Abstract:

Leadership education and management training programmes are increasingly designed for multigenerational workplaces, yet there is limited empirical evidence on how Generation Z employees construe organisational leadership. Most research on Gen Z workplace expectations has surveyed students rather than employees with direct experience of being led. Without evidence from workplace settings, educators and trainers risk designing curricula around assumptions rather than data. This study used the Repertory Grid Technique (RGT) to identify the qualities, values, and behaviours that Gen Z employees consider important in leaders.

We conducted face-to-face structured interviews with 16 Gen Z employees in Cape Town, South Africa. Participants rated five leader types (ideal, current, intolerable, tolerable, and aspirational self) against bipolar constructs they generated, producing 178 constructs across the sample (8–15 per participant). Data were analysed using thematic analysis and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Factor analysis confirmed the dimensionality of the grid ratings, and reliability analysis indicated adequate internal consistency.

The 178 bipolar constructs were coded and iteratively grouped, yielding six thematic categories until saturation was reached: communication orientation (effective communication, constructive feedback, accessibility); people orientation (equality, mutual respect, supportiveness, openness, conflict management); work orientation (workplace environment, collaboration, flexibility, attitudes toward hierarchy); leadership orientation (growth focus, role modelling, balanced and engaged leadership); personal orientation (authenticity, empathy, self-awareness, stability, accountability); and task orientation (solution focus, organisation, level-headed decision-making). PCA plots revealed that participants consistently positioned their ideal leader near their aspirational self, while intolerable leaders occupied the most distant positions.

These findings have specific implications for how leadership is taught. The six thematic categories provide an empirically grounded framework for evaluating existing leadership education curricula. Programmes that weight technical and task-oriented competencies heavily may underrepresent the interpersonal and personal attributes (authenticity, empathy, mutual respect) that Gen Z employees prioritise in leaders. The proximity of the “ideal leader” and the “aspirational self” in the PCA is particularly significant for educators. It indicates that Gen Z employees do not simply want competent managers but aspire to embody the leadership qualities they value. This reframes leadership education as identity development. Programmes that treat leadership as a set of skills to be learned may be less effective than those that engage learners in reflecting on the kind of leader they want to become.

The presentation will outline these findings and offer prompts for reflection on how the six thematic categories map onto attendees’ curricula, so they can consider where their programmes align with the leadership attributes Gen Z employees value and where gaps may exist. The aim is to connect our empirical evidence from workplace settings to the design of leadership education and management training.

Keywords:

Generation Z, leadership perception, Repertory Grid Technique, leadership education, management training, workplace leadership, South Africa.