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Cultivating capital in a distanced world: preparing business school undergraduate students to lead in the virtual world of work

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Cultivating Capital in a Distanced World: Preparing Business School Undergraduate
Students to Lead in the Virtual World of Work
by
Lynn Robinson

Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
A dissertation submitted to the faculty
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Education

August 2022

© Copyright by Lynn Robinson 2022
All Rights Reserved

The Committee for Lynn Robinson certifies the approval of this Dissertation

Edward Karpp
Ramandeep Randhawa
Patricia Tobey
Robert Filback, Committee Chair

Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
2022

iv
Abstract
Many organizations are facing significant skills deficits in their labor force. The COVID-19
pandemic increased the hybrid and fully remote work models among knowledge workers, and as
a result, the skills needed to secure a job and grow in a career have accelerated the need for
reskilled and upskilled workers. This qualitative case study examined how best to enhance
business school undergraduates’ remote leadership skills and resilient leader mindsets through
the lens of Tomlinson’s (2017) graduate capitals model. This study utilized interviews to gather
insight from faculty who are knowledgeable in leadership research, teach leadership courses, or
manage leadership programs. The results showed that there were varied levels in knowledge of
the important competencies that comprise effective remote leadership and that raising the
awareness and acceptance on the necessity of remote leadership skills competencies for
undergraduate students would support the curricular enhancements needed to grow students’
virtual leadership skills. This study informs the field of higher education and the post-pandemic
employability skills needed for new business school graduate knowledge workers.
Keywords: Remote work, employability, leadership, virtual skills

v
Dedication
To my mother, who believes in me no matter the endeavors I choose to undertake. I could not
have achieved this without your love, support, and sense of humor.

vi
Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I wish to thank my mother, Pat, and sister, Dana, who were so
understanding when I was often too busy to get together with them for the previous five years.
They have loved and supported me throughout the years despite the challenges of the doctoral
program. And despite the challenges, the program did nothing to diminish their love for me and
my love for them. I love you both!
Second, I would like to thank Rose Lee, Ann Kominski, Astrid Ferency, Val Axtel, and
Katie Gerrans, who encouraged me to keep going when situations got tough and who prayed for
me during those trials.
Third, I am profoundly grateful for my dissertation support group. Ally Hong, Liliana
Ochoa-Springer, Clara Ross, Vanesa Morales, and Alex Hazard provided unequaled support and
encouragement in all things dissertation, degree completion, and commencement. They often
“talked me off the ledge.” I could not have completed the dissertation without their invaluable
and cherished help, friendship, and love.
Fourth, I wish to thank Dr. Robert Filback, my dissertation chair. He sacrificed his time
and was patient with my questions and my concerns about the success of the study and
dissertation. It was his wisdom and experience that taught me how to manage study outcomes
that were unexpected. I learned so much from him.
Fifth, my dissertation committee of Dr. Patricia Tobey, Dr. Ramandeep Randhawa, and
Dr. Edward Karpp, who provided their collective experience and wisdom in helping to make my
dissertation a success. I discovered first-hand how important a supportive committee can be to
the success of a student and to their future aspirations.

vii
Sixth, the participants I interviewed were immensely helpful. I cannot thank you enough
for the time you gave to me and the insights and experience you shared with me. I was
profoundly affected and impressed when you related your Emergency Remote Teaching
experiences with the classes and students during the pandemic. You provided a crucial support
system during an unprecedented time of uncertainty and instability.
And finally, I wish to thank some very special faculty who freely gave of their time,
encouragement, and insights while I was matriculating through the doctoral program: Dr. Jacob
Bien, Dr. Cary Frydman, Dean Gareth James, Dr. Paat Rusmevichientong, Dr. Wenguang Sun,
and Dr. Xin Tong. No price can be set for the time you gave to me and the wisdom and guidance
you provided to me.

viii
Table of Contents

Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iv
Dedication ........................................................................................................................................v
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ vi
List of Tables ...................................................................................................................................x
List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ xi
Chapter One: Overview of the Study ...............................................................................................1
Statement of the Problem .....................................................................................................2
Shift to Remote Work ..........................................................................................................3
New Graduate Skills Gap.....................................................................................................4
Purpose of the Study ............................................................................................................7
Significance of the Study .....................................................................................................8
Limitations, Delimitations, and Assumptions ......................................................................9
Definition of Terms............................................................................................................10
Conclusion .........................................................................................................................12
Chapter Two: Literature Review ...................................................................................................14
The Concept of Capitals and Their Relationship to Graduate Employability ...................15
Conceptual Framework ......................................................................................................16
Current Labor Market Issues and Projections ....................................................................27
The Role of Higher Education Institutions in Creating an Employable Graduate ............40
Higher Education Job Preparation Learning and Learning Programs ...............................55
Conclusion .........................................................................................................................69
Chapter Three: Methodology .........................................................................................................71
Population and Sample ......................................................................................................71
Site Selection .....................................................................................................................72

ix
Data Collection Strategies..................................................................................................73
Data Analysis .....................................................................................................................75
Trustworthiness Measures .................................................................................................75
Role of the Researcher .......................................................................................................76
Chapter Four: Findings ..................................................................................................................77
Thematic Presentation of Findings ....................................................................................77
Conclusion .......................................................................................................................100
Chapter Five: Discussion .............................................................................................................103
Discussion ........................................................................................................................104
Recommendations ............................................................................................................114
Future Research ...............................................................................................................121
Conclusion .......................................................................................................................123
References ....................................................................................................................................125
Appendix A: Interview Protocol ..................................................................................................155
Appendix B: Document Analysis Protocol ..................................................................................158

x
List of Tables
Table 1: Comparison of Top 10 Skills for 2015, 2020, and Projected to 2025 36
Table 2: Stakeholder Perspectives on Employability Strategies 58
Table 3: Graduate Capital, Related Resource, and Interview Questions 73
Table 4: Table of Themes 78

xi
List of Figures
Figure 1: Tomlinson’s (2017) Graduate Capital Model 17
Figure 2: Graduates Lacking in Soft Skills 34

1

Chapter One: Overview of the Study
No one could have imagined the grief and upheaval that would transpire in almost every
individual’s life as the SARS-CoV-2 global outbreak progressed throughout the world. Decades
of publications housed in the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Library of Medicine
documented the warnings of worldwide pandemics. The public in the United States was warned
early on by prominent public figures such as Anthony Fauci of the NIH. After months of
increasing infection rates and fatalities, Americans began to heed, many reluctantly, the warnings
and mandates.
At present, Americans are being warned again, but this time, it is from those who study
the future of work (Agrawal et al., 2020; Billing et al., 2021; Chebly et al., 2020; Fine et al.,
2020; Lavelle, 2020; LinkedIn Learning, 2021; Lund et al., 2020; Lund et al., 2021; PwC, 2021;
World Economic Forum, 2020). Their studies have found that the skills needed to secure a job
and grow in a career have shifted as one of the outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that
shift is significant enough to accelerate the need for reskilled and upskilled workers and workers
that have abilities and skills to work remotely. Jobs requiring physical, close human proximity or
rote and rule-based skills are either being automated or downsized (Fine et al., 2020;
International Monetary Fund, 2021; Lund et al., 2021; World Economic Forum, 2020).
Conversely, employers are seeking workers who have strong cognitive, social, and emotional
skills, as well as technical skills that can create, analyze, and manipulate data, as well as describe
and ascribe meaning to that data (Bennett & McWhorter, 2021; Billing et al., 2021; Lavelle,
2020; LinkedIn Learning, 2021; Lund et al., 2020; PwC, 2021).
While digital skills are regularly taught in university coursework and labs, the teaching
and transfer of virtual, social, and emotional skills will provide higher education institutions
2

(HEIs) and employers with greater challenges. The current research shows that post-secondary
students’ virtual skills are only now being addressed in the classroom and that social and
emotional skills are usually enhanced through co-curricular and extra-curricular activities and
programs instead of through the standard academic curriculum (Agrawal et al., 2020; Craig,
2019; Jackson, 2016; Jackson & Chapman, 2012; Kalfa & Taksa, 2015; Kornelakis & Petrakaki,
2020; LinkedIn Learning, 2021). Employers must also grapple with the difficulties of training
employees in social and emotional skills, despite disagreement on how those skills should be
taught (Lund et al., 2021). Further, most employers focus on developing digital skills in their
labor force and secondarily on social and emotional skills (Agrawal et al., 2020; LinkedIn
Learning, 2021; Lund et al., 2021). Thus, there is a significant virtual, social, and emotional
skills gap in the current labor force, and the responsibility for rapidly preparing future graduating
classes in these areas falls to the HEIs.
Statement of the Problem
The problem this qualitative case study addressed is how best to enhance undergraduates’
remote leadership relationship formation skills and resilient leader mindsets through the lens of
Tomlinson’s (2017) graduate capitals model. In this study, remote leadership relationship
formation refers to the skills a leader needs to form productive relationships with those whom
they serve as leaders, with the leader’s peers, and with others who are in positions of influence to
effectively lead teams in a remote or virtual setting (Contreras et al., 2020). These scenarios can
include a remotely located leader, a remote team, or both the leader and team working in remote
settings. A resilience mindset, as it relates to leadership, describes an individual in the role of a
leader who has trained their thinking to solve problems, can quickly adapt to and recover from
difficult circumstances and challenges (Tomlinson, 2017), and supports and guides others in this
3

process as well (Bodem-Schrötgens et al., 2021; Germain & McGuire, 2022). Specifically, the
study examined how students can best develop a resilience mindset in their roles as leaders
(Caballero et al., 2020; Contreras et al., 2020). These skills have not been sufficiently explored
given the breadth of telework contexts that most employers now embrace, the technologies
utilized by many businesses to support physical distancing, and the rapid changes in the labor
market (Agrawal et al., 2020; Chebly et al., 2020; Contreras et al., 2020; Lavelle, 2020; LinkedIn
Learning 2021; Lund et al., 2020).
Shift to Remote Work
Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were already 7 million people
working remotely, comprising 3.4% of the population (Wong, 2020). Those who could take
advantage of the benefit were primarily professionals, managers, and highly compensated
individuals (Pizzella & Beach, 2019). Yet, around March 2020, working from home surged in
the wake of social distancing and other efforts to contain the virus (Altig et al., 2020). By June
2020, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) employment data showed that 42% of the U.S. labor
force was working from home full-time, and while this figure declined to 21% by March 2021
(BLS, 2021), it still represented a significant increase from pre-COVID-19 levels. As of
February 2022, the BLS analysis showed that 13% of the population worked remotely
specifically because of the pandemic, down from 15.4% in January 2022. The success of the
telecommuting transition was facilitated by the rapid deployment of the technologies that
supported virtual collaborations, such as videoconferencing and document sharing (Agrawal et
al., 2020; Lund et al., 2021). Further, employers discovered considerable cost savings with
employees working from home and that this also supported their carbon reduction objectives (De
Smet, Mysore et al., 2021; Lund et al., 2021).
4

For workers with jobs that can be accomplished remotely, a 2022 Pew Research study
found that 59% of the 5,889 U.S. adult workers surveyed were working from home all or most of
the time (Parker et al., 2022). The Ladders, a U.S.-based middle manager job search services
institution, has been studying remote work availability from 50,000 of the largest employers in
the U.S. and Canada. They projected that by December 2022, 25% of all professional jobs will
offer some form of remote work, and this trend will continue to increase throughout 2023.
New Graduate Skills Gap
Since the onset of the pandemic, the new graduate skills gap has increasingly widened
(World Economic Forum, 2020), with employers noting a sharp increase in the need for a labor
force with technological skills and strong social and emotional skills (Agrawal et al., 2020;
LinkedIn Learning, 2021; Lund et al., 2021; PwC, 2021). This is due to the sudden increase in
products, services, and organizational tasks that have been automated to purposefully limit close
physical contact (International Monetary Fund, 2021; Lund et al., 2020, 2021; OECD, n.d.) yet
require some degree of human contact or intervention to fully support the consumer, patient, or
organizational objective (LinkedIn Learning, 2021; Lund et al., 2020, 2021; World Economic
Forum, 2020). While the primary means of learning digital skills can be picked up as part of an
academic curriculum, the development and transfer of social and emotional skills in a virtual
format are more challenging (Jackson, 2016; Jackson et al., 2019; Kornelakis & Petrakaki, 2020;
Lund et al., 2021).
Research has suggested that focusing on skills as they relate to graduate capital instead of
on discrete soft and hard skills provides a richer understanding of graduate employability
(Clarke, 2018; Jameson et al., 2016; Mason et al., 2009; Tomlinson, 2017; Wilton, 2011) and
adds to the perception of a highly employable graduate (Clarke, 2018; Parutis & Howson, 2020;
5

Tomlinson, 2017; Wells, 2008). In addition to subject matter knowledge and soft skills,
employers also seek graduates with strong social, cultural, and psychosocial aptitudes (Clarke,
2018; Parutis & Howson, 2020; Tomlinson, 2017; Wells, 2008). It is these capitals that graduates
utilize as they transition from their educational environment to the labor market and are
enhanced as they progress in their careers (Tomlinson, 2017). The following sections will review
the importance of these skills in different labor market contexts that graduates may need to
navigate.
Oversupply of Graduates
For several decades, mass higher education has significantly increased the number of
graduates with similar credentials and capabilities who compete for a limited supply of positions
requiring degrees (Bennett, 2019; Figueiredo et al., 2017; Marginson, 2016; Tight, 2019). This
has created intense labor force competition among new graduates, thus emphasizing the
importance of enhancing highly desirable employability skills and capitals prior to graduation
(Bennett, 2019; Clarke, 2018; Kornelakis & Petrakaki, 2020; Tomlinson & Anderson, 2020).
Beginning a Career During a Recession
Previous research on graduate labor market entry during a recession has shown
significant negative outcomes for those looking for entry-level professional jobs. Rothstein
(2020), von Wachter (2020), and Oreopoulos et al. (2012) found that initial wage losses took
longer to recoup in deep recessions: between 10 to 15 years. Moreover, those seeking jobs during
recessions frequently settled for lower-wage, lower-occupation jobs and usually stayed in those
jobs for longer periods. Bell and Blanchflower (2020) and Schwandt and von Wachter (2020)
also found evidence that graduates entering the labor market during times of recession and high
unemployment experienced greater economic, physical, and psychological hardships than those
6

who began their careers outside of a recession. The support of a strong social network that can
provide information on employment opportunities, in addition to a well-grounded resilience
mindset, can assist the graduate through challenging times (Andreas, 2018; Donald et al., 2019;
Kornelakis & Petrakaki, 2020; Marginson, 2016; Tomlinson, 2017).
Underemployment
Burning Glass Technologies, a data analytics software company specializing in labor
market trends and in-demand skills, recently collaborated with Strada Institute for the Future of
Work to study the effects of new college graduate underemployment (Burning Glass
Technologies, 2018). The data set utilized in the study consisted of over 4 million resumes of
those who held a bachelor’s degree and had at least 5 years of work experience upon graduation.
Several significant findings revealed that if graduates were not careful with their educational and
career planning, these missteps could derail their careers from the start.
First, while some parents and graduates felt that it was acceptable to start a career in a job
that did not require a bachelor’s degree, the study found that 40% of new graduates who were
underemployed in their initial position were five times more likely to remain underemployed 5
years later and were earning an average of $10,000 less annually than their college-level position
peers. After 10 years, 75% of those underemployed at the fifth year were still underemployed.
Second, 87% of graduates who began their careers in a job that matched their educational level
continued to remain in jobs concomitant with their education, and 91% were still found at that
level 10 years later. Third, 47% of women college graduates were underemployed at the outset of
their careers, as compared to 37% of their male colleagues. This discrepancy continued over
time, with greater numbers of women remaining underemployed. Fourth, while STEM graduates
7

were less likely to be underemployed, women with STEM degrees were more likely to be
underemployed than men with STEM degrees.
Those graduates majoring in mathematics and statistics had a 39% probability of being
underemployed in a first job and a 26% probability of being underemployed in a first job and
underemployed five years later. Those who majored in business, management, or marketing had
a 47% probability of being underemployed in a first job and 31% of being underemployed in a
first job, with underemployment continuing 5 years later. Thus, HEIs can support students by
providing the necessary coursework and co-curricular activities to aid in the development and
refinement of employability skills and capitals that support the post-pandemic needs of
employers.
With the rapid advancement of disruptive technologies, the oversupply of graduates
seeking jobs, labor market recessions that have profound effects on entry-level job seekers, and
the risk of underemployment for new graduates, it is imperative that HEIs support their students
with a strong and successful transition to the workplace.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study was to explore the means of enhancing undergraduates’ remote
leadership skills within the framework of Tomlinson’s (2017) graduate capitals model. The study
sought to understand how best to build business students’ leadership skills in the context of
relationship formation to function in a remote work environment. It further examined how
students can develop resilient leader mindsets so that, as graduates, they have ways of thinking
and behaviors to employ when faced with a challenging job, leadership, and career situation. One
central research question guided this study:
8

How might Exceptional University’s (EU, a pseudonym) business school’s leadership
course curriculum and co-curriculum be enhanced to better support the development of
undergraduate students’ remote leadership skills in the areas of relationship formation
and resilience within the framework of Tomlinson’s (2017) graduate capitals model?
Interviews were conducted with faculty who teach or manage the business school’s
leadership programs. The purpose was to understand how they believe the skills of leader
relationship formation in a remote work setting and leader resilience can best be taught to
undergraduate students. Developing these skills is crucial for undergraduates since they will
likely work remotely at some point in their careers and may be working alone from home.
Significance of the Study
Since this is a practitioner-oriented study, it can be primarily utilized by higher education
program administration and designers and faculty. The significance of this study lies in the
importance and urgency for HEIs to develop in-demand skills and graduate capital in their
students to support a successful transition from academics to a virtual or hybrid work
environment in a highly competitive labor market (Burning Glass Technologies, 2018; Jackson
et al., 2019; PayScale, 2016, 2019; Tomlinson, 2017; Tomlinson & Anderson, 2020). With the
increased importance of products and services that enhance physical distancing and employers’
growing use of telework for its labor force, the current employability skills gap is already
requiring considerable reskilling of the global labor force (Agrawal et al., 2020; Bennett &
McWhorter, 2021; Contreras et al., 2020; LinkedIn Learning, 2021; Lund et al., 2021; World
Economic Forum, 2020).
9

Limitations, Delimitations, and Assumptions
This study has several limitations. First, the university’s location is in the western region
of the United States and may not hold similar social and cultural behaviors and beliefs as other
parts of the country. Therefore, this limits the applicability of this study (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).
Second, the sample size was small and was limited to the faculty who teach leadership and/or
manage leadership programs; thus, the findings may not be generalizable to another college,
university, or academic unit (Patton, 2015). Fourth, the participants do not have much control
over course content since they have course leads and chairs that specify what can be taught.
Fifth, the analysis of the syllabi yielded little useful information for the study. The syllabi were
intended to be utilized to corroborate and validate what the interviewees stated about the course
content (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016; Miles et al., 2018). The syllabi revealed that remote
leadership skills had not been updated post-pandemic, although additional instructions on how
students can access Zoom Rooms, online exercises, and online exams were added. Thus, the
analysis did not yield much for the study and was probably unnecessary.
For this study, there were four primary delimitations. First, the research site focused
exclusively on a business school at a private, nonprofit university in the southwest region of the
United States. The selection was from convenience to the researcher and ease of access to the
participants. The specific context of this study may limit its applicability to other programs
(Lincoln & Guba, 1985). Similarly, the number of participants in this study was low and limited
to faculty who teach leadership and/or manage leadership programs; thus, the findings may not
be generalizable to another college, university, or academic unit (Patton, 2015). Second, only
two of the five capitals, social and psychological capital, in Tomlinson’s (2017) graduate capitals
model were studied. Third, only remote leadership and leader resilience skills were examined.
10

The two capitals were selected because research has shown that these particular capitals provide
critical resources to graduates who will need to continually navigate challenging job and labor
market landscapes as they manage their careers (Creed & Gagliardi, 2015; Donald et al., 2019;
Rodrigues et al., 2019; Tomlinson, 2017; Wells, 2008). Further, limiting the study to leader
relationship formation and leader resilience captured the primary skill within each capital and
provided a reasonable scope limitation. Fourth, only business school teaching faculty were
included as participants, while career services staff were excluded from the study. Since the
purpose of the study was to enhance the business school curriculum and co-curricular activities
to support leader relationship formation and leader resilience skills development, the most
pragmatic approach was to interview those who are experienced in teaching and applying skills
in undergraduate courses and programs.
One key assumption was utilized for this case study: the faculty members were already
well-versed in the concepts of social and psychological capital as they relate to employability
skills. In the study, the definition of social and psychological capital departed from the traditional
context to one operating within a remote modality. As a result, there was less familiarity, which
required extra explanation in the interviews.
Definition of Terms
Bonding social capital: A more exclusive form of social capital where ties between
members are close and usually share the same values, ethnicity and culture, and sometimes
similar socioeconomic status. Examples include the close social ties between family members
and being a member of a religious or ethnic group (Coleman, 1988; Granovetter, 1985).
11

Bridging social capital: A more inclusive form of social capital where ties between
members are not as strong as bonding capital and usually accepts others from a variety of
backgrounds (Coleman, 1988; Granovetter, 1985).
Digitalization: the use of digital technologies to change a business model and provide
new revenue and value-producing opportunities (Gartner Glossary, n.d.)
Emergency remote teaching (ERT): the temporary shift of instructional delivery to an
alternate delivery mode due to crisis circumstances (Hodges et al., 2020)
Employability: having the knowledge, skills, and attributes that make it more likely for
the individual to secure meaningful work across their careers (Bennett, 2019; Pool & Sewell,
2007)
Employment: the state of having paid work (Bennett, 2019; Pool & Sewell, 2007)
Graduate hard skills: knowledge and skills that can be learned in and through the
classroom and are often quantifiable, such as proficiency in a computer programming language
(Suleman, 2018; Tomlinson, 2017).
Higher education institution (HEI) or institution of higher education: a post-secondary
institution that includes community colleges, universities, polytechnical schools, and
professional schools, that usually requires completion of a high school degree or secondary
education program (U.S. Department of Education, 1998).
Remote leadership (virtual leadership): leading and managing teams via a remote
working environment, usually through telecommunications links (Contreras et al., 2020). For the
purpose of this study, the skill of leadership development refers to the formation of relationships
that support effective leadership, such as a strong bonding relationship with staff and peers and
bridging relationships with superiors (Putnam, 2000; Tomlinson, 2017).
12

