, to cultivate soft-skills in Gen Z professionals, which corresponds with their innate propensity towards technology (Bornman, 2019; DeIuliis & Saylor, 2021). However, the data also revealed that organisations keenly employ in-person coaching, workshops and experiential-based development to develop their soft-skills. Prospective researchers must investigate the need to combine digital soft-skills development, such as online development and AI technologies, with in-person development, such as coaching and workshops.
A technology-driven tool, such as an AI coaching chatbot, can combine the benefits of both development modalities and adhere to the learning preferences of Gen Z professionals. Coaching meets Gen Z’s unique learning requirements (Kastberg et al., 2020) and has been successfully used to enhance social and emotional skills (Boyatzis, 2018; Schaap & Dippenaar, 2017). A digital coaching platform, such as an AI coaching chatbot, can circumvent the challenges of in-person coaching, as it is scalable, more affordable and less stigmatised (Chatterjee et al., 2021; Venkatesan et al., 2020). Artificial intelligence coaching presents a promising opportunity to develop the soft-skills of Gen Z professionals; however, there are very few studies on this topic. Therefore, research is needed to investigate whether an AI coaching chatbot can advance the level of soft-skills in Gen Z employees and, by doing so, bridge the soft-skills gap and optimise their career trajectory. Future researchers have tabula rasa to explore and experiment with such digital tools, as they will be breaking new ground in the field.
Study limitations
All the evidence sources were selected based on their adherence to the inclusion criteria, determined mainly by Generation Z professionals’ soft-skills. Therefore, the research evidence sample was smaller and less representative than an evidence sample that would only investigate soft-skills regardless of the generational cohort or employment status. Moreover, the unequal distribution and representation of the three participant samples made it difficult to compare results because some were underrepresented, and others were over-represented in several categories of investigation.
Conclusion
This scoping review underlined the conceptual disparity documented by previous scholars and the extensive list of skills it encompasses. The evidence sources cited 105 soft-skills, which were whittled down to 22 core categories. Emotional intelligence emerged as the most prominent and frequently mentioned soft-skills category.
Communication skills emerged as the second most cited category of soft-skills, followed by cognitive performance and thinking abilities. Similarly, communication skills were cited as the most sought-after soft-skills for Gen Z employees and their most significant deficiency. Interestingly, some authors contradicted this perspective, citing communication as a strength of Gen Z employees. This conflicting finding can be attributed to the limited number of sources providing evidence of Gen Z employees’ soft-skill strengths, coupled with the fact that one of the two participant samples consisted of Gen Z members who rated themselves positively.
The findings presented 11 ways companies develop soft-skills in their youngest working cohort. The most popular methods to develop Gen Z workers’ soft-skills are online learning, coaching, on-the-job development, technology-driven and AI approaches, and workshops. The use of digital technology to develop soft-skills in Gen Z professionals has become very popular and has replaced traditional didactic development methods. The rapid technological advances in AI can be utilised to employers’ advantage to develop soft-skills in the Gen Z workforce and meet them where they are most comfortable and proficient.
Acknowledgements
This article is partially based on the C.V.’s PhD research entitled, ‘The imperative of developing the emotional and social intelligence competencies of Generation Z through artificial intelligence coaching’, towards the degree of Doctor in Philosophy in Business Management and Administration at the Stellenbosch Business School, with supervisor Prof Nicky Terblanche. The study is currently still in progress.
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.
Authors’ contributions
C.V. did the scoping review. N.T. supervised the research and contributed to the writing of this manuscript.
Funding information
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, N.T., upon reasonable request.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and are the product of professional research. They do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated institution, funder, agency or that of the publisher. The authors are responsible for this study’s results, findings and content.
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Appendix 1
| TABLE 1-A1: Summary of the scoping review evidence resources. |
| TABLE 3-A1: The full taxonomy of soft-skills and frequency mentioned across evidence sources. |
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