Resilience (resilience mindset): the ability to withstand and recover quickly from difficult
circumstances, disappointments, and unanticipated challenges (Tomlinson, 2017). For this study,
leader resilience is the ability to handle challenges and unexpected setbacks that the graduate will
experience while in a leadership role (Contreras et al., 2020).
Reskilling: the learning of new skills so that an employee can perform different job tasks,
which often involves developing technical skills in support of their current responsibilities
(Bennett & McWhorter, 2021)
Graduate soft skills (non-technical skills): skills and attributes that a graduate utilizes in
relationship to their work environment and others in their work environment (Andreas, 2018;
Tomlinson, 2017). Soft skills, also referred to as non-technical skills, are more difficult to
quantify and usually require proof of possession by way of demonstration by example (Jackson
& Chapman, 2012; Tomlinson & Anderson, 2020).
Underemployment: those who hold a bachelor’s degree and work in jobs that do not
require a bachelor’s degree (Burning Glass Technologies, 2018).
Upskilling: the training and preparation of a worker to advance in their career path and
skills (Bennett & McWhorter, 2021)
Virtual teams: a group of individuals whose work spans different time zones, physical
locations, and organizational boundaries and interact through coordinated communications media
(Schmidt, 2014).
Conclusion
Since the initial Safer-at-Home mandates, businesses all over the world are reopening
their brick and mortar locations and staffing them with non-essential workers. Few employers,
however, believe that a full return to work will constitute business as usual (Agrawal et al., 2020;
13

Lund et al., 2020; World Economic Forum, 2020). Research on how in-demand graduate
employability skills have shifted as a result of the pandemic is continuing to grow. As employers
continue to maintain a portion of their labor force as teleworkers (Lavelle, 2020; Lund et al.,
2020) and as technologies are developed that limit physical distances between people, the labor
landscape is continuing to change with the result that the skills needed to support the new normal
must be, in part, borne by HEIs to support their up and coming graduates (Agrawal et al., 2020;
Fine et al., 2020; Lund et al., 2020; World Economic Forum, 2020).
In summary, this chapter outlined the research question, significance, limitations, and
delimitations of the study. Chapter Two reviews what is known about graduate employability
capitals and skills and what is currently practiced by HEIs in developing graduate employability.
Chapter Three will describe the methodology used for this qualitative case study as it explored
two of the five graduate capitals and how those capitals may be enhanced to support graduates as
they transition to the labor force. Chapter Four reviews the findings from the interviews with the
EU business school faculty. Chapter Five discusses and analyzes the findings and the conceptual
framework in relation to the research question, presents the recommendations for practice, and
concludes with suggestions for future research.
14

Chapter Two: Literature Review
The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent work-from-home mandates forced most
employers to quickly shift a portion of their workforce to a remote work format. This required
those who could perform their jobs remotely to rapidly reskill to a virtual work environment to
learn virtual, digital, and soft skills to support the continuation of critical job functions (Agrawal
et al., 2020; Bennett & McWhorter, 2021). Studies conducted prior to the pandemic have shown
that graduates are expected to engage in virtual teams shortly upon securing their first
professional position, yet they have had very little exposure and training during their academic
years (Brewer et al., 2015; Flammia et al., 2016; Loucks & Ozogul, 2020). Recent research has
shown that most employers plan to keep a portion of their workforce remote after the COVID-19
pandemic has subsided (Lavelle, 2020), and some have initiated cross-training and reskilling of
their employees for future crises that may require a telework mandate (Agrawal et al., 2020; Fine
et al., 2020). Though research is currently being undertaken as to how graduate employability
skills requirements have shifted since the remote work mandate, few studies have been
conducted examining the skills as it relates to graduate capital needed for new graduates to thrive
in a telework environment (Bennett & McWhorter, 2021; Hamburg, 2021).
This chapter consists of five sections that analyze different perspectives on graduate
employability to provide background to this study’s research question. The first section examines
the concept of graduate employability utilizing Tomlinson’s (2017) graduate capital framework,
which is intended to provide a multi-dimensional explanation of the skills that graduates utilize
when transitioning from university to the job market. This framework provides the conceptual
lens for the study. The second section explores the current labor market issues and projected
challenges that graduates may face upon entering the future job market. The third section
15

reviews the ongoing debate between stakeholders on the concept of graduate employability and
will also consider the evolving role of HEIs. The fourth section reviews the effectiveness of four
learning formats utilized to develop soft and hard skills in undergraduates. From there, the last
section concludes with a review of five various university-sponsored job preparation programs
for undergraduates. These strategies are intended to support and reinforce the application of soft
and hard skills learned in the classroom.
The Concept of Capitals and Their Relationship to Graduate Employability
Obtaining a post-secondary education is more than progressing through an academic
curriculum and taking a sequence of courses. Most often, the goal is for students to develop
subject matter knowledge, practical skills, and personal attributes so that they are more likely to
gain employment and be successful throughout their careers (Abelha et al., 2020; Bennett et al.,
2020; Craig, 2019; Jackson, 2016). From the employer’s point of view, however, there has been
much debate as to the specific skills and attributes that are more likely to positively affect
employability and labor market outcomes and, as a result, the role that HEIs play to best prepare
their graduates has come in to question (Abelha et al., 2020; Bennett, 2019; Clarke, 2018;
Jackson, 2013; Kalfa & Taksa, 2015; Succi & Canovi, 2020).
Recent research has shown the concept of graduate employability to be more nuanced
and multi-dimensional than simply possessing academic credentials (Bennett, 2019; Jackson,
2016; Ramberg et al., 2021). While employers do look for strong subject matter knowledge, soft
skills, and the ability to transfer that knowledge into the workplace (Jackson et al., 2019; Kalfa &
Taksa, 2015), they also look for social, cultural, and psychosocial abilities that add to the
perception of a highly desirable and employable graduate (Clarke, 2018; Parutis & Howson,
2020; Tomlinson, 2017; Wells, 2008). In the form of graduate capital (Tomlinson, 2017), these
16

attributes are gained during the individual’s lived experiences and can play important roles in the
development of their employability (Bourdieu, 1986; Coleman, 1988; Lin, 2000; Putnam, 2001).
The sections that follow describe Tomlinson’s (2017) graduate capital model and the five
capitals that make up this framework. The discussion delineates the importance of two of the five
capitals, social and psychological capital, and their relevance to this study of employability.
From there, the review will move to the studies that have been undertaken on social capital and
its application and significance in post-secondary curricula and will subsequently relate its
importance to graduate employability and the implications for higher education. The same
format will follow for psychological capital and its significance to tertiary curricula,
employability skills, and the implications for higher education.
Conceptual Framework
Tomlinson’s (2017) graduate capitals conceptual framework was utilized to help
illuminate the question explored in this study. The model was chosen because it provides a more
nuanced view of graduate employability over the skills-based models that focus on discrete hard
and soft skills as they relate to an employable graduate (Mason et al., 2009; Wilton, 2011). This
framework explores how the capitals are developed during the academic programs and co-
curricular experiences at HEIs and presents how graduates may draw upon the capitals as they
transition to the labor market and manage their careers. The capitals that make up this model are
human, social, cultural, identity, and psychological and can confer significant employment and
life-skills advantages over those who do not develop and possess them (Clarke, 2018; Jameson et
al., 2016; Tomlinson, 2017). Figure 1 shows the model with the capitals, the related resources,
and how the graduate employs both the capital and the related resources as they transition to the
labor market (Tomlinson, 2017).
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Figure 1
Tomlinson’s (2017) Graduate Capital Model

Note. Adapted from “Forms of graduate capital and their relationship to graduate employability”
by M. Tomlinson, 2017, Education + Training, 59(4), 338–352. (https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-05-
2016-0090)

In the post-secondary environment, human capital consists of the skills, knowledge, and
abilities an individual acquires primarily through coursework (Coleman, 1988; Marginson,
2019), while social capital refers to the individual and their social networks and relationships that
can provide social, emotional, and professional support in job searches, securing employment,
and throughout a career (Bourdieu, 1986; Clarke, 2018; Creed & Gagliardi, 2015; Mishra, 2020;
Putnam, 2001). Cultural capital consists of a given population’s cultural values, propensities,
18

knowledge, and behaviors (Bourdieu, 1986; Kalfa & Taksa, 2015; Wells, 2008), such as those of
a corporation, an ethnic group, or a professional society. Identity capital refers to the graduate’s
developing identity with the self in relation to their chosen profession. This includes cultivating
the values, behaviors, and skills needed within that occupation (Chin et al., 2019, Creed &
Gagliardi, 2015; Jackson, 2016). Psychological capital consists of resources learned and utilized
by the graduate when adjusting and responding to professional challenges, employment barriers,
and other career management issues (Creed & Gagliardi, 2015; Donald et al., 2019; Rodrigues et
al., 2019; Tomlinson, 2017). Together, these five resources confer significant advantages to
those who have them over those who do not or who possess fewer of them and can ultimately
result in more favorable labor market outcomes for some graduates over others (Bourdieu &
Passeron, 1990; Fugate et al., 2004; Holmes, 2013; Lin, 2000; Parutis & Howson, 2020).
Of the five capitals in the Tomlinson (2017) model, social capital (Marginson, 2016;
Ovink & Veazey, 2011; Rodrigues et al., 2019; Tomlinson, 2017) and psychological capital
(Caballero et al., 2020; Tomlinson, 2017) become critical resources to the graduate who will
need to continually navigate the labor market landscape of the future (Rodríguez et al., 2020;
Tomlinson, 2017; Wells, 2008). The recent digitalization trends (Bergson-Shilcock, 2020;
Correia et al., 2020; Muro et al., 2017), the precariousness of the labor market (Bennett, 2019;
Chebly et al., 2020; DeFilippis et al., 2020) and the oversupply of graduates (Bennett et al.,
2020; Figueiredo et al., 2017; Marginson, 2016; Tomlinson & Anderson, 2020) require new
ways of reskilling graduates (DeFilippis et al., 2020; Kornelakis & Petrakaki, 2020). With the
demise of long-term, single-employer careers (Donald et al., 2019; Kornelakis & Petrakaki,
2020; Marginson, 2019) and the move toward transactional employment contracts (Bennett et al.,
2020; Clarke, 2018), the career management responsibility has shifted away from a shared
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obligation between the employer and the worker to management solely by the individual (Clarke
& Patrickson, 2008; Donald et al., 2019; Kornelakis & Petrakaki, 2020).
Studies conducted by Batistic and Tymon (2017), Caballero et al. (2020), and Creed and
Gagliardi (2015) suggest that strong social capital provides the means to skillfully network to
accomplish career and personal goals, discern and exploit opportunities, and in turn, act as a
strong support system during career crises. Caballero et al. (2020), Creed and Gagliardi (2015),
and Rodrigues et al. (2019) found that well-developed psychological capital aids in mitigating
the anguish that comes from career compromise and career distress, such as underemployment
and unemployment, and provides the means to place the individual in a better position to manage
job crises. Psychological capital is particularly important to graduates’ career management and
adaptability skills, especially during rapidly changing labor markets (Parutis & Howson, 2020;
Rodrigues et al., 2019; Tomlinson, 2017). While HEIs cannot compensate for volatile economic
climates, they can teach adaptability and resilience skills that can serve and support the graduate
through the vicissitudes of life. In the next sections, the discussion focus on the importance of
social and psychological capital to graduate employability.
Social Capital
Social capital theory posits that individuals who cooperate for a common good, share
goals and values, and depend on each other to achieve those goals generate social capital
(Bourdieu, 1986; Coleman, 1988; Putnam, 2000). Coleman (1988) and Putnam (2000) further
elaborated that social capital activities occurring within a network include (a) information
exchange, (b) expectations for group behaviors and norms that build trust and reciprocity, and (c)
the appointing of those in authority to support the realization of the group’s goals. In analyzing
inter- and intra-network relationships, Putnam (2000) constructed the concepts of bonding and
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bridging social capital to describe the nature of the relationships and their importance to the
individual or group. Bonding ties are the relationships within a community that may share the
same values, ethnicity, culture, and socioeconomic status and are usually restricted to those in
the network or community. Bridging ties refers to relationships outside the group and may
include those in different social classes, ethnic and religious groups, and other sociodemographic
characteristics. Resources of varying degrees are made available to the individual or the group by
virtue of these ties and levels of trust (Fearon et al., 2018; Tomlinson, 2017).
Granovetter’s (1973, 1985) work on the strength of relationships within and outside a
network is crucial to understanding the importance of graduate social capital. Strong ties with
close members of a group, such as family members, are one means of learning critical
information on educational and employment opportunities. For example, Bourdieu and Passeron
(1990), Lin (2000), and Marginson (2016) have shown that wealthy and well-connected family
members often transfer such knowledge to their children and others within their close social
network (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1990; Lin, 2000; Marginson, 2019). More recently, though,
Almeida et al. (2019), Bye et al. (2020), Mishra (2020), Parutis and Howson (2020), Plavin-
Masterman, (2017), and Wells (2008) found that underrepresented students demonstrated greater
interdependence with their family, friends, religious and ethnic ties and formed a stronger and
longer-lasting community of learners.
The weak ties postulated in Granovetter’s (1973) work highlight the importance of wide
and informal social connections to be meaningful and influential, especially in the area of
information propagation. The more an individual establishes and nurtures the weak connections
outside of their strong ties network, especially to crucial information sources, the more relational
trust that will be developed and reciprocated within the networks. In turn, the individual can
21

subsequently capitalize upon important information generated by the ties to other networks
(Coleman, 1988; Tomlinson, 2017).
Social Capital and Graduate Employability
In the context of graduate employability, the networks established between the students
and their environment provide social capital, which, in turn, helps to develop their employability
skills and enables them to exploit suitable employment and other opportunities (Caballero et al.,
2020; Fugate et al., 2004; Tomlinson, 2017). Bridging capital is more inclusive and offers greater
tolerance of outsiders, and as a result, offers the distinct advantage of bringing together different
individuals across different strata for different purposes (Andreas, 2018; Leonard & Onyx, 2003;
Putnam, 2000). Thus, students can harness more resources by developing and utilizing bridging
capital than bonding capital alone (Batistic & Tymon, 2017; Marginson, 2016).
College students typically gain social capital through their involvement in student
organizations, working with faculty on projects, summer internships and seed programs, and
other curricular and co-curricular activities (Andreas, 2018; Jackson & Bridgstock, 2021;
Jameson et al., 2016). HEIs have long recognized the importance of developing social capital
within academic curricula. Most have embedded leadership and collaborative team projects
within their coursework and programs (Choo et al., 2020; Jackson & Chapman, 2012; Kolb &
Kolb, 2017; Kornelakis & Petrakaki, 2020; Loucks & Ozogul, 2020) in addition to providing
opportunities for faculty to mentor students (Andreas, 2018; Mishra, 2020). Further, campus
career services provide opportunities for students to prepare for job interviews, such as resume
writing and participating in mock interviews, as well as offering Work-Integrated Learning
(WIL) and summer programs that give students the experience of work (Chin et al., 2019; Creed
& Gagliardi, 2015; Fearon et al., 2018; Jackson, 2016)
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With the digitalization of the labor market and the success of social networking sites,
studies have found that individuals are now generating more social capital, both bridging and
bonding, than in previous generations (Batistic & Tymon, 2017; Benson et al., 2014; Friend,
2020). Virtual interaction easily enables bridging capital by providing ready access to connect
individuals who may never meet in person and further provides virtual communities with
unlimited means for creating and sustaining social capital (Andreas, 2018; Salahuddin et al.,
2016). Universities across North America and Europe are now utilizing digital media for
international classroom collaborations to enhance students’ social capital and to develop
intercultural and employability skills (Howard & Gutworth, 2020; Petrovskaya & Shaposhnikov,
2020).
Implications for Higher Education
Most universities offer social networking activities designed to develop students’
socialization in academic life (Bye et al., 2020; Etcheverry et al., 2001; Friend, 2020). Further,
academic departments embed class projects and activities to develop various soft skills
comprising social capital, such as networking, teamwork, leadership, influencing others, and
self-management (Andreas, 2018; Kornelakis & Petrakaki, 2020; Loucks & Ozogul, 2020).
Together, these skills help create a highly employable graduate who shows clear advantages over
others with similar academic credentials (Bennett, 2019; Clarke, 2018; Tomlinson, 2017;
Tomlinson & Anderson, 2020).
The development of students’ social capital skills during the college years has become
increasingly important for graduates who did not begin their tertiary education with strong
bridging social capital (Dokuka et al., 2020; Lin, 2000; Ovink & Veazey, 2011). Many entering
college students need information on the application and admissions process, financial aid,
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course requirements, and campus resources. Almeida et al. (2019) found that most first-
generation college students (FGCS) had the bonding capital needed from college graduate
friends and family to obtain help on the application process. Stanton-Salazar (1997) found that
on-campus relationships provided most of the information on navigating through college life and
academics for first-year Latinx students. Yet, according to Rios-Aguilar’s and Deil-Amen’s
(2012) study, few of these students took advantage of on-campus social networks, primarily
because they were not aware of the networks’ importance to building their employability skills
and to information on employment opportunities. Parutis and Howson’s (2020) study on low-
SES students in the U.K. confirmed these findings. They also found that the students sometimes
struggled with their coursework because they worked part-time and felt they had to limit their
social activities to devote time to studying.
Research on post-secondary persistence for FGCS, underrepresented minorities (URM),
and adult learners have suggested that social capital, both bonding, and bridging, increases
retention and graduation rates (Almeida et al., 2019; Bourdieu & Passeron, 1990; Friend, 2020;
Mishra, 2020) and improves employment outcomes (Clarke, 2018; Marginson, 2016). Yet,
despite decades of resolutions and interventions to promote widening participation and social
mobility, research has also shown that HEIs are still perpetuating social inequality by building
social capital in inequitable ways (Bourdieu, 1986; Friend, 2020; Lin, 2001; Marginson, 2016).
According to Lin (2000, p. 786), social capital inequality is reinforced when (a)
underprivileged groups convene at disadvantaged socioeconomic positions and (b) groups of
people remain within their socioeconomic stratum. This stratification can also extend to ethnicity
and other demographics (Almeida et al., 2019; Hora, 2020; Mishra, 2020). Friend (2020)
conducted a case study on the stratification of underrepresented and underprivileged students at
24

three elite universities in the United States, England, and Scotland. She found that the lower SES
students’ social bonding patterns of remaining within their socioeconomic group illustrated why
they did not consistently demonstrate the same social advancement and employment success
rates as their wealthier peers. While the students felt it was important to gain emotional support
and a sense of belonging with their minority peers, the institutions neglected to introduce to their
students the significant advantages of bridging capital; the creation of new social capital with the
wealthier and socially privileged groups of students, faculty, and staff. These bridging ties are
central to academic persistence outcomes to ultimately lead to a successful career within a
chosen profession.
Despite the strong bonding ties that URM and FGCS groups have within their networks
of families, friends, and peers, bridging ties offer distinct advantages as students progress
through their academic programs and their objective shifts to finding and securing appropriate
employment. Sadly, labor market outcomes still show that these groups do relatively poorly after
graduation (Bennett, 2019; Brown, 2016; Hussar et al., 2020). Thus, there is a need for HEIs to
support these students in the context of their situations to avoid perpetuating the institutional
stratifications described by Lin (2000), Bennett (2019), and Parutis and Howson (2020).
Psychological Capital
In Tomlinson’s (2017) five capitals model, psychological capital refers to graduates’ use
of resources that facilitate the ability and adaptability to handle difficulties and obstacles over
their careers. Such events can include seasons of underemployment and unemployment,
disruptive changes in technology or competition that suddenly alter the course of a career, and
the general vicissitudes that occurs across most working lives.

25

Psychological Capital and Graduate Employability
Prior studies (Caballero et al., 2020; Donald et al., 2019; Savickas & Porfeli, 2012;
Tomlinson, 2012) have stressed the significance of training students in preparation for and
adapting to unexpected employment challenges that will be critical to their long-term career
success. Others, such as Brown et al. (2012), have demonstrated the importance of having a
flexible mindset when learning new skills, which could lead to successful career adaptability
during challenging times. Their research also showed the benefits of being open to new and
challenging experiences. Chen and Lim (2012) studied the value and effectiveness of self-
efficacy and resilience during a job loss. They found that graduates who had a stronger sense of
self-perceived employability showed greater effort and success in finding employment in
markets that directly related to their academic preparation and had utilized more effective coping
strategies during the season of unemployment.
Central to these strategies is the importance of psychological capital to graduates who
will enter a highly competitive and volatile labor market (Craig, 2019; Hussar et al., 2020).
Those with the ability to quickly adapt and be proactive to job market changes, who are resilient
and who have a resilience mindset in the face of adversity will be better equipped to manage
themselves and their careers during tough times (Caballero et al., 2020; Donald et al., 2019;
Mishra, 2020; Ovink & Veazey, 2011; Parutis & Howson, 2020).
Implications for Higher Education
Graduates have varying levels of inclinations and temperaments that relate to
psychological capital (Tomlinson, 2017). Some are very open to new experiences, and others
have low risk tolerance. Their career management skills will require instilling the importance of
resilience, adaptability, and a growth mindset as they transition to a rapidly changing and volatile
26

labor market (Caballero et al., 2020; Ovink &Veazey, 2011; Parutis & Howson, 2020). The
current research recommends that graduates realize the significance of taking control of their
careers and trajectory, but it appears that few HEIs have taken up the challenge of creating a
career management program that conveys the salience of psychological capital to their careers
(Caballero et al., 2020; Parutis & Howson, 2020; Tomlinson, 2017).
Tomlinson (2017) noted two issues related to career adaptability and their significance to
the graduate. First is the importance of career contingency planning in early work-life in which
the career path is managed by the graduate, as opposed to an employer. This career self-
management is also referred to as a protean career (Creed & Gagliardi, 2015; Friend, 2020).
According to Greek mythology, the god Proteus could change shape at will, and applying the
analogy, the protean graduate can reinvent the self in different careers, is autonomous, and is
self-directed (Hall, 2004).
The protean career came about as corporations moved away from hiring graduates who
developed industry-specific skills and were subsequently employed for life to those who develop
transferable skills and are lifelong learners but who move from company to company (Bennett,
2019; Donald et al., 2019; Kornelakis & Petrakaki, 2020; Marginson, 2019). This shifted the
career management responsibility from the corporation to the individual (Bennett, 2019;
Kornelakis & Petrakaki, 2020; Marginson, 2019). As a result, Tomlinson (2017) recommended
that career counselors and faculty sensitize students to the importance of preparing their career
plans to include multiple alternatives in jobs and pathways and not to assume a linear or well-
defined trajectory.
The second issue addresses the need for HEIs to manage and set the expectations of their
students for the transition from the college learning environment to work-life. Graduates may
27

assume that if their academic experience was relatively stable and successful, the transition into
their careers will be just as seamless. Kramer et al.’s (2013) study of nurses described the reality
shock encountered when they transitioned from academia to the hospital work environment. The
new graduates expected that the roles and responsibilities they learned in school would be
identical to those in bureaucratic hospital systems. When their work environment did not
coincide with what they were taught and had assumed, they experienced reality shock.
Tomlinson (2017) recommended that higher education establish a means of learning and
internalizing effective coping mechanisms for unavoidable setbacks and disappointments during
one’s career.
Graduate capital is central to the development of students’ employability skills and
enhancing employment outcomes. Social and psychological capital skills can be especially useful
in securing employment in a highly competitive labor market by granting access to important
information and supporting adaptability and resilience in managing a career. The examination of
graduate capital and employability skills will now shift to exploring how the COVID-19
pandemic and remote-work mandates have affected recent graduates’ job market prospects and
influenced the shift of important critical soft and hard skills.
Current Labor Market Issues and Projections
The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting shelter-in-place mandates catalyzed
significant paradigm shifts in almost every society’s understanding of work (Agrawal et al.,
2020; Chebly et al., 2020; Contreras et al., 2020; DeFilippis et al., 2020). For those who
remained fully employed, this had meant more virtual meetings and extended workdays
(DeFilippis et al., 2020), while for others, it meant underemployment (Bell & Blanchflower,
2020), reduced hours, furloughs, or unemployment (Bartik et al., 2020; Bell & Blanchflower,
28

2020; Goldsmith-Pinkham & Sojourner, 2020). Further, the economic impact continues to
disproportionately hurt minorities and other disadvantaged groups in low-wage jobs, not only in
developed nations (von Wachter, 2020) but around the world (Chebly et al., 2020). Also, the
labor market crisis the pandemic brought about significantly affected the 2020 and 2021
graduates and is projected to continue with the cohorts of 2022 (Rodríguez et al., 2020;
Rothstein, 2020; von Wachter, 2020). With this period of instability, it will be useful to review
the prevailing challenges that graduates who entered the labor market faced during periods of
recession and how these hardships continue to affect their future.
Effects of Beginning a Career During a Recession
Even prior to the pandemic, studies had underscored the negative employment and wage
outcomes for recent graduates looking for entry-level jobs during a recession. For example, in a
labor market study of graduate cohorts, Rothstein (2020) examined Current Population Survey
data for individuals between the ages of 22 and 40 from 1979 through 2019, which was the
period surrounding the Great Recession (2007–2009). The purpose was to compare labor market
outcomes before, during, and after the Great Recession to capture short-term and possible long-
term employment trends. The results suggest that recent graduates who enter the labor market
during periods of high unemployment have lower wages for about the first 10 years of their
careers but tend to regain what they lost in subsequent years. However, since 2005, the cohorts
have been experiencing lower employment rates that persist throughout their careers. Even with
the economy strengthening in 2011, Rothstein (2020) found that new graduate employment rates
continued to decline through 2019 for the successive cohorts. In their longitudinal university-
employer-employee dataset study, Oreopoulos et al. (2012) found that one reason for the long-
29

term decline in wages and employment may have been graduates who took jobs that did not have
clear routes for career advancement, which possibly diminished their prospects.
Analyzing previous empirical studies on graduate labor market entry during a recession,
von Wachter (2020) confirmed much of Rothstein’s (2020) and Oreopoulos et al.’s (2012)
findings. Among those results, three are particularly salient given the unprecedented labor
market collapse beginning in April 2020 (Bartik et al., 2020; Bell & Blanchflower, 2020) and the
subsequent unemployment rate soaring to 14.7% during the same period (BLS, 2020). First,
wage losses appear directly related to the nation’s unemployment rate. As a result, larger initial
wage losses can take longer to recover in deeper recessions, with some graduates making up
wage losses after 15 years. Second, graduates seeking employment during economic recessions
usually take lower-wage, lower-occupation jobs within lower industries, such as retail and
personal services, and they tend to remain in those occupations for longer periods. This puts the
graduate at risk for lengthy periods of underemployment and unemployment during the middle
of their careers. It is still unknown if the 2020 recession will extend the time for graduates to
make up for the wages lost and if there will be greater underemployment and unemployment
rates due to the global labor market collapse. Third, there is evidence of a positive causal
pathway in mortality rates of graduates who started work in the deep recession during the 1980s
and experienced the impacts of lower wages, underemployment, and unemployment. There were
significant disparities between their death rates and those of non-recession peers (Schwandt &
von Wachter, 2020; von Wachter, 2020). The authors found that recession graduates’ mortality
rates began to appear in their late 30s and increased through age 50, and their causes of death
included diseases like heart, liver, and lung cancer and drug abuse and overdoses. Bell and
Blanchflower (2020) also found evidence of economic, physical, and psychological hardships
30

that resulted from those who entered the labor market during periods of recession and high
unemployment.
Studies have confirmed the persistent effects of declining employment rates,
underemployment, and depressed wages that graduates have faced as they entered the job market
during times of recession. Research is being conducted to uncover the physical and
psychological harm that results from the long-term effects of beginning a career during periods
of economic distress. From these realities, the discussion will turn to the current work
environment that most developed nations constructed due to the pandemic. The work-from-home
mandates manifested the need for an employer’s workforce to reskill and upskill to prepare for
future remote work deployment.
Reskilling and Upskilling Due to the Increase in Remote Work
Underemployment and unemployment rates vary significantly across college majors
(Abel & Deitz, 2017; Craig, 2019). While the relationship between degree major and
employment is not directly causal, the pandemic brought to light the importance of remote work
digital skills and abilities (Abulibdeh, 2020; Agrawal et al., 2020; Bergson-Shilcock, 2020;
Chebly et al., 2020; DeFilippis et al., 2020; Loucks & Ozogul, 2020; Muro et al., 2017). A
survey conducted by Gartner, Inc., a research firm, revealed that nearly 74% of CFOs and other
financial leaders are planning to keep a portion of their staff as permanent remote workers
(Lavelle, 2020). This will require significant reskilling and upskilling of employees in support of
post-pandemic business models that are rapidly emerging (Agrawal et al., 2020; Chebly et al.,
2020; Contreras et al., 2020).
As defined in this paper, the term “reskilling” is the learning of new skills so that an
employee can perform different job tasks, which often involves developing technical skills in
31

support of their current responsibilities, while “upskilling” is the training and preparation of a
worker to advance in their career path and skills (Bennett & McWhorter, 2021). In an April 15,
2020, McKinsey Insights report, Fine et al. (2020) noted that the pandemic created a new skills
paradigm for organizations that required a transition from face-to-face training and coursework
to an online format that has put more emphasis on soft skills, such as creativity and teamwork. In
a May 2020 McKinsey Organizational Practice report, Agrawal et al. (2020) acknowledged a
similar skills shift that required most corporations and institutions to rapidly reskill part of their
workforces to learn and perform critical organizational functions remotely. Several think tank
reports published prior to the pandemic had noted the important role of digital literacy in the
reskilling and upskilling of the labor force (Bergson-Shilcock, 2020; Craig, 2019; Muro et al.,
2017), and have since included social, emotional, and adaptability skills that aid in supporting
virtual work environments (Agrawal et al., 2020; Contreras et al., 2020; Fine et al., 2020).
Virtual Teams
With more companies deploying their workforce remotely and supporting their business
through virtual technologies, virtual teams are being created and heavily utilized to support those
critical processes (Agrawal et al., 2020; Bennett & McWhorter, 2021; Maduka et al., 2018). For
the purposes of this paper, “virtual teams” is defined as a group of individuals whose work spans
different time zones, physical locations, and organizational boundaries and who interact through
coordinated communications media (Schmidt, 2014). Well before the work-from-home
mandates, virtual teams had been utilized by 66% of multinational firms, according to a 2012
study conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). While the purposes
for the virtual teams varied, 72% of the institutions stated that brainstorming sessions for
32

problem solving and other issues were the most successful utilization of virtual teams, which
allowed for subject matter experts to be brought together quickly.
In contrast, however, there are significant challenges to overcome for virtual teams to
become successful. Over half of the organizations surveyed by the SHRM reported that building
relationships and trust between leadership and between team members was the most difficult
obstacle to overcome. Research conducted by Maduka et al. (2018) also confirmed this finding.
Other studies have shown that barriers to team success include cultural and communications
differences (DuFrene & Lehman, 2015), lack of technical skills mastery (Brewer et al., 2015),
and lack of virtual leadership skills (Maduka et al., 2018; SHRM, 2012). Maynard et al. (2012)
found that planning and preparation diminished the risk of difficulties.
Companies have already started to reskill and cross-train their employees to fill critical
job functions in preparation for future crises that may require a remote work transition (Agrawal
et al., 2020; Fine et al., 2020). New skills needs—virtual, digital, and non-technical skills—are
still being identified as companies transition back to their physical base of operations, although
few expect to return to business as usual (Agrawal et al., 2020; Bennett & McWhorter, 2021).
Non-Technical Skills Projections and Future of Work Projections
For the past year, organizations have experienced firsthand not only the importance of
their workforces’ digital skills but the significance of their soft skills, such as creative thinking,
adaptability, resilience, and empathy (Agrawal et al., 2020; Bennett & McWhorter, 2021;
Contreras et al., 2020). The following section will discuss the soft skills findings from three
different organizations. The first report is a study conducted by two researchers comparing the
importance of soft skills from European employers’ and business school students’ perspectives
prior to the transition to remote work. The second report, also conducted prior to the pandemic,
33

resulted from a survey of employers on graduate soft skills competencies. The third report
examined the soft and knowledge skills trends and projections from 2015 to 2020 from the
World Economic Forum’s partners and constituents. It includes data during the first several
months after the lockdown and the subsequent transition to remote work. The fourth study,
conducted by Lund et al. in February 2021, closely examined the extensive ramifications that the
COVID-19 pandemic had on the nature of work across various international economies and the
job trends that emerged.
In 2020, Succi and Canovi conducted research in different European countries on
employer, business school student, and graduate perceptions of non-technical skills and their
importance to employability. The authors noted that 86% of the participants (N = 300) felt that
soft skills had increased in significance over the previous 5 to 10 years. The results show that the
top three most necessary to increase graduate employability skills were communication skills,
being committed to work, and teamwork skills. When asked how well HEIs prepared students for
acquiring and applying soft skills, over 60% of employers responded that graduates were either
not well or not very well prepared. Further, employers noted in the qualitative comments that
students lacked self-awareness and did not take responsibility for enhancing their soft skills.
In 2016, PayScale, an American data company specializing in compensation products and
services, conducted a workforce-skills preparedness survey of over 60,000 managers on new
graduates’ skills deficiencies (PayScale, 2016). In a follow-up 2019 compensation study, the
company examined how both hard skills and soft skills affected graduate salaries (PayScale,
2019). The company found that soft skills were ranked in equal importance with hard skills when
assessing compensation and that graduates were deficient in both hard skills and soft skills.
Figure 2 shows a list of soft skills and the percentage of surveyed managers who felt graduates
34

were lacking in those skills. Sixty percent of managers noted that critical thinking and problem-
solving abilities were lacking in graduates, and over half listed attention to detail as a
shortcoming. The study further noted that while 87% of new graduates believed they were
prepared for graduate-level employment, only 50% of managers felt new graduates were ready
for full-time employment.

Figure 2
Graduates Lacking in Soft Skills

Note. Adapted from Leveling Up: How to Win in the Skills Economy, by PayScale, Inc., 2021.
(https://www.payscale.com/data-packages/job-skills). Copyright 2021 by PayScale, Inc.
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Interpersonal skills/teamwork
Ownership
Leadership
Communication
Attention to detail
Critical Thinking
Problem-solving
36%
44%
44%
46%
56%
60%
60%
Soft Skill
Percentage of Graduates Lacking in Specific Soft Skills
% Managers Reporting N=63,924
35

The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2016 compared the top 10 soft
skills as ranked by their partners and constituents in 2015 and further projected the skills needs to
2020. The forum’s October 2020 Future of Jobs Report shows a similar skill set in the top spots
for the 2025 projection (World Economic Forum, 2020). Employers and others surveyed
believed that technical and non-technical skills were equally crucial to securing future
employment. Table 1 shows a comparison of the top 10 skills for the year 2015 and the projected
skills to 2020, and then in 2020, the skills projected to the year 2025. Complex problem solving
remained in the top position for the skills in 2015 and projected to 2020. In 2016, however, the
employers surveyed believed that the Fourth Industrial Revolution would change the skill needs
in the Number 2 and 3 spots for 2020, respectively, from Coordinating with others to critical
thinking and people management to creativity (World Economic Forum, 2016). Critical thinking
and analysis and problem-solving skills have consistently remained in the top spots for over 10
years. In contrast, skills such as leadership, social influence, and the self-management group of
skills (active learning and resilience, stress tolerance, and flexibility) are new to the list. It is
these skills that make up an integral part of the social and psychological capital that graduates
will draw upon as they begin their transition from the academy to employment and as they
progress through their careers (Clarke, 2018; Creed & Gagliardi, 2015; Tomlinson, 2017;
Tomlinson & Anderson, 2020).

36

Table 1
Comparison of Top 10 Skills for 2015, 2020, and Projected to 2025
Rank For 2015

Rank For 2020

Rank For 2025
1 Complex problem
solving

1 Complex problem
solving

1 Analytical thinking
2 Coordinating with
others

2 Critical thinking

2 Active learning,
learning
strategies
3 People management

3 Creativity

3 Complex problem
solving
4 Critical thinking

4 People management

4 Critical thinking
and analysis
5 Negotiation

5 Coordinating with
others

5 Creativity
6 Quality control

6 Emotional
intelligence

6 Leadership and
social influence
7 Service orientation

7 Judgement and
decision-making

7 Technology use,
monitoring, and
control
8 Judgment and
decision-making

8 Service orientation

8 technology design
and programming
9 Active listening

9 Negotiation

9 Resilience, stress
tolerance and
flexibility
10 Creativity

10 Cognitive flexibility

10 Reasoning, problem
solving, and
ideation

Note. Comparison of the top 10 soft skills as ranked by World Economic Forum partners and
constituents in 2015 and then further projected the skills needs to 2020. Comparison of 2025
skills projected from the WEF 2020 survey. Adapted from Future of Jobs Report by World
Economic Forum, 2016, AND Future of Jobs Report by World Economic Forum, 2020.
Copyright 2016 and 2020 by World Economic Forum.

37

The World Economic Forum’s (2020) report also indicated that 94% of employers
expected employees to reskill and upskill on the job, as opposed to through formal training. This
is up sharply from 65% in 2018. Consequently, the technical and non-technical skills training,
acquisition, and transfer for undergraduate students becomes even more crucial during their time
in HEIs.
McKinsey & Company’s Global Institute recently published its Future of Work After
Covid-19 report (Lund et al., 2021). The research team noted three wide-ranging, pre-pandemic
trends that COVID-19 hastened and were likely to impact future jobs. These are (a) the transition
to remote work and subsequent adoption of platforms that supported virtual interactions, (b) the
increase in the use of e-commerce platforms and apps that limit or displace the need for physical
transactions, and (c) the implementation of technology and artificial intelligence.
Remote Work
Telework, or remote working, has been utilized and implemented in various ways in
diverse industries over the past four decades (Abulibdeh, 2020; Agrawal et al., 2020; Contreras
et al., 2020; Muro et al., 2017). With support from the employer’s information and
communications technologies (ICT) infrastructure, telework provides employees with a flexible
arrangement to achieve their work responsibilities in various locales other than the employer’s
physical site (de Vries et al., 2019). Prior to the pandemic in early 2020, 3.4% of the U.S.
population was working remotely (Germain & McGuire, 2022) due to (a) globalization, (b) their
employer’s desire to curtail rising commercial real estate and other operating costs, (c)
technology advances in ICTs (Abulibdeh, 2020; Contreras et al., 2020), and (d) better
management of local customer needs due to the decentralization of most organizations’
workforces (Felstead & Henseke, 2017). By June 2020, to contain the spread of the pandemic,
38

42% of full-time U.S. workers were working from home, although this fell to 21% by March
2021 (BLS, 2021).
Now that most of the labor force can return to their physical job locations, employers are
grappling with a significant attitude shift in their workforce regarding remote work. McKinsey &
Company, the Gartner Group, and Owl Labs have conducted remote work surveys on employer
versus employee viewpoints on remote work (De Smet, Dowling, Mysore, & Reich, 2021; Kropp
& McCrae, 2022; Owl Labs, 2022). The reports have shown that employers are feeling the
pressure of offering remote work benefits to keep their high performers and attract top-level
talent, both locally and in geographically dispersed areas. However, employers are hesitant to
offer fully remote work beyond requiring physical presence in the office two to three days per
week due to concerns over productivity and maintenance of the corporate culture. As a result,
employees are voting with their feet. A McKinsey 2021 employer survey (De Smet, Dowling,
Mugayar-Baldocchi, & Schaninger, 2021) found that 53% had experienced increased voluntary
turnover compared to previous years and that 64% expected the problem to continue or to
increase over the subsequent 6 months. The same survey found that 40% (N = 845) of employees
were at least somewhat likely to leave their current job within the coming year. Of the 64% who
left their jobs within the past 6 months, 87% stated that their new employer allowed remote work
with few in-person office days and that they did not need to relocate from their homes to
accommodate those in-person days.
Increase in E-commerce Use
According to Lund et al. (2020), internet retail sales in 2020 increased two- to five-fold
from the pre-pandemic rate. Other activities, such as telemedicine, online banking, and video
streaming, have experienced considerable growth due to the easy access and wide availability of
39

virtual platforms. E-commerce is further expected to see significant growth because it promotes
the physical distancing of services and the safety of essential workers and because of its relative
ease of use.
Rapid Adoption of Technology Supporting Physical Distancing
During recessions, research has shown that jobs with highly repetitive tasks diminish
because they are either incorporated as part of other job processes or are automated as employers
endeavor to control costs and increase efficiencies (Autor & Dorn, 2013; Lund et al., 2021). As
with e-commerce, technology companies provide the public with a plethora of platforms and
applications that support the reduction of workplace density and contactless services, and the
demand for such technologies is increasing (Agrawal et al., 2020; Lund et al., 2021). For
example, retailers have installed additional self-checkout scanners in grocery stores, and robots
are now utilized to deliver supplies to hospitals. Thus, Lund and colleagues (2021) projected that
jobs with high human interaction will likely experience the most pronounced implementation of
automation.
In summary, the skills trends and future of work reports show that employers highly
value both soft and hard skills. While there is disagreement between employers on the most
crucial soft skills even prior to the shift to remote work, soft skills as they relate to digital skills
are still rising in importance. One example of this is the ability to work effectively in virtual
teams, in which the skills of videoconferencing, effective communications, teamwork, critical
thinking, and problem solving are utilized.
Given that HEIs work to increase their graduates’ employability skills, the question arises
as to how much responsibility these institutions bear for the development and transfer of these
skills to the workplace. The following section examines the concept of employability,
40

employability skills, and the environmental and economic factors that compel HEIs to produce
work-ready graduates. The discussion then moves to an overview of stakeholder views on the
skills that comprise a highly employable graduate.
The Role of Higher Education Institutions in Creating an Employable Graduate
Preparing students for employment is often the primary purpose of obtaining a post-
secondary education. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2018), the Great
Recession of 2007–2009 revealed that many recent college graduates, defined as those between
the ages of 22 and 27 years, were underemployed or unemployed. In looking more closely at the
U.S. Census and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, however, Abel and Deitz (2017) found
that from 1990 to 2012, the employment outcomes for struggling new graduates were not
unusual. The authors hypothesized that many had difficulty in their transition to the labor market
and needed time to find a position that related to their field of study. Nevertheless, they
discovered that the rate of underemployed new graduates rose from 34% in 2001 to 44% in 2012,
and the unemployed graduate rate rose from 5.5% in 2001 to 7% in 2012. Further, the authors
found that the jobs held by the underemployed were of lower quality, with most working part-
time or in low-wage positions.
Governments and industries are increasingly applying pressure to HEIs to provide
evidence of the value and effectiveness of post-secondary education (Bennett, 2019; Jackson &
Chapman, 2012). In the United States and other developed countries, government policy has
consistently pushed for increased access to higher education to provide greater equity and access
to economic mobility and wealth (Cahalan et al., 2019; Tomlinson, 2017), and as a result,
policymakers are increasingly calling for measurable outcomes (Holmes, 2013; McLendon et al.,
2009; Mumper et al., 2011). Even external accrediting organizations have tied learning outcome
41

specifications to employability measurements (Jackson, 2012). In 2011, for example, The
Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB, 2011), a highly respected
accrediting body for business schools worldwide, tied employability skills to their assurance of
learning standards. Despite these measures, labor market outcomes have demonstrated that the
acquisition of college-level academic knowledge does not assure graduate-level employment
(Abel & Deitz, 2017; Bennett, 2019; Kornelakis & Petrakaki, 2020; Marginson, 2019; Piróg,
2016).
To provide context to HEIs’ role in employability skills development, this section will
begin with an overview of the concept of employability. Specifically, an examination will focus
on the difference between employment and employability, the trends affecting employability,
and the skillsets most often associated with graduate employability. From there, the discussion
will move to an overview of the employability debate, including the economic and public policy
climate surrounding the debate, and then will transition to the stakeholder views on graduate
employability.
Employment and Employability
The terms “employment” and “employability” are often used interchangeably; thus,
governments often report employment outcomes as graduate employability (Abel & Deitz, 2017;
Bennett, 2019; Chebly et al., 2020; Parutis & Howson, 2020). Consequently, it is important to
make a distinction between the terms “employment,” having a job, and “employability,” having
the knowledge, skills, and attributes that make it more likely for the individual to secure
meaningful work across their careers (Bennett, 2019; Pool & Sewell, 2007). Wilton (2011)
provided a clear separation between the two meanings, stating that it “is possible to be
employable, yet unemployed or underemployed” (p. 87).
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While there is no universally accepted definition of employability, one widely accepted
explanation provided by Hillage and Pollard (1998) defines employability as
the capability to move self-sufficiently within the labour market to realise potential
through sustainable employment. For the individual, employability depends on the
knowledge, skills and attitudes they possess, the way they use those assets and present
them to employers and the context (e.g., personal circumstances and labour market
environment) within which they seek work. (p. 12)
This definition takes into consideration the interrelationship between the supply-side
influences, such as the graduate’s knowledge, capital, and attributes, and the demand side
factors, such as the labor market environment and employer points of view (Clarke, 2018;
Rodríguez et al., 2020; Suleman, 2018; Tomlinson, 2017). Further, it recognizes that
employability is not merely the potential for employment. It includes a more nuanced meaning
that gives room for growth and well-being over a career (Bennett, 2019; Clarke, 2018; Kalfa &
Taksa, 2015; Krouwel et al., 2019; Pool & Sewell, 2007; Tomlinson & Anderson, 2020).
Trends Affecting Employability
To provide context on the concept of employability, this section will focus on three
important trends that have significantly changed the landscape of the labor market over the last
20 years. These are (a) the massification, or mass higher education, of post-secondary education,
(b) technology trends and the increased need for digital skills, and (c) lifelong learning and the
protean career.
Mass Higher Education and the Importance of Signals
Mass higher education has created an oversupply of graduates with similar competencies
and aptitudes (Bennett, 2019; Figueiredo et al., 2017; Marginson, 2016; Tight, 2019). For the
43

purposes of this paper, mass higher education will refer to the transition of higher education,
beginning in the mid-20th century, from a small group of institutions serving primarily elites to a
broad range of institutions designed to accommodate a mass student population (Marginson,
2016; Tight, 2019; Trow, 1999). The surfeit of graduates intensified the competition for the
limited supply of jobs; thus, simply having a diploma in hand will not guarantee a job in a
chosen profession (Bennett, 2019; Clarke, 2018; Kornelakis & Petrakaki, 2020; Tomlinson &
Anderson, 2020).
Another related consequence of mass education is the dilution of the premium value of
the undergraduate degree as viewed by employers, such that now the degree acts as a generic
credential or signal about the graduate’s capabilities (Hora, 2020; Marginson, 2016). Studies on
graduate capital by Hora (2020) and Tomlinson and Anderson (2020) found that employers
placed greater importance on other forms of signals and that these signals are relatively stratified.
On a job application, for example, the employer is looking for certain signals that determine if
there is an initial fit of the applicant to the job and to the organization. They may first look at the
graduate’s awarding institution and type of degree and then at the digital and virtual skills
possessed. Beyond that, a potential employer may or may not take the time to look for necessary
soft skills, such as teamwork and creative thinking, and then finally to the capital possessed, such
as cultural and social capital. The studies found that employers believed soft skills and capital
can be assessed during interviews, so the presence of digital skills is what will first capture the
employer’s attention. Much of the importance of hard and soft skills rests on how the job
candidate presents this information on a CV and on how the employer receives it.
To compete successfully in the job market, graduates must master their academic
proficiencies as well as their soft skills and graduate capital (Andreas, 2018; Batistic & Tymon,
44

2017; Caballero et al., 2020; Creed & Gagliardi, 2015; Hora, 2020; Kalfa & Taksa, 2015;
Tomlinson, 2017). This combination of knowledge, skills, and capital is intended to convey to
potential employers those graduates who are considered most employable over others with
similar academic profiles (Bennett, 2019; Muro et al., 2017; Tomlinson & Anderson, 2020).
Therefore, the graduates must learn to convey this information clearly and effectively on a job
application and CV (Hora, 2020; Tomlinson, 2017; Tomlinson & Anderson, 2020).
Technology Trends and Digital Skills
Over the last 2 decades, changes in the labor market have led to increasing calls by
employers, higher education, and governments in developed nations to prioritize digital skills as
part of the post-secondary curricula (Craig, 2019; Bergson-Shilcock, 2020; Muro et al., 2017). A
report published by the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program (Muro et al., 2017) states that
digitalization continues to automate day-to-day tasks, which often require greater technical
know-how and the application of that knowledge to other corporate contexts. For example, a
medical supplies product manager can quickly run internal ad-hoc reports and financial
projections utilizing real-time data, but by incorporating external data from their suppliers, the
manager can project how quickly the supply chain can support the company’s product shipments
and when the profits can be realized.
The Brookings report further noted that digitalization also affects the supply of jobs. The
prerequisite for digital skills creates inequalities in the labor market by excluding those with few
or no computer skills. Brookings reported that almost 90% of graduate-level jobs now necessitate
mid- to high-level digital skills. While these shifts have opened significant employment
opportunities, such as a cloud services architect and social media manager, they have also
redefined careers requiring increased digital skills, especially given the quick pace of
45

technological change (Agrawal et al., 2020; Bergson-Shilcock, 2020; Howcroft & Bergvall-
Kareborn, 2019). For example, Autor and Dorn (2013) found that the jobs that employ rote tasks
with explicit rules, such as factory assembly line work or entry-level accounting, have seen many
of their job tasks automated. At the same time, jobs that utilize non-routine tasks and require
problem solving or other creative intervention, such as project management and surgery, tend to
have their tasks enhanced by automation and, in turn, require regular digital reskilling to keep up
with technological improvements.
Other reports and studies have indicated the importance of embedding digital education
and software or software-as-a-service platforms in post-secondary curricula to close the skills
gap (Abulibdeh, 2020; Agrawal et al., 2020; Craig, 2019). Abulibdeh (2020), Craig (2019), and
Muro et al. (2017) pointed out that soft skills are also lacking among workers with high digital
skills, which limits their productivity since teamwork, communications, and other non-technical
skills are important for accomplishing day-to-day and project tasks. Muro et al. (2017) further
suggested that the development and refinement of soft skills provide a unique strength that
technology cannot yet match.
Lifelong Learning and the Protean Career
Keeping up with the rapidly changing technologies and digital skills requires a lifelong
learning mindset during new graduates’ careers (Clarke, 2018; Donald et al., 2019; Kornelakis &
Petrakaki, 2020; Rodrigues et al., 2019). Digitalization and globalization influenced the move
away from the traditional lifetime career with a single employer to one where workers move
across organizations rather than within them (Bennett et al., 2020; Kornelakis & Petrakaki, 2020;
Marginson, 2019). Thus, the new career ecosystem, also known as the protean career, requires
graduates continually update their employability skills and closely manage the direction of their
46

careers instead of relying on the employer to support and guide them (Clarke & Patrickson,
2008; Creed & Gagliardi, 2015; Donald et al., 2019; Tomlinson, 2017).
Overview of the Employability Skills Debate
There is a multitude of ways in which the literature addresses the issue of differing
stakeholder views on employability skills. There are the supply-side stakeholders, the
universities and students, and the demand-side stakeholder, primarily the employer. Studies have
been conducted from the points of view of industry, students, and post-secondary institutions,
which have added to the complexity of the concept and to the nuanced meanings and contexts of
the desired skills (Andreas, 2018; Bennett, 2019; Clarke, 2018; Craig, 2019; Jackson &
Chapman, 2012; Kornelakis & Petrakaki, 2020, Loucks & Ozogul, 2020). Thus, HEIs, especially
in Europe and Australia, have had pressure from their governments to include employability
skills development and outcomes in their reporting data, yet the lack of clarity on what exactly
encompasses employability has been pervasive (Bennett, 2019; Jackson, 2013; Kornelakis &
Petrakaki, 2020; Parutis & Howson, 2020; Tomlinson, 2017). Two factors that affect
employability skills development are the type of industry and position for which the graduate is
training. A cancer research institution will require different skills than a hotel management chain.
Additional considerations, which HEIs cannot control, are labor market conditions, such as
economic recession and the introduction of disruptive technologies (Abel & Deitz, 2017;
Suleman, 2018).
Researchers who have studied the collective stakeholder perspectives have attempted to
prioritize key employability skills intended to be applicable across a broad range of industries
and job profiles (Bennett, 2019; Fearon et al., 2020; Jackson & Chapman, 2012; Kornelakis &
Petrakaki, 2020; Succi & Canovi, 2020). The U.K., Australia, and other developed-world
47

governments have synthesized these lists for their public policy and educational purposes
(Bennett, 2019; Jackson & Chapman, 2012; Wilton, 2011). In the United States, the U.S.
Department of Education (n.d.) compiled a list of employability skills, the employability skills
framework. This framework divides the competencies into three main areas: (a) applied
knowledge, (b) effective relationships, and (c) workplace skills. Applied knowledge consists of
the academic and critical thinking skills learned in post-secondary education. Academic skills
include reading, writing, and math skills and critical thinking skills, which consist of creative
thinking, problem solving, reasoning, and planning and organizational skills. Effective
relationships are the interpersonal skills and personal qualities that support and enhance effective
relationships. These attributes include the ability to work as a team, conflict management and
resolution, strong leadership skills, self-discipline, willingness to learn, and professionalism.
Workplace skills include the proficiencies necessary to support successful employment and
careers. These competencies include time management, strong verbal and written communication
skills, and understanding and applying digital technologies to accomplish job tasks. Except for
the academic skills, all other attributes are considered non-technical skills, soft skills, or a subset
of graduate capital. For the purposes of this paper, the terms “non-technical skills” and “soft
skills” will be used interchangeably.
Economic and public policy reports have confirmed the significance of non-technical
skills to employability. The World Economic Forum identified 16 critical skills for 21st-century
employment, of which 10 are non-technical (Deloitte Access Economics, 2017, p. 1). In a report
issued by the Public Policy Institute on American millennials’ skills gap, Craig (2019) stated that
employers are struggling to fill millions of mid- and high-skill jobs primarily because they
cannot find enough qualified candidates who have the requisite digital and soft skills. Craig
48

explained that those who have the digital skills sometimes lack important soft skills and that
employers are not willing to invest in expensive training to hire and train the candidate only to
find that the new hire is unable or unwilling to develop the skills.
Stakeholder Perspectives on Employability Skills Development
Incorporating employability skills as part of the learning process has provided significant
challenges to HEIs across the globe (Bennett, 2019; Clarke, 2018; Jackson, 2016; Kornelakis &
Petrakaki, 2020; Marginson, 2016). Several diverse factors have caused this issue to come to the
forefront of public policy. These include the soft and digital skills shortages and gaps identified
by employers (Bergson-Shilcock, 2020; Craig, 2019; Muro et al., 2017), a highly competitive
labor market (Marginson, 2016) that has, in part, brought about persistent under- and
unemployment rates of recent graduates (Abel & Deitz, 2017), and the emerging ecosystem of
multiple-company and multiple-career lifetime patterns (Bennett, 2019; Donald et al., 2019;
Rodrígues et al., 2019). Further, national policies in the developed nations have associated the
narrow human capital concept of knowledge and skill with increased economic value and
employment outcomes while ignoring the significance of the soft skills and graduate capital
(Craig, 2019; Jackson & Bridgstock, 2021; Kornelakis & Petrakaki, 2020; Muro et al., 2017;
Tomlinson, 2017). Despite the limitation, post-secondary institutions have the responsibility to
cultivate graduate employability. This chapter will now move from a general discussion of the
debate to the specific issues influencing the debate between students, employers, and post-
secondary institutions.
Student Perspective
In times past, an undergraduate degree conferred lifetime employment and a long career,
usually with one employer who would assist with career management issues (Bennett, 2019;
49

Succi & Canovi, 2020). Nowadays, graduates are challenged by greater competition for jobs
(Clarke, 2018; Marginson, 2016) and shoulder the primary responsibility for managing their
careers (Creed & Gagliardi, 2015; Donald et al., 2019; Rodrigues et al., 2019). If graduates are to
meet today’s labor market challenges, then it is imperative that HEIs properly prepare them with
employability skills that can be sustained across their careers (Bennett et al., 2020; Jackson &
Bridgstock, 2021; Kornelakis & Petrakaki, 2020; Succi & Canovi, 2020; Tomlinson, 2017).
This section reviews three studies on students’ perceptions of employability preparedness
and the importance of various soft skills. The first two studies describe the student perceptions
on the level of employment preparedness for knowledge-based skills and soft skills, and the third
study elicits student rankings of a list of soft skills and compares them with employer rankings.
In a recent study of 6,004 Australian university business school students, Bennett et al.
(2020) utilized a social cognitive framework to obtain students’ views on the growth and
refinement of employability skills. They found that students were primarily concerned that the
curriculum adequately prepared them for graduate-level employment. This held true for those in
the initial year of their programs, in the middle years, and in their final year. Specifically,
students felt they were moderately prepared for the knowledge-based skills needed for the job
but that the co-curricular activities did little to prepare them for the soft skills and graduate
capital needed to navigate the labor market.
In a separate study, Jackson and Bridgstock (2021) explored student perceptions of their
participation in and on the importance of embedded, co-curricular and extra-curricular activities
on employability development. They surveyed 510 graduates from business and creative
industries undergraduate schools in Australia (business = 279, creative industries = 194, double
degree = 37). The authors found that while embedded learning programs supported skills
50

development and general networking, they did not seem to boost career outcomes. In contrast,
internships and extra-curricular activities were perceived to increase employability, as did paid
work that was relevant to a desired profession. These findings point out the significant role HEIs
can play in collaborating with various industries on short-term employment opportunities.
A European study conducted by Succi and Canovi (2020) compared how 131 employers,
and 169 students ranked a list of 20 soft skills. The employers, graduates, and students
participating in the research were primarily German and Italian. Two salient findings emerged
regarding both groups of stakeholders. First, there was a notable difference of opinion on the
importance of soft skills to employability. Students stated that they believed knowledge skills
were more important to employers than soft skills, while employers ranked soft skills as having
greater importance than knowledge-based skills. Second, a t-test analysis was conducted on the
employer and student rankings of the list of soft skills. The results showed that the soft skills
students ranked most highly were contact network and conflict management skills, yet employers
ranked being professionally ethical and adaptability to change as most important. This study
points out the disparity between student, graduate, and employer opinions of crucial soft skills
needed to enhance a graduate’s employability.
Employer Perspective
For over 3 decades, employers and HEIs have been at odds as to who bears the primary
responsibility for graduate employability skills development (Clarke, 2018; Hora, 2020;
Kornelakis & Petrakaki, 2020; Jackson, 2013; Succi & Canovi, 2020; Tomlinson & Anderson,
2020). Employers claim that HEIs are not doing enough to train students in digital and soft skills
(Craig, 2019; Kornelakis & Petrakaki, 2020; Loucks & Ozogul, 2020; Muro et al., 2017). The
studies in this section describe employers’ frustration with the lack of graduates who mastered
51

the skills employers need and discuss how employers may be contributing to their employability
dilemma.
In a recent Progressive Policy Institute report on Americans’ skills gap, Craig (2019)
argued that millions of middle and highly skilled positions go unfilled because employers cannot
find candidates with necessary digital skills and soft skills. He further stated that employers pass
over those with strong soft skills because they initially look for strong digital skills, yet those
with strong digital skills tend to be weak in soft skills. Studies conducted by Hora (2020) and
Tomlinson and Anderson (2020) support Craig’s (2019) assertions on graduates who are strong
in soft skills. They found that these skills are more difficult to assess properly without an
interview; thus a graduate’s CV may be passed over if it does not explicitly connect the soft skill
to an activity or accomplishment. As a result, according to Craig (2019), employers contribute to
the soft skills deficit because they overemphasize hiring those who are strong in digital skills and
those who have years of prior relevant experience into entry-level positions. Thus, the lack of
hiring of those who are strong in soft skills and who qualify for entry-level positions contributes
to the lack of diversity required for an organization’s competitiveness in the global marketplace.
In the European study that compared student and employer ranking on soft skills, Succi
and Canovi (2020) commented that the differences of opinion may be due to students’ lack of
work experience and generational differences between the managers and students answering the
questions. The study team further noted that the employers felt that HEIs were not
communicating the full importance of soft skills development to students. Additional studies
conducted by the Wall Street Journal and LinkedIn illustrate the pervasiveness of the soft skills
deficits as perceived by employers. Of the 900 executives surveyed by the Wall Street Journal in
2015, 89% stated that finding candidates with the required soft skills was problematic (Davidson,
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2016). In a 2016 study conducted by LinkedIn, 59% of hiring managers stated that strong soft
skills were difficult to find in potential hires and that this shortfall has curtailed their
organization’s productivity (Berger & Gan, 2016).
Craig (2019) noted that two disparate issues, which he labeled frictions, perpetuate the
skills gaps. Education friction is due to higher education’s unwillingness to teach students the
specific digital skills necessary for entry-level positions. The argument is twofold: (a) the faculty
who control the academic programs are not incentivized to change curricula to meet employer
requirements, and (b) they believe specific digital skills required by employers will become
obsolete within a few years. Hiring friction is the employers’ resistance to hiring those who do
not have prior relevant experience, including graduates with strong soft skills, which may
explain why employers fill entry-level positions with candidates who have years of relevant
experience, including digital skills. As a result of the excessive focus on digital skills, employers
eliminate qualified individuals who could contribute to the diversity of skills and capitals that
organizations need to remain competitive and economically strong (Bennett, 2019; Clarke, 2018;
Craig, 2019; Muro et al., 2017; Tomlinson & Anderson, 2020).
Post-Secondary Institution Perspective
To address increasing pressure from governments and employer groups to improve
employment outcomes and employability skills, HEIs incorporated a series of programs
developing students’ knowledge, skills, and capital embedded within the curricula (Bennett,
2019; Clarke, 2018; Jackson, 2013). These activities include internships, career management,
WIL, and overseas study programs (Clarke, 2018; Jackson, 2012, 2013). While varying degrees
of successful employability skills outcomes have been studied (Andreas, 2018; Batistic &
Tymon, 2017; Caballero et al., 2020; Clarke, 2018; Jackson, 2013), there remains a critical area
53

of graduate skills development that has proved elusive: the problem of skills transfer from the
classroom to the workplace (Jackson, 2013, 2016; Kalfa & Taksa, 2015; Tomlinson, 2017). The
following section discusses the problem of near and far skills transfer.
In studies on employability skills development, Jackson (2012, 2013, 2015, 2016) noted
that skills development is only one part of the learning process. Jackson stated that an additional
and crucial stage of skills learning is the successful transfer of skills to professional life. Because
soft skills tend to be thought of as generic, stakeholders may assume that the application across
different environments is automatic. This presumption may be causing the frustration of
employer groups toward HEIs’ perceived ineffectiveness in building graduate employability
skills.
In a post-secondary context, learning transfer occurs when knowledge and skills learned
in one context transition to a related performance in another (Jackson, 2016; Kalfa & Taksa,
2015). Near transfer refers to the similarities of the contexts where the learning occurred and
where it is applied, whereas far transfer refers to the dissimilar contexts of the learning and the
application of that learning. Given that most undergraduates will be employed by organizations
much unlike a classroom setting, graduate transfer of learning would be considered a significant
form of far transfer (Jackson, 2016).
Despite the widely recognized difficulty in measuring transfer (Taylor et al., 2009) and
the importance of understanding the transfer process (Hakel & Halpern, 2005), Jackson (2016)
and other researchers (Jackson & Chapman, 2012; Kalfa & Taksa, 2015; Tomlinson, 2017) have
pointed out the seriousness of the three stakeholder groups sharing in the responsibility of the
transfer of learning and applying employability skills. Studies have shown that students can be
encouraged and trained to recognize the importance of employability skills to their future and to
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take action in searching for opportunities to apply those skills (Andreas, 2018; Jackson &
Bridgstock, 2021; Parutis & Howson, 2020; Spence & Hyams-Ssekasi, 2015). WIL programs,
internships, and other experiential learning programs have been shown to produce work-ready
graduates (Brooks & Youngson, 2016; Jackson & Bridgstock, 2021; Spence & Hyams-Ssekasi,
2015); thus, employers have good reason to invest time, effort, and funds to provide such
programs to support the pipeline of highly employable graduates (Brooks & Youngson, 2016;
Jackson, 2020; Jackson & Bridgstock, 2021). Also, since the research and curricula arising out of
HEIs contributes to the digitalization, development, and future work-readiness of the labor force
(Kornelakis & Petrakaki, 2020; Muro et al., 2017), the preparation of its graduates with current
technical and non-technical skills and capital are central to the economic and emotional well-
being of a nation’s citizens (Andreas, 2018; Craig, 2019; Jackson & Bridgstock, 2021; Muro et
al., 2017; Tomlinson & Anderson, 2020).
The previous section illustrated the complexities of the concept of graduate employability
and the concerns of the three major stakeholders. It began with the point of view of the students
and their perceptions on employability preparedness and then transitioned to the perspective of
employers, who believe that HEIs are not doing enough to train and develop graduates proficient
in both digital and soft skills. And finally, the review concluded with how post-secondary
institutions have attempted to address both the employer and student needs despite the lack of
strong employability outcomes desired by the key stakeholders. While the employability debate
among the major stakeholders has persisted for decades (Andreas, 2018; Batistic & Tymon,
2017; Bennett, 2019; Kornelakis & Petrakaki, 2020), the future of the graduate labor
forcerequires that all stakeholders recognize their role in creating and sustaining employable
graduates (Craig, 2019; Jackson & Bridgstock, 2021; Succi & Canovi, 2020; Suleman, 2018).
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To increase students’ employment prospects, universities offer job preparation and
learning programs that support employability skills development and transfer. The following
section will examine some of those learning formats in the context of the classroom, a program,
and job-related learning as well as some of their advantages and disadvantages. From there, the
discussion will transition to a review of employability skills development programs that have
been designed and implemented by several post-secondary institutions.
Higher Education Job Preparation Learning and Learning Programs
As employers lament the shortage of graduates with suitably developed hard and soft
skills (Bennett, 2019; Clarke, 2018; Craig, 2019; Succi & Canovi, 2020; Tomlinson & Anderson,
2020), the pressure on HEIs to produce work-ready graduates has a significant influence on
degree and professional programs (Bennett, 2019; Chadha & Toner, 2017; Jackson & Chapman,
2012; Tomlinson, 2012). What is central to this issue and under considerable debate is the
process of how these skills are developed so that learning is transferred and applied quickly and
effectively to the graduates’ employment environment (Craig, 2019; Jackson, 2016; Jackson &
Chapman, 2012; Kalfa & Taksa, 2015).
In this section, a brief overview of three learning formats (embedded, co-curricular, and
extra-curricular learning) will provide the backdrop for a review of hard and soft skills
development and their effectiveness. Because of the strong employability skills development
outcomes, WIL will be examined separately. From there, the study will explore five university-
sponsored employability skills development strategies.

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Embedded, Co-curricular, and Extra-Curricular Learning
The push for employability outcomes measurements has resulted in a plethora of
employability development activities (Clarke, 2018; Jackson, 2013, 2016; Jackson & Bridgstock,
2021; Kornelakis & Petrakaki, 2020). These include:
● embedded activities that are integrated into curricula as part of the degree or
certificate program
● co-curricular activities that are promoted by the institution to complement the
learning activity but are not part of the formal curriculum
● extra-curricular activities initiated by the student with no intervention by the
institution
Three of the most common forms of embedded learning activities occur solely within the
classroom in the form of lectures, case studies, and simulations (Farashahi & Tajeddin, 2018;
Prado et al., 2020). Of these categories, Farashahi and Tajeddin (2018) found that simulations
were more effective than case studies and lectures, chiefly because of the experiential format and
because students felt it was a more realistic application of skills and knowledge in actual
business settings. However, this did not hold true for problem-solving skills, in which learning
from lectures and case studies supported the most appropriate application method to the problem
being simulated.
Co-curricular programs include activities like hackathons, community outreach, and other
volunteering activities and are often added to HEI curriculum to enhance employability (Berger
& Wild, 2017; Green et al., 2019). As discussed in the previous section, if the application of
skills in the program’s activities is closely related to what was learned in the coursework, then
learning transfer is more likely to occur, and the outcome will be successful (Jackson et al.,
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2019). In contrast, the more dissimilar the application of the coursework is to the activity, the
more students are likely to struggle with applying what they learned. Consequently, Jackson
(2016) recommended evaluating co-curricular programs to ensure a close relationship to the
skills learned in the classroom environment.
Extra-curricular activities include those initiated by the student, such as securing a part-
time job off-campus or joining a social or religious group not affiliated with the institution.
These activities were often least effective in supporting learning unless the work directly related
to the student's coursework (Jackson, 2016; Jackson & Bridgstock, 2021).
In summary, embedded learning, such as case studies and simulations, facilitate
knowledge-based skills learning (Farashahi & Tajeddin, 2018), while co-curricular programs,
such as volunteer and outreach programs, appear to reinforce skills development if the skills
utilized are closely related to what is taught in the classroom (Donald et al., 2019; Jackson, 2016;
Jackson et al., 2019; Jackson & Bridgstock, 2021). Extra-curricular activities initiated by the
student did little to support learning unless the activity directly related to the student's classroom
learning (Jackson, 2016; Jackson & Bridgstock, 2021).
Work-Integrated Learning
According to the literature, experiential learning that relates coursework with a job
placement or internship shows the strongest employability and skills development outcomes
(Brooks & Youngson, 2016; Donald et al., 2019; Jackson, 2016; Jackson & Bridgstock, 2021;
Kinash et al., 2016). However, the demand for these arrangements typically exceeds availability,
primarily because employers do not have the funds to provide short-term employment training
opportunities, and their staff do not have the time to train and mentor students (Jackson, 2020;
Kay et al., 2019). As a result, Jackson and Bridgstock (2021) have noted that Australian HEIs
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have been increasing their virtual and campus-based activities along the lines of corporate
projects, mentoring programs, and startup and incubator programs.
Kinash et al. (2016) conducted a qualitative study that surveyed four Australian
stakeholder groups (N = 705) on the effectiveness of employability strategies utilized by HEIs,
such as mentoring, international exchanges, and volunteering. The four stakeholder groups
surveyed and interviewed were students, graduates, higher education personnel, and employers.
There was general agreement across three stakeholder groups (students, graduates, and
employers) that work experience (WIL, internships, placements) was the most effective in
creating strong employability skills in students, as shown in Table 2.

Table 2
Stakeholder Perspectives on Employability Strategies
Strategies Students (%)
Graduates
(%)
Higher
education
(%)
Employers
(%)
Capstone 9 15 45 13
Career advice 59 47 64 28
Extracurricular 48 47 65 60
International exchange 16 10 30 23
Mentoring 28 24 48 34
Networking 49 52 51 40
Part-time work 53 53 36 38
Portfolios 40 40 41 25
Professional associations 29 37 54 34
Social media 33 37 40 15
Volunteering 47 50 48 53
Work experience 74 74 40 87

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The discrepancy in the HEI response was due primarily to the wording of the survey
question posed to the HEIs, which asked about the effective strategies they provided rather than
the strategies they valued. The HEI focus group that was subsequently convened clarified that
providing WIL was expensive and resource-intensive but remained a highly valued means of
employability for students. Employers also highly valued extracurricular activities (60%) that
supported experiential learning and the development of a work ethic and volunteering (53%),
which they believe enhanced leadership and teamwork skills. The three least valued strategies by
employers include capstone projects (13%), social media for career management (15%), and
international exchange programs (23%). The research team surmised that the relative newness of
capstone projects may be the reason it was not seen as an effective means of developing
employability. They suggested further research into its employability effectiveness.
HEI Work Integrated Learning Programs
Because of the transfer of skills effectiveness and stronger employability outcomes of
WIL programs, this paper will explore three WIL programs developed and implemented by
universities in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada and will also review a
southwestern U.S. university’s adaptation of a client-sponsored project (CSP), and an embedded
Learning Virtual Leadership course taught at a U.S. midwestern university. The purpose of this
examination is to illustrate how several post-secondary institutions creatively supported the
enhancement and application of hard and soft skills that students learned in the classroom.
Two of the three WIL programs have been actively utilized for over 10 years, and the
third has been implemented since 2017. The marketing capstone CSP, which has been offered for
several years and consistently has waitlists, was chosen because of the real-world and
competitive professional environment that is part of the capstone project, as well as the business
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school’s incorporation of a remote format within the project even prior to the pandemic. The
virtual leadership course, which is taught at a midwestern university’s business school beginning
in 2018, was selected because of the sudden rise in importance of virtual team leadership skills to
graduate employability, primarily due to the remote work mandates (Agrawal et al., 2020;
Bennett & McWhorter, 2021; Contreras et al., 2020). While two programs are not directly related
to the development and transfer of business school employability skills, their experiential
learning methodologies can be directly applied to undergraduate business school curriculum and
co-curricular activities.
University of Huddersfield Student Work Placements
Since 1956, the U.K.’s Ministry of Education has been encouraging post-secondary
institutions to create “sandwich courses” to encourage better academic and employment
outcomes for its graduates (Ministry of Education, 1956). A sandwich course typically involves a
university placement of the student for full-time work, usually by way of an internship in
industry prior to the student’s final year of coursework (Brooks & Youngson, 2016). The
internship may last several months and up to one year. A mixed-methods study conducted by
Brooks and Youngson (2016) at the University of Huddersfield found that those students who
completed the sandwich year between 2009 and 2011 were more likely to obtain graduate-level
employment than those who did not participate in the sandwich program. Specifically, sandwich
graduates were 50% more likely than non-participants to find work that correlated to their degree
and that made use of their skills and abilities, and in turn, reduced the risk of underemployment.
Placement students had also secured higher starting salaries by an average of £2,000, or $3,128
in U.S. dollars (Exchangerates.org), and, at the time of graduation, 40% had improved their final
academic standing.
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Despite the recognition of previous studies on the academic and employability benefits of
sandwich placements (Ehiyazaryan & Barraclough, 2009; Knight & Yorke, 2003; Little &
Harvey, 2006), the Education for Engineering (2011) report found that the number of students
participating in the sandwich program declined from 9.5% in 2002–2003 to 7.2% in 2009–2010.
This included all students in U.K. universities in all academic disciplines. Some of the reasons
for non-participation include students not wanting to interrupt their study patterns, difficulties in
re-familiarizing their identities as students instead of as professionals, and the quality of
placement not being satisfactory (Auburn, 2007). Despite these issues, Brooks and Youngson
(2016) and others (Jackson, 2013; Wickramasinghe & Perera, 2010) believe that students,
faculty, and college administrators should be made aware of the importance of work placements
to students’ academic and employment future to make informed decisions.
Research Experiences for Undergraduates at the National Weather Center
Each year since 1986, the National Weather Center (NWC), in conjunction with the
University of Oklahoma, hosts the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) at the
NWC’s Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms (Lewis & Maddox, 1991). This 10-week
summer program, funded by the National Science Foundation, pairs STEM faculty with 10–12
underrepresented students each year to conduct a research project at the NWC. Faculty and the
NWC scientists mentor students in the various aspects of the students’ research projects and
career options. Workshops and one-on-one mentoring also support the students’ development of
skills to be successful in their chosen field. Participants receive housing, a fellowship stipend,
and funds for travel to and from the center and a conference where they present their project
(NWC, 2021).
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The program was instituted out of concern by the scientists at the National Severe Storms
Laboratory in Norman, Oklahoma, in 1986 (Lewis & Maddox, 1991). They were troubled about
the shortage of meteorological and severe-storm graduates, the lack of women and
underrepresented minorities in meteorology, including those with Ph.Ds., and the ineffectiveness
of HEIs in creating interest and guiding undergraduates toward scientific research. The primary
philosophy of the program is the mentoring of the student by the scientist in the area of the
student’s interests and skills. There is also an educational component of three hours of
instruction each weekday morning and a library research project that is expected to take 40–60
hours total during the program period.
In 2016, Dr. Daphne LaDue, the director of the REU Program and a senior scientist at the
NWC, conducted a survey on graduate outcomes of the program (LaDue et al., 2017). When
asked if the program had influenced their employment situation, 45% of graduates (N = 79)
responded that they were employed in the meteorological or atmospheric sciences because of the
program, 36% stated that they had decided to continue with a graduate program because they
needed an advanced degree to obtain a professional position, and 17% said that they had chosen
a career in research. Two percent did not know if the program influenced them. Regarding
personal gains, 77% of the respondents stated that the REU program gave them more confidence
in their abilities and helped them understand their career capabilities, and 74% said that they
learned how to network with other scientists.
One of the main purposes of the program was to help students decide if a career in
research was appropriate for their personalities and career goals. Over 77% said the program
helped them to make that decision. In the qualitative comments section of the survey, several
students mentioned that they did not like the mentor assigned to them, and as a result, they could
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not determine if a career in research was right for them. The program director also stated that the
mentoring aspect of the program will be reviewed to ensure that there is a good pairing, and if
problems arise, a means to address the problem will be put into place.
University of Victoria’s Leading Edge Program
While post-secondary institutions have long acknowledged the importance of WIL to
successful outcomes of graduate employability (Clarke, 2018; Jackson, 2012, 2016; Jackson &
Bridgstock, 2021; Spence & Hyams-Ssekasi, 2015; Succi & Canovi, 2020), HEIs have not yet
fully recognized the importance of how best to train graduates in taking active roles in managing
their careers (Creed & Gagliardi, 2015; Donald et al., 2019; Rodrígues et al., 2019). To address
both issues of WIL and career management, the University of Victoria’s (UVic) Co-operative
Education Program & Career Services (Co-op & Career) created Leading Edge, an experiential
learning program that brings the two disciplines together (Andrews & Ramji, 2020). The
program was created as an online, self-directed tool that supports students in building their job
and career management skills and then integrating these skills through experiential learning. This
format was utilized in support of the university’s goal of 100% ease of student access, whether
online or in-person.
The intent of the program is to bring students’ academic, co-curricular, and work
experience into a reflective process that helps them understand how to incorporate their skills,
strengths, motivations, and self-awareness with employment opportunities. Answering four
reflective questions is the first of four steps to completing the program. The questions ask what
they love, what they are great at, what the world needs, and what they can be paid for. The
learner then chooses one of four categories of experiences to participate in and is encouraged to
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engage in one experience within each category during their undergraduate program. These
include:
• Hands-on academic experiences, such as academic exchanges, internships, and
community service-learning courses
• Hands-on co-curricular experiences, such as community leader positions in residence
halls, international student mentoring, and orientation leaders
• Diversity experiences, such as diversity and inclusion workshops, international
student advisory council participant, and international exchange programs participant
• Career ready experiences, such as career workshops on LinkedIn Essentials, career
exploration, and work search programs, and career counseling
Once the experience has been selected, the student meets with their career educator to
create a student experience record and then receives clearance to participate. At the time of
completion, the student again reflects on the four questions and uploads their responses to their
career record. A career educator reviews the reflection and determines if the learning outcome
has been achieved, and if so, a Leading Edge certificate is issued. If the learning outcome falls
short, the counselor invites the student to meet for additional coaching.
At the time of the program introduction in 2017, the experiences were all in face-to-face,
in-person formats. With the advent of the pandemic, however, the university has transitioned the
experiential learning component to a virtual format, especially given the increased significance
of virtual skills (Andrews & Ramji, 2020; Chebly et al., 2020; Loucks & Ozogul, 2020). As of
2020, UVic has not yet evaluated the program’s effectiveness, given the infancy of the program
and the recently mandated transition to an online format. They plan to incorporate remote WIL
and other virtual internship programs to enhance employability skills needs in telework
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environments and integrate adaptability and resilience mindsets in career development
coursework (Andrews & Ramji, 2020).
Client-Sponsored Projects: A Southwestern University’s Adaptation
Client-sponsored projects (CSPs) have been employed primarily as HEI marketing
capstone projects for over 30 years as a superior means over simulations and case studies to
support the learning between theory and application (Almohaini et al., 2017; De los Santos &
Jensen, 1985). These semester-long projects culminate in student teams acting as consultants
under the direction of faculty, presenting a pragmatic solution to an actual client’s real-world
business problem that includes products and services contending for market share within a
competitive business environment (Lopez & Lee, 2005). The student teams compete to present
the best solution to the client.
To avoid a mostly concept-based approach and instead employ a hands-on approach,
educators at a university in a southern state designed a CSP that provides real-world experiences
for student teams as they develop their solutions and presentations (Thompson et al., 2021). The
faculty serve as mentors and coaches, and the client is an actual business with a problem that
needs resolution. The problem, however, must be scoped enough to be addressed within a 16-
week semester.
Team members and their leaders encounter such problems as providing a solution that
must fit within a reasonable budget within a reasonable amount of time, a team member who is
either disruptive or not doing enough, a team leader who is ineffective, and learning to divide
project responsibilities between team members who have different strengths and weaknesses.
Meetings between team members, students and faculty, and the client were all held remotely
during the pandemic but were held in hybrid formats (face-to-face and virtually) prior to it to
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give students the experience of working as a team and presenting to a client in a virtual
environment. During the presentations, the client asks questions and provides feedback based on
how the questions are answered. After the presentations, the client gives detailed feedback to the
faculty and awards the best solution.
One of the major advantages of this type of project is that the students directly apply the
knowledge and skills gained in coursework to an actual business problem with feedback from the
client. They also face the pressures and problems encountered in real professional settings. A
significant difference between an internship and a CSP is that faculty act in a mediating role as
mentors and guides as teams develop their solutions and resolve team problems. A noteworthy
disadvantage is the faculty time and effort needed to work with the client and scope the problem.
Specifically, this adaptation of a CSP requires that faculty members team-teach as well as spend
time prior to the semester to choose and work with a client on setting up the real-world problem.
During the semester, time is needed to work with students and teams on mentoring and coaching
through the problems encountered to come to an appropriate solution.
Virtual Teams Leadership Development: A Midwestern University Course
While the demand for online education grew steadily over the past 20 years
(Straumshein, 2015), the COVID-19 pandemic forced U.S. education institutions to quickly
transition their in-person class formats to virtual ones (Baghat & Kim, 2020; Trout, 2020). Most
employers also had to shift a part of their workforce to remote work, sharply increasing the
demand for a technologically skilled labor force (Abulibdeh, 2020; Agrawal et al., 2020;
Brynjolfsson et al., 2020), and one that relied heavily on accomplishing work through virtual
teams (Bennett & McWhorter, 2021; Contreras et al., 2020).
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Prior to the pandemic, a business school at a university located in the midwestern United
States understood the importance of preparing their students to work as productive members of
the digital economy (Loucks & Ozogul, 2020), knowing that they would be expected to
accomplish their job responsibilities through virtual teams early in their careers (Brewer et al.,
2015; Schmidt, 2014). Further, research on virtual teams showed that teams with strong leaders
experienced greater success (Fan et al., 2014), and conversely, the lack of solid leadership was
one of the main reasons for team ineffectiveness (DuFrene & Lehman, 2015; SHRM, 2012).
In the Fall 2018 semester, Loucks and Ozogul (2020) studied a required undergraduate
online business course that taught virtual leadership skills through the cascading strategy, which
is similar to a train-the-trainer approach. The faculty felt that this type of strategy made the
leadership activity as realistic as possible. Students were divided into teams and selected the date
during the semester on which they would act as the team leader. During that week, instructors
would lead a virtual meeting for the team leaders utilizing the Zoom platform. The meetings
included discussions about the week’s topic, activities supporting the topic and their application,
and the instructor modeling the virtual leadership skills. In preparation for the student-led
meetings, each student was to review the course materials, such as articles, quizzes, and videos.
Each leader then met with their team by way of the Zoom platform to cascade what was taught in
the instructor-modeled meetings, facilitating discussions and activities with their team members,
and then wrapping up with a post-meeting review and reflection. This approach allowed each
student to participate as a leader, practice their leadership skills, and then reflect on that
experience. It also gave students the opportunity to assume roles as teammates and experience
learning in a collaborative context as they participated in activities and discussions.
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The study authors noted two areas of learning support deficiencies with the cascading
strategy. First, the instructors felt that the opportunities to coach students were too limited due to
the large class size and that one instructor-led meeting was not enough to support the learning the
team leaders needed. Second, the faculty acknowledged that the assessment of the virtual
meetings could have been more meaningful if the rubric were based on the quality of work and
peer feedback rather than on completion of the requirements, such as all team members being
present and the leader simply leading the meeting.
Shortfalls notwithstanding, studies conducted prior to the pandemic have shown that
graduates participate in virtual team environments soon after they enter the workforce yet receive
little exposure to this experience in their undergraduate programs (Brewer et al., 2015; Flammia
et al., 2016; Loucks & Ozogul, 2020). With the sudden transition of HEI curricula to online
learning formats and with employers rapidly deploying their workforce remotely because of the
pandemic, it remains to be seen how HEIs will revise their curricula to accommodate the
learning and employability needs of students preparing for the labor market.
This section reviewed three university-sponsored WIL programs that support the transfer
of students’ academic learning to the workplace and one virtual leadership skills development
course. Two of the programs, the Student Work Placement program at the University of
Huddersfield and the REU Program at the NWC, showed increased employability outcomes for
successful program graduates. The UVic Leading Edge Program and the midwestern university’s
Virtual Teams Leadership Development course are relatively recent implementations and have
not been studied empirically.
The study authors for the sandwich placements (Brooks & Youngson, 2016) and the
NWC REU program (LaDue et al., 2017; Lewis & Maddox, 1991), in addition to other WIL
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program researchers (Jackson & Bridgstock, 2021; Kinash et al., 2016), have stated that work
placements and internships are becoming more difficult for HEIs to secure for their students.
Given the importance of these programs in enhancing graduate employability, the authors noted
that post-secondary institutions may want to focus their resources on such programs that have
shown strong employability outcomes. The UVic Leading Edge program added another level of
employability skill development to students’ participation in curricular, co-curricular, and
extracurricular activities. The four reflection questions combined with the experiential learning
aspect raise awareness of the type of career a student may want to pursue with the help of a
career counselor.
Adding to the complexity of the experiential learning programs described in this section
has been the sudden rise in the significance of developing virtual team skills. When the pandemic
forced many developed countries to mandate remote work in March 2020, the programs
described in this section were highly modified to accommodate a remote experience and appear
to be continuing in this format for the foreseeable future. As a result, the Virtual Team
Leadership course has demonstrated its value to students’ future digital skillsets.
Conclusion
A highly nuanced understanding of graduate employability will support future graduates
as they transition from academia to the labor market. This multifaceted concept has become even
more significant since the pandemic rapidly shifted the hard and soft skills employers seek in
recent graduates. Missing from the employability discussion, however, are the important roles
that the graduates’ capitals play in the development of soft skills and in creating a desirable and
employable graduate (Batistic & Tymon, 2017; Marginson, 2016; Tomlinson, 2017; Tomlinson
& Anderson, 2020). While the capitals are primarily referenced in studies on student persistence
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(Almeida et al., 2019; Bye et al., 2020; Etcheverry et al., 2001; Mishra, 2020; Plavin-Masterman,
2017; Wells, 2008) and the perpetuation of the stratification of low-SES students (Jackson, 2020;
Lin, 2000; Marginson, 2016; Parutis & Howson, 2020), few have studied how capital embedded
in coursework and co-curricular activities supports graduate employability (Ovink & Veazey,
2011; Tomlinson, 2017; Tomlinson & Anderson, 2020). To help undergraduates flourish in an
increasingly virtual world of work, this study explored the enhancement of remote leadership
relationship and formation skills as well as a leader resilience mindset within the framework of
Tomlinson’s (2017) graduate capitals model.
The following chapter will review the methodology used to guide the study in answering
the research question on curriculum enhancement for remote leadership relationship formation
and leader resilience skills.

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Chapter Three: Methodology
The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine how EU’s business school
leadership courses and programs can be enhanced to support the development of relationships
and resilience skills within a remote environment. The results of this research will inform the
field on graduate employability skills as they relate to graduate capital in a virtual or hybrid
environment. The study was guided by Tomlinson’s (2017) graduate capital model that presents
a nuanced view of the soft skills, in the form of graduate capital, that enhance a graduate’s
employability profile. One research question guided this study:
How might EU business school’s leadership curriculum and co-curriculum be enhanced
to better support the development of undergraduate students’ remote leadership skills in
the areas of relationship formation and resilience within the framework of Tomlinson’s
(2017) graduate capitals model?
Population and Sample
Faculty members with varied expertise in leadership research, teaching, and leadership
program management were selected for the study to obtain their perspectives on undergraduate
students’ development of leadership and resilience skills. All participants were full-time teaching
and program faculty who were tenured, tenure-track, or clinical faculty at the time of the
interviews. Their experience ranged from newer teaching faculty to tenured research faculty.
The sampling method utilized was non-probabilistic and is appropriate where case studies
explore and explain a particular phenomenon (Patton, 2015). This sampling approach was chosen
to understand the experiences and opinions of faculty who teach leadership with respect to
possibilities for developing remote leader relationship skills and a leader resilience mindset
among undergraduate students (Maxwell, 2013; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
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The approach to this study was purposive; thus, no open or general invitation to a broader
population was made, and there were no exclusion criteria utilized. I made the invitation to
participate in the study through an email message. I sent a recruitment email from my university
account to the faculty who fit the leadership research, teaching, and/or program management
criteria described. I selected additional leadership-teaching faculty utilizing snowball sampling
(Merriam & Tisdell, 2016) during the interviews with the primary population. This study’s
sample consisted of nine participants. Since resilience skills are not taught as a separate core or
elective course and are included in some of the leadership courses, interviews on the skill of
resilience were conducted with the same faculty.
Site Selection
Exceptional University (EU) is a large, private university located in the western United
States. It has a top-ranked 4-year business school that provides strong leadership and managerial
skills development as part of its core curriculum. The school also provides various co-curricular
activities, internships, and programs to support the students’ socialization, learning, and skills
development. It employs several hundred full-time faculty and currently enrolls several thousand
undergraduate students.
The school houses a learning center with video recording and other high-end electronic
equipment to support undergraduate students with opportunities to engage in collaborative and
active learning experiences that reinforce their classroom learning. Some of the activities are
group decision-making, problem solving, and business negotiations, where students can review
their recorded performance and receive feedback. This center can also provide the resources to
develop and incorporate learning activities to reinforce the development and enhancement of
social influence and career adaptability skills.
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I chose EU primarily for convenience (McEwan & McEwan, 2003; Merriam & Tisdell,
2016). It was also selected because it has a business school that offers core and elective courses
that have met the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business accreditation standards
(AACSB, 2011). The AACSB is a highly respected accrediting body for business schools
worldwide.
Data Collection Strategies
Two data collection strategies were employed to obtain study data – semi-structured
interviews and document analysis. The semi-structured interviews were used to obtain
participants’ knowledge, observations, and viewpoints concerning the enhancement of virtual
leader relationship formation skills and leader resilience skills. Table 3 depicts the relationship
between social and psychological graduate capital, the key resource related to that capital to
support a successful transition into the labor market (Tomlinson, 2017), and an example question
from the interview protocol used to obtain the data.

Table 3
Graduate Capital, Related Resource, and Interview Questions
Capital Resource Sample question
Social capital Relationship formation:
bonding and bridging
skills
How is the skill of leadership in the
area of relationship formation
with staff, peers, and
supervisor(s), developed or
reinforced in the core
curriculum?
Psychological capital Resilient leader mindset Within the context of a leader role,
how is the skill of resilience
developed or reinforced in the
curriculum?

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Maxwell (2013) and Merriam and Tisdell (2016) stated that semi-structured interview
formats allow for a mix of structured and unstructured questions to obtain specific information
and allow participants’ new ideas and thoughts to be explored. Each interview followed the
pattern of establishing a baseline of how the leadership skills and capitals concepts were taught
and developed prior to the pandemic (see Appendix A). The interview then transitioned to
learning how the curricular and co-curricular teaching and skills development shifted due to the
move to the ERT mandated by the Safer-at-Home quarantine. Finally, the interview culminated
in obtaining the thoughts and ideas on how leader bonding and bridging skills (the relationship
formation skills) and leader resilience skills could be enhanced and adapted to fit employer skills
needs within a virtual work environment.
The interviews took place by way of my Zoom Room for several reasons: (a) the
participants felt it was more convenient schedule-wise and safety-wise to meet using a
teleconference medium, (b) I was on a hybrid remote work schedule, and (c) the Zoom platform
provided video recordings and transcriptions that could accurately record participant responses
and actions.
As noted in Chapter One, I utilized document analysis to validate the interview findings
(Merriam & Tisdell, 2016; Miles et al., 2018). Specifically, I reviewed selected course syllabi to
corroborate what the interviewees said about the course content. I sought two motifs in the
syllabi’s readings, activities, and assignments. I perused the documents for evidence of the
development or enhancement of remote leader relationship formation skills and of the
development or enhancement of leader resilience skills (see Appendix B). However, I learned
that the skills content of the syllabi had not been updated to accommodate the virtual leader
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relationship and resilience skills. Thus, little was gained by the attempt to triangulate the data
from the interviews.
Data Analysis
Bogdan and Biklen (2007) stated that data analysis is composed of several steps intended
to organize, categorize and classify data into practical pieces. At the close of the interviews, I
asked the participants if they wanted to review the transcripts for accuracy. All participants
declined the offer. The data were then coded and analyzed by themes that emerged (Creswell &
Creswell, 2018; Maxwell, 2013).
The coding process was accomplished in three cycles. The first coding cycle utilized an
initial or descriptive examination to attune to participant language and perspectives to get a sense
of the data (Miles et al., 2018). The second cycle examined the data for patterns, commonalities,
or focused coding to further categorize the data (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016; Saldaña, 2016).
Third, the data were cross-checked against the relationship to the research question and
conceptual framework. The coding primarily involved an inductive approach of comparing the
data and interpreting the findings. (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Trustworthiness Measures
Producing trustworthy results is central to any high-quality qualitative study (Merriam &
Tisdell, 2016). I used four different measures to support trustworthiness. First, the Zoom
application recorded the interviews and provided the transcription to adequately capture what the
interviewees stated. I then looked for mistranslations of common words, words and phrases
unique to the business school, and repeated words and made corrections. Second, I utilized
member checking to support trustworthiness by validating themes uncovered (Lincoln & Guba,
1985). This was accomplished by touching base with two participants to review the initial high-
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level draft of key ideas, findings, and themes based on the initial interviews. Third, I found that
after nine interviews, the participants repeated similar themes and patterns in thoughts and ideas;
thus, I conducted no further interviews and stopped collecting data. The assumption was that
saturation from the data and emerging findings were achieved (Creswell & Creswell, 2018;
Johnson & Christensen, 2014; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Fourth, triangulation was attempted
through document analysis to corroborate the interview data and themes with course syllabi
(Miles et al., 2018).
Role of the Researcher
Merriam and Tisdell (2016) and Maxwell (2013) stated that qualitative research has the
potential to introduce greater risk of researcher bias than quantitative research since the
researcher acts as the primary means of data collection and analysis. The researcher’s worldview,
perceptions, and unconscious biases can introduce subjectivity into the data collection process,
analysis, and findings. I have both conscious and unconscious biases and worldviews that may
have been introduced into the research. To alleviate this risk, I sought to have other cohort peers,
non-participant faculty, and my dissertation committee review the methods employed.
This chapter described the participants’ profiles, the purpose of selecting EU’s business
school as the study site, and the advantages and potential drawbacks that these choices presented.
The following chapter will present the findings and themes that emerged from the study.
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Chapter Four: Findings
This chapter presents findings from interviews with faculty who teach leadership courses
in the business school at EU and from an analysis of sample syllabi. The purpose of this study
was to explore how the EU business school might better equip its undergraduate students with
skills to provide leadership in a remote work setting, specifically in two areas: building
relationships with team members who are remote, and modeling and supporting resilience in a
remote work environment. I utilized Tomlinson’s (2017) graduate capitals model to frame how a
leader’s relationships may best be developed with team members and supervisors within a hybrid
remote work environment and how a leader’s resilience skills may be developed to lead more
effectively when working remotely. These skills are rapidly rising in importance due to
employers’ adopting remote work formats for their labor force and incorporating them into their
emerging business models (Agrawal et al., 2020; Chebly et al., 2020; Contreras et al., 2020). One
principal research question guided this study:
How might EU business school’s curriculum and co-curriculum be enhanced to better
support the development of undergraduate students’ remote leadership skills in the areas
of relationship formation and resilience within the framework of Tomlinson’s (2017)
graduate capitals model?
Thematic Presentation of Findings
Seven themes emerged from the interviews with the nine participants. The themes are
divided into two groups, as shown in Table 4.

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Table 4
Table of Themes
General findings Theme 1: Advantages and disadvantages of undergraduate
online learning

Theme 2: Participant thoughts on doing business in a post-
pandemic economy

Subtheme 2A: The U.S. and HEIs should re-examine their
business models to remain competitive

Subtheme 2B: Debate on the promotability of a fully remote
leader
Research question findings:
Remote leader relationship
formation
Theme 3: Forming relationships in-person versus remotely
requires different skills

Theme 4: Too soon to develop a comprehensive list of
remote leadership relationship skills

Theme 5: Participants’ ideas for enhancing students’ remote
leadership skills
Remote leader resilience Theme 6: Participants' thoughts on in-person versus remote
leader resilience and its importance

Theme 7: Faculty ambiguous on the development of leader
resilience coursework

The first set of themes, Themes 1 and 2, are general findings that provide additional
context to the research question but do not directly answer it. Theme 1 presents the interviewees’
positive and negative experiences as they transitioned their undergraduate classrooms to fully
remote classes. Theme 2 explores the participants' perspectives on how U.S. businesses and HEIs
are reframing their business plans and considering ways to incorporate remote work formats. The
second set of themes, Themes 3 through 7, directly addresses the research question concerning
developing students’ remote leadership skills in the areas of leader relationship formation and
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resilience. Themes 3 through 5 address the first component of the research question concerning
skills to build relationships in a remote work environment. Themes 6 and 7 discuss the second
part of the research question: The resilience skills leaders need during difficult times and the
coursework and exercises needed to enhance those skills. The chapter will conclude with a brief
discussion of the course syllabus analysis results.
General Findings
The interviews produced some unexpected findings that provide important contextual
information about remote work but do not directly address the research question of ways to
cultivate leadership skills necessary for remote settings. These findings fell into two main areas:
the advantages and disadvantages of online courses as viewed by faculty; and participants’
thoughts on post-pandemic remote work issues. The study participants’ thoughts about post-
pandemic work further fell into the following two subthemes: (a) the need for U.S. employers
and HEIs to test new business models and remote work policies to remain competitive and (b)
disagreement about the promotability of fully remote leaders.
Theme 1: Advantages and Disadvantages of Undergraduate Online Learning
This section presents participants’ viewpoints about the strengths and weaknesses of
undergraduate online learning. These perspectives were gleaned from the participants’
discussions about their experiences with the rapid transition to ERT and the pedagogical
adaptations that were necessary to suit a fully virtual format. All interviewees noted that the
emergency transition to fully remote classes made them more aware of the nuanced skills that are
important to supporting student learning outcomes and, more broadly, to the success of leading
virtual teams. Many reported having discussions with their peers on how the coursework and
exercises needed to be altered to accommodate the virtual format. In this section, three
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advantages and two disadvantages are discussed regarding the online classroom environment and
learning outcomes for undergraduate students.
First, in terms of advantages, six of the faculty members mentioned that the quality of the
relationships with students increased significantly because it was easier to schedule and meet
using the Zoom platform than it was to hold in-person office hours. They felt that the
videoconference format provided a more convenient means of communication, which led to
more frequent meetings and discussions about sensitive issues than when meeting face to face.
One interviewee disclosed,
What I also noticed, I could interface one-on-one, you know with office hours or
whatever you want to call, much more quickly online. I did much more one-on-one
Zooms like you and I are doing than I ever did one-on-ones physically, so I felt like I got
to know the students far better. And they got to know me much better. We got to deal
with their private issues much better than we did when there were office hours. I’d go
weeks when no one would come to an office hour.
On a practical level, the interviewees noted that videoconference meetings also provided an
easier means for sharing and discussing electronic documents.
Second, several participants described how the pandemic crisis helped them realize first-
hand the significance of social and emotional skills for those in leadership roles, such as
modeling vulnerability. From their research, they understood that these skills are rising in
importance for leaders, especially given that there may be more difficult times ahead with future
pandemics and economic hardship. However, the stress of the ERT transition and witnessing
their students’ emotional ups and downs helped them see, in actual practice, the necessity of
employing those skills with peers and with their students. Four of the participants, for instance,
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commented on the importance of letting their students know that faculty were also struggling
with the transition to online courses and with family issues. One participant summed up the
importance of this type of vulnerability in this way:
Our honesty created a little bit more of a vulnerability, but not in a bad way, but in a good
way, where we’re kind of all in this together, and we can see that everybody’s trying to
make their way through this. So, I say that because I feel like that’s a demonstration of
what a good leader will do is kind of like, connect with people where they’re at,
especially during something like the pandemic.
As a result of the ERT, the faculty witnessed how emotional support and vulnerability fostered a
greater degree of trust between themselves and their students and created a better learning
environment for the class.
Lastly, most interviewees noted that breakout rooms provided significant learning
advantages. First, there were fewer distractions than when in a physical classroom. For example,
when the students gather in groups to discuss a case in a traditional classroom, they overhear the
other groups’ discussions in the classroom and often get distracted. In the virtual breakout rooms,
the students seemed to have better concentration due to reduced activity in the breakout room. As
one faculty member mentioned, “I often found in the breakout rooms, they could focus better
than they could in the [physical] classroom.” Second, the use of breakout rooms gave students
the chance to strengthen their social and academic networks. As one interviewee stated,
Instantly I saw just how terrible lectures were on Zoom. I just said, “Look, we’re going to
do breakout groups.” The other thing that was really missing was [that] the networking
was really bad online, and the students really missed the chance to deepen those
connections. So I would do breakout groups, and the breakout groups were fantastic.
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Third, aspects of simulation exercises were more effective in the virtual classroom, particularly
because virtual breakout rooms also allowed for the groups to see data presented more closely on
their own screen rather than gathering around a single laptop in an actual classroom.
All participants also identified disadvantages to online learning based on their experience
with ERT. First, they realized that Zoom-based lectures were only effective if they were less than
30 minutes long and that they had to break up longer lectures with exercises or simulations to
hold students’ attention. A participant described it this way:
I started off like, okay, we’ll just do a lecture. [The students] are trying really hard, but
their phones are there, and they’re just trying, but … you realize you talk for more than
25 minutes, and they’re just gone. A TED talk is probably the most engaging form of
information delivery, and a TED talk is 20 minutes. So, I just said, you know, my rule is
absolutely maximum 30 minutes of talking before we do a group exercise. And what I’ve
done is built a flipped classroom.
Second, two faculty members felt that the lack of in-person interaction in and out of the
classroom disadvantaged some students by preventing them from networking with other students
as well as with staff, administrators, and alumni. One participant said, “[The students] didn’t get
the chance to meet in hallways and have lunch with each other and to make new connections,
and to be introduced to people and groups that could support their academic and employment
journey.” Another participant mentioned considering bringing in guest speakers and holding
question-and-answer segments to try to mitigate some of the loss in interaction and social
networking.
In summary, living the experience of the rapid transition to ERT and identifying with the
personal stresses brought about by the pandemic, participants noted that they had become more
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aware of the social and emotional skills that are important to the success of virtual teams and
ultimately to successful student learning outcomes. This section also explored three significant
advantages that supported the online learning and socialization of students and two notable
disadvantages that were disruptive to learning and social capital development. The discussion
will now turn to participants’ views about the attitudes of U.S. businesses and HEIs toward
remote work and how this may affect remote leaders and remote workers.
Theme 2: Participant Thoughts on Doing Business in a Post-pandemic Economy
This section examines the participants’ beliefs in the importance of employers revising
their business models and remote work policies and the debate that fully remote leaders risk
career advancement.
Subtheme 2A: The U.S. and HEIs Should Re-examine Their Business Models to
Remain Competitive. Six participants mentioned that all organizations, including HEIs, should
be taking advantage of this time of variability to revise their business models and remote work
policies to quickly adapt to the new normal of increased remote work and more flexible ways of
doing business. Two interviewees provided their input on employers’ perspectives. One
mentioned that organizations in specific industries are already attempting to modify their
strategic plans to the “new norm” of doing business, especially those organizations that do
business in highly competitive markets, such as in the technology and mid- to high-end retail
sectors. This would include the possible reskilling of their labor force to train remote workers on
virtual collaborations and communications, the revamping of their supply chains, and re-
imagining ways of doing business like increasing contactless business processes. The second
faculty stated that many employers are still attempting to embrace change, deciding how much of
their business model needs revision within the next year or so. “I know some of the McKinsey
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reports and some of the other think tanks and research organizations are saying, ‘We’re still
tweaking,’ because the technology is actually moving faster than the organization’s ability to flip
or to change.”
Most participants believed that U.S. employers are now more favorably disposed than in
the past to some form of hybrid remote work for a portion of their labor force. They mentioned
that the degree to which the virtual work formats are adopted, however, will likely depend on the
industry, the attitudes of the C-suite leaders, and the job type and position. Over half of the
interviewees noted that the United States may find itself at a significant labor market and skills
disadvantage if employers do not allow for some form of a hybrid remote workforce. These
participants felt that the more highly skilled and valuable employees will go where the benefits
best suit their needs and that skilled labor should not have to be local to the organization’s brick
and mortar locations. One faculty articulated,
The U.S. is going to lose a lot of labor, good, solid labor if they can’t accommodate a
global mindset that says, “All my employees do not have to come from the Los Angeles
area.” And they don’t. Yeah, we have the technology and the capabilities [to
accommodate a remote worker]. If [an employer] wants a programmer from New York
that’s highly specialized and he or she doesn’t want to move, then you’ve just lost a
highly specialized programmer if you can’t think outside of a physically present labor
force.
Three interviewees mentioned that HEIs should also see this time of change as an
opportunity for growth for remote classes and virtual skills development. Instead, they believe
HEIs are trying to get back to the old ways of classroom learning as quickly as possible. Two
participants commented that HEIs are not modeling innovation and creativity to the students on
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class formats, coursework, and internships. One participant stated, “But I think everybody was
caught flat-footed by this hybrid style. … I mean, I think we’re just totally caught off guard for
training students. We are not modeling creativity for the classroom.” Another noted,
I think education, for the most part, the field is not looking at this as an opportunity.
We’re not doing what we say we should be doing to our students. We’re telling our
students, “You need to be innovative.” Yet, we’re just jamming ourselves back in the
classroom; we’re not blending the walls of the classroom with the world.
The third participant mentioned that HEIs should actively reach out to employers to query them
on how they think employability skills may have shifted because of the pandemic and the remote
work capabilities. This participant felt that the study population should include staff, middle
managers, and C-suite administrators so that various age groups and perspectives are included.
Overall, the majority of interviewees felt that U.S. employers are trying to revise their
business models and support some form of remote work arrangement to remain competitive. In
contrast, one-third maintain that HEIs are not taking advantage of the opportunity for change and
are not reflecting the innovation and creativity they claim their students should be learning. The
discussion will now move on to the perceived risks of working as a fully remote leader.
Subtheme 2B: Debate on the Promotability of a Fully Remote Leader. One-third of
the interviewees argued that a leader cannot be fully remote and expect to succeed in climbing
the corporate ladder. While the question was not part of the interview, the issue was brought up
when questions were asked about leadership relationship formation in a virtual work context.
Based on the statements made, it seemed they assumed that being considered for promotion
required a physical presence at a headquarters location. According to the participants, this is
because those who are physically visible to management and staff and have greater access to
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water-cooler conversations would have more access to promotion opportunities and information
than those who are remote. One of the three mentioned that a leader would need to maintain a
significant amount of active physical presence within the organization because most executives
still believe that promotability equates to physical presence. Another stated,
If you’re going to be a leader at any Fortune 500, Fortune 1000 company, you cannot be
permanently remote. I think you can for your analysts’ jobs and for your rotations. Sure,
you can pretend that you can stay in Los Angeles and work for Coca Cola, but if you
want to go to a director or VP level, you’re going to be in Atlanta at some point.
The faculty had partially based their opinion on the Microsoft study (Yang et al., 2022) of
over 61,000 of their employees who were working remotely. A few participants mentioned this
study, which found that collaboration and communication between and within similar groups
increased, while interactions between dissimilar groups decreased. The study authors concluded
that although their remote workers tended to communicate well within their teams, new
information was more difficult to acquire within the groups and then share across the
organization. One participant summarized that when working remotely, the tendency is to only
talk to the people you need to interface with. When this happens, the likelihood of missing out on
various opportunities and necessary career information increases.
Conversely, three other participants believed that the new technologies and applications
play an important role in increasing leaders’ abilities to manage remotely and effectively. As one
participant mentioned,
I think people are going to be really surprised by how effective good leadership online is
going to be. I expect to read one day soon, “You mean that all-remote workforce just took
down this company, just launched this product, and … they don’t have an office, and they
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created a new laptop?” They’re going to read that these people have never met each
other, and yet their engagement scores are through the roof.
This faculty member further elaborated that remote work tools have already been tried
and tested, and used the example of email, a longtime remote work tool that has been employed
for decades:
Email is a form of remote management. You can’t tell me that email is an in-person
system. It is absolutely a remote management tool. So when you talk about, “Oh, we need
some new big thing to manage [remotely].” So indeed, email is part of that suite of
remote management skills.
All three mentioned that businesses and other organizations will be surprised by how
effective remote leadership can be if a good remote management philosophy and business model
are developed, tested, and implemented. One of the three mentioned that leaders and
organizations are currently trying to figure out the “new norm,” one that supports their revising
and testing their business models to include remote work for a portion of their labor force:
I do feel like organizations are now in this period where they are afforded some flexibility
to experiment with things and get away with things that maybe don’t work. I think leaders
can kind of run, you know, little experiments themselves and try to learn as much as they
can in this new environment and see what fits best for their company and for their team. I
think that’s another challenge, you know, there’s no one size fits all approach to navigating
a hybrid environment or a fully remote environment. It depends so much on industry and
how interdependent your work is with other people.
In summary, the interviewees had two contrasting opinions on leaders who exclusively
work remotely. One-third felt that the remote leader would put their career in jeopardy because
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of the lack of a physical presence at the organization’s headquarters or primary location.
Conversely, another third felt that with the advent of new collaborative applications and an
effective remote business model, the remote leader could be very successful in meeting the
organization’s goals.
This section explored two general subthemes on remote work. The first subtheme
revealed that the participants felt that U.S. business and HEI leaders should rethink their business
models and remote work policies to remain competitive and retain valuable employees. In the
second subtheme, the faculty were divided in their assessment of the promotability of leaders
who were in-person versus fully remote.
The discussion will now transition to the first of two sets of themes that directly address
the research question on skills development and curriculum enhancement to support the learning
and transfer of undergraduate students’ remote leadership skills. The first section, remote leader
relationship formation, will discuss the findings of the skills needed for remote leaders to grow
their relationships with peers and staff and the curriculum needed to support these skills in
virtual work environments. The second section, remote leader resilience, will explore the
findings on the building up of leader resilience skills and the curriculum needed to support the
development of that skill.
Remote Leader Relationship Formation
The skill of leader relationship formation examines how leaders who are remotely
situated, or whose staff are remotely dispersed, can best form effective relationships with their
peers and staff (Contreras et al., 2020). In Theme 3, the participants offered their short-term
projections on virtual leader relationship skills and other important virtual leadership skills.
Theme 4 describes the reasons the majority of interviewees felt that it was still too early to
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determine a comprehensive list of skills. Three primary reasons support their assertion of the
premature establishment of leader relationship development skills: leadership research, employer
business model revisions, and collaborative technologies. Theme 5 concludes with three
participants’ ideas on new potential coursework topics and program enhancements that may
support future leaders’ remote leadership skills.
Theme 3: Forming Relationships In-Person Versus Remotely Requires Different Skills
For firms that can realistically sustain a hybrid or fully remote labor force, five
interviewees mentioned that forming relationships would require modified skills for leaders of
in-person teams versus virtual teams. Of the five, four felt that developing trust among a remote
team would be required for the leader’s and team’s success. They mentioned that a factor that
makes developing trust difficult using a video conferencing medium is that eye contact and body
language are usually difficult to discern. This leads to the importance of other attributes that
support the development of trust, such as socio-emotional skills that enhance inclusion and create
a sense of safety among the team. One faculty member noted,
I still think trust and teamwork and critical thinking and that sort of thing are still
foremost as leadership qualities that are important. … Then, there's new emerging traits
like data analysis or inclusion, and I think psychological kind of skills, you know, socio-
emotional skills. Those have always been important, but there's like new versions of
those I think that are happening, and so I think that they are new.
The ability to motivate teams in a remote work setting was another skill mentioned as
requiring a different perspective and application from the traditional face-to-face setting. One
participant raised concerns about how leaders can maintain worker motivation and a productive
corporate culture within a virtual environment:
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How do you motivate remote workers, or how do you maintain the organizational culture
or teams, you know, team-related issues in a hybrid environment? What tasks are best
done in person versus which ones can be relegated to remote work without any
repercussions? Things like that. Trying to figure out some best practices in that regard.
Four participants brought up virtual cross-cultural issues that have suddenly increased in
importance due to the surge in videoconferencing and collaboration technologies. They felt that
leaders will need a more nuanced understanding of cross-cultural communication and behavioral
norms for both in-person and virtual meetings as organizations diversify into international
marketplaces or are bought up by multinational firms. One participant mentioned in class
discussions in Zoom on cross-cultural issues:
Students will be working in a big multinational company where they have to have weekly
or daily meetings with people in other countries across the world, and you know this is a
way to kind of get a glimpse at some of those things.
In summary, participants raised at least three important skill areas needed for remote
leaders and for the formation of relationships in a remote setting: creating an environment of
trust, inclusion, and a sense of safety; the ability to motivate remote workers; and a strong
understanding of cross-cultural and behavioral norms. In contrast, the following section will
examine the participants’ views on why it is still premature to establish a comprehensive list of
skills for developing leader relationship skills in the virtual workplace, given what is known
about the current labor environment and the status of the pandemic.

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Theme 4: Too Soon to Develop a Comprehensive List of Remote Leadership Relationship
Skills
At the time of this study, most participants agreed that it was too early to create a
comprehensive list of remote leader relationship skills needed for remote workers. Some felt that
not enough studies had examined how the fostering of leader relationships can best support fully
remote and hybrid teams. They explained that skills would likely include obvious ones, such as
establishing and growing trust among team members and creating an open communications
culture, but that other less obvious skills would be revealed as more remote work research
continues and as businesses continue to learn from their remote and in-person labor force.
Taking the employer perspective, seven participants believed that employers were still
deciding how much of their labor force could effectively work partially or fully remotely and
were unsure of the types of skill development that would be needed to effectively lead groups
virtually. Four participants mentioned that the employers were still assessing the technology
requirements, legal and human resources issues, corporate culture, cost, and business needs that
would make remote work feasible for their organizations. Several had noted that early employer
research showed that certain industry-specific organizations, such as in the technology and high-
end services sectors, support the continuation of some form of remote work to attract
experienced top talent from outside a geographic area and for cost containment purposes. One
faculty mused, “Imagine. I can now source the entire world for talent. I can lower my costs. We
can lower your overhead.”
Over half of the participants mentioned that emerging technologies might affect the skills
leaders need. For example, technologies for enhancing virtual collaboration, communication, and
teamwork, are still being researched, developed, and tested. On the other hand, they noted that
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businesses will continue to develop, adapt, and refine applications that support contactless
transactions and platforms, further enabling the ability to effectively work remotely and therefore
influencing the need for more remote leadership skills.
One participant mentioned that since multinational companies have been utilizing a
hybrid virtual work model for some of their leaders and managers for several decades, they
would have the knowledge and experience of how successful leaders best networked and support
their management, peers, and staff. However, the interviewee pointed out that these employees
were usually high performers with many years of in-person leadership skills and abilities and that
the translation of these skills would not be readily adaptable to undergraduate students just
beginning their careers, even if it included a hybrid remote work format.
In summary, the majority of participants believed that it was premature to decide on a
definitive list of relationship formation skills that employers need for those leading remotely.
This is because leadership research for remote workers is still being conducted, and there are
manifold changes still occurring with employer business models and remote work policies.
Further, advances in virtual collaboration technologies are still being developed, refined, and
implemented. The discussion continues to Theme 5, which describes three of the participants’
new project ideas intended to enhance students’ employability and leadership skills.
Theme 5: Participants’ Ideas for Enhancing Students’ Remote Leadership Skills
While all participants felt it would be premature to design coursework focused on remote
leader relationship formation, three said they had been pondering how best to support students’
future remote leadership skills needs through possible coursework and program revisions. These
ideas came about as a result of their experiences with teaching during ERT, as leadership
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research is continuing to be published and employers are implementing new business models that
include hybrid work.
One interviewee was thinking of designing a capstone project to teach about the future of
work to be thought-provoking toward employment possibilities for students in their final year
before graduation. This project would bring together students from different disciplines within
the business school, such as marketing and finance, and would address environmental and
economic issues that most businesses face. Another is planning a course that integrates
leadership and technology designed to develop skills and strategies to lead in the digital age. It
will explore different aspects of taking advantage of social and professional networking
platforms that can create and enhance strong and weak ties among new graduates. A third
participant is excited to revise some of the leadership coursework formats. To further enhance in-
person and remote leadership skills, there are plans to strengthen competencies in coaching and
trust-building exercises for students and student mentors.
In conclusion, the findings for Theme 3 indicate that the participants felt that assessing
and prioritizing remote leaders’ relationship formation skills was premature. The reasons were
the belief that research in this skills area is still relatively new, employers are still evaluating and
revising their business models, and new technologies are being designed and refined to support
remote work and virtual collaboration. The Theme 4 findings show that despite the lack of a
definitive list of relationship formation skills, the participants did feel that building strong teams
requires trust, inclusion, and a sense of safety. This sentiment is based on their pre-pandemic
knowledge and personal teaching experiences with fully remote classrooms. Theme 5 explored
three participants’ coursework and program enhancement ideas intended to increase students’
employability and leadership skills but not necessarily intended to build remote leader skills.
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The discussion will now move to the second set of themes that answer the research
question on the skill development and coursework preparation for a remote leader’s resilience in
challenging circumstances.
Remote Leader Resilience
During each interview, resilience was defined as a characteristic that supports the
individual in managing career and lifetime challenges and setbacks. Remote leader resilience
was defined as how virtual leaders manage a serious disruption that affects a series of
departments, an organization, or a nation.
Theme 6 describes the participants’ uncertainty about the qualities of remote leader
resilience. Most felt that as resilience is learned at the individual level, the skill would naturally
transfer as the individual moves into a leadership role. There were also questions on how the
skill would be defined, although several participants noted that the skill is rapidly becoming a
crucial one for leaders.
Theme 7 explores the interviewees’ thoughts and ideas on developing leader resilience
skills. Most believe that students should be put into scenarios where they need to think critically
when they are in a professional situation with incomplete information. Two felt that teaching
resilience skills other than a growth mindset and self-awareness was outside the scope of
business school faculty.
Theme 6: Participants’ Thoughts On In-Person Versus Remote Leader Resilience and Its
Importance
Most participants felt that the pandemic brought to light the importance of developing a
leader’s resilience skills. They believed that leader resilience could refer to a leader’s personal
resilience in managing career and professional setbacks that affect the leader and team members.
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Some thought it applied to a leader’s role in modeling resilience to their peers and team
members. Although the participants were familiar with the concepts of in-person resilience and
mindset for individuals, they were less certain about how the skill should be adapted and fostered
for those leading in a remote environment, primarily because the subject is not taught at the
business school or the leadership core course.
Each participant gave their thoughts and ideas on how leaders could demonstrate
personal resilience. Three stated that a leader’s personal resilience was the ability to think on
their feet, think critically, and recover quickly from a failure or setback. They added, however,
that this could also hold true for individuals who were not in a leadership role.
All felt that mindset was also a significant factor in resilience for leaders and individuals.
One faculty mentioned in various discussions with students,
It was kind of the elephant in the room. We were all kind of living through this
experience of resilience together. Kind of just promoting this mindset of radical
acceptance of this new normal we have for some period of time. And we can't influence a
global pandemic, but we can have some control over how we approach it and our
mindset.
The sudden rise in significance of the skill caught educators unprepared to meet the challenge.
One participant observed,
So, I think that is one area that is going to continue to evolve because now we're just
getting into the emotional well-being issues that are rising. … And I think resilience is
going to continue to be an issue on the plate. Maybe not in leadership, initially, but
certainly a resilience mindset and how to build that skill or teach that skill of resilience in
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kids and in students. It’s not just at the higher ed level. It's certainly going to be at the K
through 12 level.
Five participants believe that socio-emotional skills will become crucial for leaders and
for how they model resilience to their peers and team members. One mentioned, “I think harder
times are coming, and I think leaders will definitely be needing a psychological kind of
grounding, or health, mental health, and it’s a big deal. We’re certainly seeing that in K through
12.” Several faculty members had recalled how they had modeled leader vulnerability and
honesty toward their students when the school first transitioned to online courses. They admitted
they, too, were frustrated and upset with the abrupt changes in their professional and personal
lives, but felt that, as a group, they and the students would successfully get through the pandemic
together. Their frank admissions, along with the sense of togetherness, gave them first-hand
experience in modeling resilience, which, in turn, strengthened their relationships with the
students and increased the students’ trust in their leadership.
Regarding leader resilience from a career perspective, two interviewees thought this skill
could be applied to the ability to network successfully to obtain support with career challenges.
However, they noted that the networking skill is not exclusive to those in leadership positions.
Both mentioned that the development of social capital, using both strong and weak ties, could be
accomplished in-person and remotely by using social media, such as Facebook or LinkedIn. One
participant mentioned that former students stay in touch via LinkedIn and that this is considered
a form of virtual networking and “resilience insurance” when they need to reach out for guidance
on how to handle challenging professional situations or to find out about employment
opportunities. Another participant elaborated,
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When you face these major challenges in your career and setbacks and things like that,
then you really rely on your networks. Your weak tie network for professional
opportunities that helps you be resilient, and then you need your strong ties, your close
loyalties for the social emotional support, which is really important, too.
All participants mentioned the difficulty in determining how to define the skill. One
faculty member stated, “Resilience is more open-ended, and so it gets challenging to think about
how to measure it or assess it.” Another interviewee acknowledged the difficulty in developing
the skill but acknowledged its significance, especially for those in leadership:
I don't know how to think about this skill. But I think that's going to be a big, big
challenge for leaders to figure out how do you name the trauma and give voice to that
while guiding people to a more sturdy place.
In summary, the participants provided their perspectives on leader resilience within
individual and leader contexts, although there was some uncertainty in how to adapt the skill for
a remote leader. The majority concluded that a leader’s resilience skills are likely a combination
of emotional intelligence and critical thinking skills. It was further noted that the skill had taken
on greater importance since the pandemic and would naturally be considered a required skill for
both leaders and their teams. However, because the current coursework does not address the skill
separately and directly, they had not considered the skill in the context of leadership, remote or
otherwise. As a result, the discussion that follows examines the participants’ thoughts and ideas
on developing leader resilience coursework that does not include a virtual element.
Theme 7: Faculty Ambiguous on the Development of Leader Resilience Coursework
All interviewees acknowledged that leader resilience is not taught or had any meaningful
focus within any business courses, including the core leadership course. Three mentioned that
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there was a limited amount of skills training that could fit within a semester’s timeframe and
asked, “What kinds of skills training do we give priority during that time?” Several participants
brought up important questions on how the skill should be taught. For example, one faculty
member mentioned that while social and emotional intelligence skills are rapidly increasing in
importance to employers and are necessary skills for every leader, questions remained, such as
how should the business school teach these skills? Should they be taught first as personal
resilience skills and then transfer the concept to a leader’s resilience and subsequently pass on
the teaching to a team? Others wondered about the type of exercises that could be designed to
support the readings and if there were rubrics that could accurately measure the transfer of
learning.
In contrast, two faculty members mentioned that while personal resilience is an important
skill to have as a leader, business school faculty are not qualified to teach on the subject matter
beyond a growth mindset and self-awareness skills development. One commented, “Some
coping skills may be dysfunctional,” and added that what worked 20 years ago would not
necessarily work for today’s students, especially with social media platforms that can promote
negative feelings of inadequacy. The second participant stated, “The [faculty] may need to be
vigilant in assessing the situation, making suggestions, and taking corrective action.” Another
participant had brought in guest speakers with appropriate qualifications to discuss sensitive
coping and trauma issues.
Most interviewees believed that exercises and simulations should be created to put
students into leadership situations where they are forced to think critically and think on their feet.
One participant described the scenario:
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I think you can be a leader and not be resilient, but to be a good leader, or actually a
leader, not just by title, I think you have to be resilient. So yes, first part, absolutely,
100% it's important to facilitate that skill. I think you’ve got to, as an instructor, you’ve
got to get students in situations that are uncomfortable. And in my class in particular, you
know you're going to be thrown incomplete information, you're going to have to make
assumptions, you're going to have to realize what you're assuming and what you're not,
and you're going to have to make your best case.
Two faculty members stated that one of the essential learning outcomes is for the students
to learn to lead and make strategic decisions that will involve implementing their proposed
solutions. As one person said, “The experience would be by way of learning by doing rather than
by reading or by case analysis.” This strategy implementation would involve obtaining input and
feedback from the people that the solution will affect and then getting them to support the overall
goal or solution to the problem.
This section examined the skill of remote leader resilience and noted that the participants
were undecided on the differences between individual, leader, and remote leader resilience.
While they were aware of the research on mindset and individual resilience, most participants
had not taught any class sections on leader resilience or the development of a leader’s and team’s
resilience skills in a virtual context. Thus, the virtual context was broached but not discussed in
depth. It was the pandemic, the subsequent move to ERT, and the first-hand experience with
student and national trauma that raised the importance of the skill in the participants’ minds.
Document Analysis of Core Leadership Course Syllabus
An analysis of five core leadership course syllabi did not produce meaningful data
directly related to the research question about how to support students’ skills in remote leader
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relationship formation or leader resilience. The reason for this was that the syllabi were
developed pre-pandemic, and did not substantively address these issues. However, the review of
the syllabi did reinforce this overall opportunity that EU has to introduce more content on skills
related to remote and virtual leadership to further equip its students for the increasingly remote
nature of work. While some course content addressed virtual teams, the overall emphasis on this
aspect was minor, again reflecting pre-pandemic priorities. However, now that the research on all
manner of virtual work issues is proliferating rapidly, the remote skills content could easily be
incorporated into courses.
The interviewees noted this need to incorporate the emerging priorities of the changing
work landscape into courses. Participants acknowledged that it would be vital to address new
business models, including new remote work policies and the new skills and knowledge needed
to ensure that new graduates could successfully function in a virtual environment. At the time of
this study, however, much of the participants’ focus was on supporting students during the height
of the crisis. One faculty captured the moment this way,
It is hard because it's like things are changing so quickly, faster than we can even
update the curriculum. I think a lot of instructors are kind of taking a wait and see
approach, like first just trying to stabilize everything, like can we just deliver an
acceptable product and then anything beyond that is going to be gravy. So let's
just make sure there's continuity, like we can at least staff the classes. Later we
can figure out how we can actually thrive.
Conclusion
Through interviews and document analysis, this study sought to explore the interviewees’
experiences, thoughts, and ideas on enhancements to remote leadership relationship formation
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and resilience skills taught in the core leadership course at EU’s undergraduate business school.
Overall, the participants believed that trust, inclusion, and a sense of safety were part of a set of
remote leadership skills for building strong teams, despite their perception that a comprehensive
list of remote leadership relationship formation skills was premature. Regarding leader
resilience, they agreed that resilience skills had risen in importance, although they were uncertain
of what the specific coursework would entail and whether business school faculty were qualified
to teach on the subject.
The participants noted that the study on the skills of developing remote leaders’
relationship networks and remote leader resilience skills was ahead of its time. The study group
gave strong justifications for an inconclusive list of skills that encompassed leader relationship
development and leader resilience in remote work settings, which then extended into a lack of
clarity on the coursework design to support the learning and enhancement of the skills. First,
several felt that there were too few conclusive studies on a comprehensive list of remote
leadership skills, and as a result, the research had yet to establish how the development of a
leader’s relationships and resilience can best be accomplished in fully remote and hybrid teams.
This was particularly true for a remote leader’s resilience since the participants were divided in
their thoughts on the development of an individual’s resilience skills versus a leader’s resilience
skills. Second, employers are still reviewing their business models to determine how much of
their labor force can effectively work remotely and if their staff have the skills needed to support
this type of modality. Third, the new remote collaboration technologies being introduced are
expected to change the communications and teamwork skills remote leaders need. The
inconclusiveness on the remote leader skills led to a lack of clarity on coursework design to
support the learning and enhancement of the leader relationship formation and resilience skills.
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The following chapter will examine the study’s research question in relation to the
findings and the conceptual framework, present the recommendations for practice, and conclude
with suggestions for future research.

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Chapter Five: Discussion
This qualitative case study examined the thoughts and viewpoints of business school
faculty to understand how best to adapt the school’s leadership coursework and class exercises to
support the remote work needs of new graduates. This study is significant because employers are
under continued pressure to provide the benefit of remote work to keep their strong performers
and to attract high-quality future employees (De Smet, Dowling, Mysore, & Reich, 2021; De
Smet, Dowling, Mugayar-Baldocchi, & Schaninger, 2021; PwC, 2021) in addition to maintaining
health, safety, and remote work protocols in preparation for future pandemics and business
interruptions (Agrawal et al., 2020; De Smet, Dowling, Mysore, & Reich, 2021; Lund et al.,
2021). Currently, employers primarily focus on reskilling and upskilling their labor force with
data and digital skills (Bennett & McWhorter, 2021; Billing et al., 2021; Lavelle, 2020; LinkedIn
Learning, 2021; Lund et al., 2021; Sneader & Singhal, 2021). Few are training their employees
in social and emotional skills competencies that aid in supporting and leading their teams
through future disruptions due to the complexities of learning and transference of these skills
(Agrawal et al., 2020; LinkedIn Learning, 2021; Lund et al., 2021). Recent research shows that
post-secondary students’ social and emotional skills are not developed through the standard
academic curricula (Craig, 2019; Jackson, 2016; Jackson & Chapman, 2012; Kalfa & Taksa,
2015; Kornelakis & Petrakaki, 2020), which further exacerbates the lack of competencies in
these areas. Thus, it is left to the HEIs to identify and fill the gap in these areas and quickly
prepare their future graduates.
The purpose of this chapter is to provide a critical analysis of the findings presented in
Chapter Four in view of the study’s research question: How might EU business school’s
leadership curriculum and co-curriculum be enhanced to support the development of
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undergraduate students’ remote leadership skills in the areas of relationship formation and
resilience within the framework of Tomlinson’s (2017) graduate capitals model? To accomplish
this purpose, the data will be examined through the lens of this question and in relation to the
extant literature and the study’s graduate capital conceptual framework.
This chapter also provides a detailed discussion of the key findings and recommendations
that arose from the study. To set the context, an analysis of the participant’s recommendations
that employers offer a remote work benefit is juxtaposed against the recent research on
employers’ desire for a full return to the brick and mortar locations. Following this analysis, the
discussion continues with the urgent need to train undergraduates on virtual leader relationships,
trust, and socio-emotional skills and then moves to the promotability debate of remote leaders.
The section that follows covers the recommendations specific to the study and EU’s business
school and will conclude with the final section on future research recommendations. The chapter
will conclude by discussing the implications for practice and opportunities for future research.
Discussion
The information collected through the interviews and document analysis in this study
allowed some aspects of the research question to be addressed more than others. A common
theme in the interviews was how the participants did not have the time to mentally process the
changes and implications that came with the revised skillsets needed for the new normal of the
labor market. Further, several mentioned that the newer employability skills research had not yet
been sufficiently concluded to recommend a prioritized list of skills needed for the post-
pandemic labor market. This outcome is not surprising in hindsight, given that the shift to
working and leading remotely for most knowledge workers was recent and sudden (Agrawal et
al., 2020; Lund et al., 2021; PwC, 2021). Nevertheless, the findings provide valuable insights
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and can be viewed as part of a growing trend of studying issues about working and leading in an
increasingly remote work environment (Kropp & McRae, 2022; Lister, 2021; Lund et al., 2021).
An aspect of the research question that the study results address more fully was
identifying skills needed for remote work and that many of these skills are the same as those
required for in-person settings. For example, concerning leader relationship formation, several
participants mentioned the importance of leaders creating an environment that is inclusive and
safe, maintains strong employee motivation, and where trust and open communication is
established between team members. Other skills mentioned were the significance of
understanding cross-cultural issues and behavioral norms when working in a virtual realm. In the
area of leader resilience, participants agreed that a resilient person, regardless of modality, can
think critically, creatively, and rebound quickly after a setback. During times of disruption,
leaders and team members can model resilience through socio-emotional skills needed to
progress through trying times.
One area where results were not as useful was identifying curricular and co-curricular
enhancements to better develop leaders in forming relationships and exhibiting resilience in
remote settings. The crucial information that was missing in the data was what specific curricular
and co-curricular activities would be useful to equip undergraduates with the skills needed to
work in a virtual environment. To mitigate this and other gaps, the following discussion will be
augmented with insights from the most recent literature to fully address the research question.
Employers Are Revising Business Models to Include Remote Work Formats
The study participants believed employers were still assessing how much of their labor
force could reasonably work remotely as they revised their business models to adapt to the new
normal of doing business. Further, most felt that if employers did not allow for some amount of
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remote work for their knowledge workers, there could be at least three significant consequences
that may affect the organization's overall skills base. First, the organization would expose itself
to losing its most valued workers to competitors who do offer the benefit. Second, it would not
attract highly skilled workers without the benefit. Third, the organization would limit itself to a
labor pool within the geographic boundaries of its brick and mortar locations instead of allowing
for global inclusivity of the workforce.
The sentiments of the study participants in this area align with the current research, which
reveals that there is a justifiable tension between an employer’s desire for a physical return to
work and employees’ expectations for a remote work benefit. In a 2021 PwC study on remote
work, 55% of employees surveyed stated their preference for a hybrid remote work schedule of
at least three days a week. Yet, 43% of the C-suite leaders surveyed wanted limited remote work
schedules or a full return to the office as soon as possible. While the 18-month remote work
experiment was considered successful by most executives surveyed (De Smet, Mysore et al.,
2021; PwC, 2021), they also believed that it hurt organizational culture, a sense of belonging,
and communications across various departmental groups (De Smet, Dowling, Mysore, & Reich,
2021; Kropp, 2021; Yang et al., 2022).
Despite the lower tolerance for remote work among business leaders, executives find that
the physical return of their workforce nearly full time is also not the solution. Recent studies
have shown that employees are unenthusiastically returning to work after enjoying the flexibility
and convenience of remote work (De Smet, Dowling, Mysore, & Reich, 2021; Kropp & McRae,
2022; Parent-Lamarche, 2022). As a result of the disconnect between employers and employees,
various remote work studies have shown that between 30%-43% of employees are leaving their
jobs for those employers who do offer a remote work schedule (De Smet, Dowling, Mugayar-
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Baldocchi, & Schaninger, 2021; Lister, 2021; Owl Labs, 2022; Parent-Lamarche, 2022). This
appears to confirm the faculty concerns that businesses that do not offer a remote work benefit
will lose highly valued employees and will forfeit the ability to attract highly skilled workers
who are geographically dispersed from the organization’s brick and mortar locations. Thus,
employers will have to weigh the importance of employee retention against the ability to
maintain the organization’s culture, a sense of employee affiliation and connectedness, and
communication across departmental silos. More research on remedying such problems within
virtual work environments is needed.
In contrast, participants in this study believed that HEIs were not taking the opportunity
to re-examine their education business models and were thus foregoing the opportunity to grow
their online and remote class programs. However, it should be noted that universities, including
Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Stanford, and the University of Texas, posted their virtual teams
leadership coursework and certifications programs for their executive education, masters
programs, and extended education student base. A search on universities that offer such
programs using keywords like “leading virtual teams” and “certificate” reveals the listings. On
the other hand, EU has not yet prepared such a program offering, although the program is in the
planning stages.
As more employers offer remote work formats, virtual leader relationship formation and
resilience skills training will increase. Thus, HEIs must quickly adapt their leadership courses to
address these skills. The next three sections will analyze this study’s findings and other relevant
research concerning these skills to provide further context surrounding the research question.

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There Is an Urgent Need to Enhance Undergraduates’ Virtual Team Building Skills
Undergraduate business school students must be introduced to the concept and
experience of leading virtual teams. Studies have found that new graduates have limited training
in remote team collaborations during their academic years yet are often placed in virtual teams
shortly after securing their first professional job (Brewer et al., 2015; Flammia et al., 2016;
Loucks & Ozogul, 2020).
Overall, the participants in this study were more familiar with the importance of a
leader’s cognitive skills than with a leader’s relationship formation skills. They thought that the
research on remote leader relationship formation had not yet yielded a prioritized list of skills
supporting this capability. A few postulated on one or two traits, such as trust, the ability to
create an open culture of communications and safety, active listening, or leader vulnerability, but
none spoke of a collective list of skills that was agreed upon by a business community or by a
higher education community. The participants had felt that it was too early for a full or
prioritized list of remote relationship development skills, especially given the rapid introduction
of the newer technologies and platforms that support virtual work and collaboration contexts.
The literature on virtual teams shows that some of the soft skills supporting the building
of relationships, especially the skill of trust-building, have been well-known to be crucial in
remote work environments even prior to the pandemic. For example, as early as 1998, Jarvenpaa
et al. (1998) found that trust unifies virtual teams, overcoming the physical and psychological
distances between team members. The SHRM’s 2012 study on virtual teams found that over
50% of the organizations reported that trust between leadership and team members was the most
difficult obstacle to overcome. Research on other important virtual team-leading competencies
includes the abilities to build team cohesion, communicate clearly and effectively, resolve
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conflicts, and manage multi-cultural teams are crucial to the success of virtual teams (Jarvenpaa
et al., 1998; Maduka et al., 2018; SHRM, 2012). Given the long history of corporations’ use of
virtual teams and the recent surge in remote work formats, the leading of virtual teams has
become a requisite skill for knowledge workers (De Smet, Mysore et al., 2021; Germain &
McGuire, 2022; Malhotra, 2021).
Virtual Team Building Will Require Different Skills From In-Person Team Building
Over half of the participants pointed out that the skills required to develop a culture of
trust and inclusivity in a remote setting are different from those required in an in-person format.
The literature supports this finding. Using the skill of building trust as an example, virtual teams
have long been studied (Cascio, 2000; Meyerson et al., 1996). Virtual teams are normally
organized to accomplish a short or intermediate-term organizational goal and mostly consist of
subject matter experts located around the country or the world (SHRM, 2012). To achieve their
goals quickly, team members must learn to collaborate rapidly and work cooperatively.
Meyerson et al. (1996) found that these geographically dispersed teams develop swift trust rather
than a rationally based assessment of trustworthiness or a feelings-based trust present in face-to-
face, longer-term teams. Swift trust exists when members have incomplete information about
each other’s abilities and integrity but suspend those concerns to achieve the team's goals. Later,
individuals verify and adjust their trust beliefs based on the performance and abilities of each
member and will also assess that each team member is capable of managing vulnerabilities and
expectations. It is the leader's responsibility to closely manage the relational aspects of the team
(DuFrene & Lehman, 2015; Fan et al., 2014; Maynard et al., 2012). Such aspects include
establishing team norms, protocols, and an environment of open and inclusive communications
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so that swift trust can be formed and grow to a cognitive-based trust (Germain & McGuire, 2014;
Maynard et al., 2012).
Remote leader relationship formation coursework could, at minimum, include a reading
and exercise on a concept such as swift trust development and the importance of creating a safe
and inclusive team environment that fosters this skill. Additional suggestions along these lines
will be provided in the recommendations section under leader relationship formation
coursework.
The Pandemic Disruption Highlighted the Importance of Students’ Socio-Emotional Skills
As a result of the pandemic, U.S. employers are more aware of the role that social and
emotional skills play in sustaining the organization through difficult and varied challenges that
come with large-scale disruptions (Agrawal et al., 2020; De Smet, Mysore et al., 2021; De Smet,
Dowling, Mugayar-Baldocchi, & Schaninger, 2021; Parent-Lamarche, 2022; World Economic
Forum, 2020). It is estimated that the demand for socio-emotional skills, such as emotional
intelligence and resilience, will increase by 25% over the next 10 years (Bodem-Schrötgens et
al., 2021).
Recent remote work studies found that employees want to continue to work remotely and
feel a sense of belonging and being valued by their employers (De Smet, Dowling, Mugayar-
Baldocchi, & Schaninger, 2021; Kropp & McRae, 2022; Parent-Lamarche, 2022). In other
words, they want a relational connection with their employer and not one that is transactional. De
Smet, Dowling, Mugayar-Baldocchi, and Schaninger (2021) discussed the top three socio-
emotional reasons that employees gave for leaving their companies: (a) 52% did not feel valued
by their supervisors, (b) 54% did not feel valued by their organizations, and (c) 51% did not have
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a sense of belongingness at work. These findings held true for the various industries and five
countries surveyed (Australia, Canada, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States).
While EU’s business school has focused on the quantitative and cognitive skills
associated with business leadership, there appears to be less emphasis on the socio-emotional
skill building in the academic curricula. Specifically, the business school’s core leadership
course and other leadership courses do not currently explicitly teach the skill of resilience from a
social and emotional perspective. According to the participants, this is primarily because of the
limited time to train students on priority analytical and soft skills during the semester. Thus, a
post-pandemic re-evaluation of the relative importance of the skill of resilience may be needed
for the core leadership course. This examination may include reaching out to employers to query
them on the relative importance of the analytical skills versus the soft skills needed in new
graduates. Since the research shows the increased employer demand for socio-emotional skills
(Agrawal et al., 2020; Bodem-Schrötgens et al., 2021; Parent-Lamarche, 2022), EU’s new
graduates may fall short of employer expectations for the soft skills needed to effectively lead
virtual teams during times of crises. It is, therefore, imperative that EU enhance its core business
school curriculum to build students’ social and emotional skills needed to lead strong virtual
teams and to train future leaders on the skill of resilience (Alam et al., 2022; Amer-Yahia &
Basu-Roy, 2021; Califano, 2022).
An additional issue to consider is for HEIs to provide input on the expectations of their
students as they prepare to transition from the academic environment to the labor market. If
students’ academic life experiences are fairly successful, they may presume that the transition
into their careers will be seamless. Tomlinson (2017) recommends that HEIs properly set
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expectations for their students and create ways of learning and internalizing effective ways to
cope with the professional challenges and disappointments that inevitably occur over a career.
Some participants cautioned that business school faculty were not qualified to teach
personal resilience beyond developing a growth mindset and self-awareness skills. However, this
concern could be addressed by bringing in qualified speakers to teach about the development of
leader resilience. The resilience coursework recommendations are addressed in greater detail in
the recommendations section.
The discussion will now move to the promotability of a fully remote leader. This finding
does not directly relate to the research question but could significantly affect remote workers and
leaders and their career trajectories.
Questions About the Promotability of a Remote Leader Point to Core Debate About
Remote Work
The participants were mixed in their views on the promotability of a fully remote middle-
and senior-level manager. Some participants were unequivocal in their opinion that a fully
remote leader, but not a leader on a hybrid work schedule, would be significantly disadvantaged
if they did not show a regular, physical presence at the organization’s brick and mortar locations.
This view reflects a common misconception among managers and executives that leads to an
unconscious bias toward remote leaders (Kropp, 2021). Studies have shown that as workers
become geographically dispersed, managers believe they are less aware of their employees’
workloads and work quality (Kropp, 2021; PwC, 2021; Yarberry & Sims, 2021). This fallacy
might create bias in performance evaluations based on employee location rather than actual
results. In Fall 2020, Gartner surveyed 3,000 managers and executives on their beliefs about in-
office versus remote employee performance and found that 64% assumed that the higher
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performance workers were those who were working physically in the office as opposed to those
working remotely, and 76% believed in-office workers were more likely to be promoted (Kropp,
2021). Conversely, Gartner’s 2019 and 2020 analysis of worker performance data revealed that
full-time remote workers were 5% more likely to be high performers than full-time office
workers (Faulds & Raju, 2021; Kropp, 2021).
Despite the bias against remote workers, as evidenced in the research, the literature
supports the participants’ view that new collaboration platforms and applications will offer key
capabilities enabling managers to effectively oversee their remote workers and teams. First,
collaboration platforms and applications are continually being developed and refined to support
leaders’ abilities to manage remotely and effectively (Amer-Yahia & Basu-Roy, 2021; Singh et
al., 2021). Such applications include Friday, Asana, Slack, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams. Second,
multinational organizations utilized remote work even prior to the pandemic, and many for over
20 years (Cascio, 2000; Jarvenpaa et al., 1998; Kanawattanachai & Yoo, 2002). In 2012, 66% of
those firms utilized virtual teams to accomplish organizational objectives (Maynard et al., 2012;
SHRM, 2012). Such firms need leaders with strong capabilities to manage complex projects and
teams across time zones, nations, and cultures.
Third, studies conducted by Yarberry and Sims (2021) and Germain and McGuire (2022)
have shown that introducing and incorporating online coaching and mentoring applications can
bring together an organization’s senior leaders and managers to support the mentoring of remote
workers and managers. Mentoring and coaching software applications include Together
Enterprise Mentoring, Chronus, and MentorcliQ. Fourth, some firms have found that
successfully adopting a reverse-mentoring program resolves some of the problems that mature
employees are experiencing with newer software applications (Garg et al., 2021; Germain &
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McGuire, 2022). In this type of mentoring, technologically savvy younger workers mentor the
older workers who may not be as familiar with collaboration tools that will become necessary for
their future remote job. This practice is especially helpful when the older worker is in a senior
executive position and has the foresight to understand the importance of reskilling and upskilling
their workforce (De Smet, Mysore et al., 2021).
Tomlinson’s (2017) graduate capitals model demonstrates the importance of the roles that
the capitals play in conferring employability advantages to the new graduate and continuing to
build the capitals throughout a career. Social and professional networking sites, such as
Facebook and LinkedIn, have significantly increased the ability to create and strengthen the
various capitals. For example, social, psychological, and cultural capital can be enhanced by
joining various LinkedIn Groups to create bridging ties to peers and employers, seeking guidance
on a particular problem or challenge, or exploring various perspectives on how to design a policy
that will affect different divisions within a multinational organization. More research will need to
be done to establish the effectiveness of remote leaders and the biases they encounter, the
efficacy of the capital developed through virtual means, and its effect on their career trajectory.
In summary, the analysis indicates significant and nuanced issues surrounding remote
work, both from the employer and employee perspectives and for the skills enhancements
necessary to lead virtual teams. The discussion will now move to the recommendations that
emerged from the study.
Recommendations
This section offers five recommendations for higher education academic administrators
involved with undergraduate business curricula. These recommendations will support schools’
goals of developing leadership skills that remain relevant to employer needs. This section covers
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two major areas. The first recommendation addresses the need to enhance faculty awareness of
the key skills needed for remote work. The second, third, and fourth recommendations focus on
coursework enhancements for key leadership courses. The fifth recommendation describes the
importance of HEIs and employers collaborating to provide remote WIL programs.
Recommendation 1: Enhance Faculty Awareness About Remote Work Competencies
One key recommendation is to raise faculty awareness and acceptance of the necessity of
remote leadership skills competencies for undergraduate students. The research on infectious
diseases suggests that future pandemics are highly probable (McLymont et al., 2022; National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases [NIAID], 2021) and that all organizations should be
prepared to mitigate the disruption by creating plans that transition essential operational
functions to remote and hybrid modalities under such conditions (Agrawal et al., 2020; Brooks et
al., 2022; De Smet, Mysore et al., 2021; Van Beusekom, 2022). The study findings indicate
varying levels of knowledge of the necessary competencies that comprise effective remote
leadership. Some of the standard organizational leadership skills can be applied to a virtual
leadership context. However, the new normal of doing business for knowledge workers includes
distinct remote work and socio-emotional skills and competencies, such as quickly developing
trust between team members and creating an open and safe communications culture (De Smet,
Dowling, Mysore, & Reich, 2021; Germain & McGuire, 2022; Parent-Lamarche, 2022; Yarberry
& Sims, 2021).
Therefore, a future of work type of program must be designed and implemented to
increase awareness among the faculty about the necessity of these types of skills, such as remote
leadership and socio-emotional skills, and the importance of developing these skills in the
undergraduate leadership curriculum. To enhance faculty awareness, the school may want to
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consider several options. First, the program can provide a webpage containing future of work
topics, such as recent research on employer and employee remote work perspectives, so that
faculty have nuanced views from both stakeholders. This may also include articles with job
change and employer data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and other research institutions so
that they can evaluate employment trends and, in turn, employability skills.
Another possibility may be to hold workshops presented by a faculty member who is
familiar with the remote work leadership skills and the recent tools needed to successfully lead in
a virtual work environment. Schools might turn to research, teaching, practice, and clinical
(RTPC) faculty for this since they may be more likely to have current experience in leading and
managing virtual teams. Such presentations may elaborate on how virtual leadership skills will
vary from in-person leadership skills and how some of the remote collaborative tools can be used
to support the goals and objectives of the team and the organization. Further, the presentations
can include how managers and leaders in multinational organizations manage virtual multi-
cultural teams that are geographically dispersed.
A third alternative to consider is for the business school to hire an RTPC faculty member
with experience in leading global virtual teams and who understands the nuanced skills needs for
remote leadership. Further, this individual likely has the experience of managing a career in the
virtual world of work and can give guidance on managing executive expectations and
perceptions of remote workers.
The subsequent recommendations will focus on coursework enhancements and remote
WIL program offerings. Recommendation 2 focuses on adding curricular content to develop
virtual teams leadership skills, and Recommendation 3 suggests adding remote leader
relationship development and virtual teams skills to the proposed technology and leadership
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course. Recommendation 4 proposes adding leader resilience skills to the leadership course.
Recommendation 5 offers a suggestion on remote WIL collaboration program offerings between
employers and HEIs.
Recommendation 2: Add Curricular Content on Leading Virtual Teams
Findings from this study indicate that EU has an opportunity to bolster its curriculum in
leading virtual teams. To accomplish this, a section of the leadership core course could be
devoted to enhancing the skills needed for virtual teams leadership. The school’s undergraduate
curriculum committee can decide the overall priorities of these skillsets. One alternative is to
utilize a midwestern university’s implementation of their Virtual Teams Leadership
Development course, which was provided in Chapter Two. In this case study, the university
created an online course as a train-the-trainer approach to make the virtual leadership activities
as realistic as possible. The original study about that case includes details on the coursework,
implementation, and suggested improvements (Loucks & Ozogul, 2020).
For EU’s purposes, another alternative is to start with one class meeting on leading
remote teams and the basic competencies that support a successful team. These skills could
include establishing and communicating the team’s purpose or mission, forming relationships by
developing swift trust between team members, and creating an inclusive and open
communications culture (Germain & McGuire, 2022; Parent-Lamarche, 2022; Yarberry & Sims,
2021). EU’s applied leadership program has already established trust-building and coaching
articles and online exercises in its curriculum modules. The learning center associated with the
business school modified some of the in-person team-building exercises to fit a fully online
format when the Safer-at-Home mandate was in effect. The exercises can be modified to fit the
research on developing swift trust and team relationship development.
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Establishing an inclusive culture and creating an open and clear communications
environment can primarily be taken from the current leadership core class coursework. Some of
the articles may include virtual and cross-cultural communications skills. Most cultures,
including the American culture, have different behavioral norms and social mores for in-person
versus video conferencing settings (Machwate et al., 2021; Mangla, 2021); thus, the cross-
cultural section of the syllabus may need to be updated to include virtual cultural differences as
well.
Further, the curriculum committee may want to consider supplementing virtual team
skills articles with recent research on diversity, inclusion, and unconscious bias that may occur in
a virtual work environment. Research has shown that the increased calls for remote work formats
and the demand for highly skilled workers widened the inequality gap (Agrawal et al., 2020;
Lund et al., 2021; PwC, 2021; Russell & Frachtenberg, 2021). Once the initial classroom articles
and exercises are evaluated and implemented, the coursework could be expanded to include
additional aspects of remote leadership, such as sustaining employee motivation and preserving
the organization’s culture.
Recommendation 3: Incorporate Remote Leader Relationship Formation and Virtual
Teams Skills Into the New Leadership and Technology Course
Three faculty mentioned that they were developing coursework or program revisions
intended to support the future of work employability skills. Such curricular developments should
be encouraged and fast-tracked. For example, one of the new course ideas, tentatively titled
Integrating Leadership and Technology, is intended to enhance technology and leadership skills
and create plans for leading in the digital age. The course's purpose is to develop students’ virtual
social capital by utilizing various networking platforms to create and strengthen bonding and
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bridging capital. The literature shows that developing digital and socio-emotional skills is
important to enhancing employability, especially when working and leading remotely (Agrawal
et al., 2020; Lund et al., 2021; Parent-Lamarche, 2022; PwC, 2021).
Content on leading virtual teams might also be incorporated into a course such as this
since the focus is to teach and enhance digital social capital in a remote environment. Given the
virtual social capital development theme, the virtual teams topic can concentrate on the
development of trust and inclusiveness in leading virtual teams since these skills underpin a
remote leader’s relationships with their team members (Jarvenpaa et al., 1998; Maduka et al.,
2018; SHRM, 2012). Therefore, it is recommended that at least one class session be dedicated to
enhancing these skills in support of relationship formation in a virtual context.
The next coursework recommendation will focus on training students in resilience skills
needed in leaders.
Recommendation 4: Incorporate Leader Resilience Skills Into Leadership Courses
The employability skill of resilience has been rapidly increasing in importance since the
pandemic (LinkedIn Learning; 2021; Lund et al., 2021; World Economic Forum, 2020),
especially given the warnings of future outbreaks from the NIH and the White House (Lander &
Sullivan, 2021; NIAID, 2021; Oeschger et al., 2021). Leader resilience can be taught both on an
individual and leadership basis in the role of one who supports team members.
Schools of education and psychology can provide articles and exercises that develop
individual resilience, and leader and team resilience coursework can be brought in from business
and humanities curricula. A good starting point for individual resilience development is the work
of Carol Dweck and other researchers on growth and fixed mindset and creating a failure resume.
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The failure resume highlights a list of an individual’s setbacks and rejections and the lessons
learned from those losses.
Many universities offer human resources degree programs intended to train HR managers
and leaders on working with employee, departmental, or institution-wide employment issues,
including national trauma. Coursework can be used to learn what leaders and managers can and
cannot say and do for team members. One exercise to consider is administering a leadership self-
assessment designed to increase self-awareness of leadership styles and to identify areas of
strengths and opportunities for growth. It is important that leaders learn to be honest and
empathize with their team members during times of trauma and stress to be effective (Agrawal et
al., 2020; Bennett & McWhorter, 2021; Contreras et al., 2020; Dondi et al., 2021). This also
supports developing and enhancing the trust between team members required for virtual teams’
success (Jarvenpaa et al., 1998; SHRM, 2012).
In summary, the pandemic emphasized the importance of the skills of personal and leader
resilience. These skills can be taught and transferred through various approaches and can utilize
the expertise and experience from other academic departments. Developing these skills in a
higher education environment will reduce the socio-emotional skills gap in the current labor
force (Agrawal et al., 2020; LinkedIn Learning, 2021; Lund et al., 2021).
The following recommendation proposes that HEIs and employers collaborate on remote
WIL programs to reinforce students’ remote work skills and subsequent learning transfer to
produce work-ready graduates.

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Recommendation 5: Collaboration of HEIs and Industry on Remote Work Integrated
Learning Programs
Employers and HEIs should be encouraged to offer remote-work-integrated learning
through remote summer internships, industry placement programs, work simulations and other
WIL modalities. Researchers (Jackson, 2016; Jackson & Chapman, 2012; Kalfa & Taksa, 2015;
Tomlinson, 2017) have called attention to the importance of employers, students, and higher
education stakeholders sharing in the accountability of the learning transfer and application of
employability skills. HEIs can collaborate with local employers to set up short-term WIL
programs that support the learning and transfer of remote work leadership and virtual teams
skills. Further, students can be encouraged to appreciate the importance of remote work skills to
their future employability and to actively search for opportunities to apply those skills (Jackson
& Bridgstock, 2021; Parutis & Howson, 2020). Also, WIL internships and similar programs have
demonstrated that they produce work-ready graduates (Brooks & Youngson, 2016; Jackson &
Bridgstock, 2021; Spence & Hyams-Ssekasi, 2015). Thus, employers and HEIs might find it
beneficial to invest time and funds to provide remote work programs to support the pipeline of
highly employable graduates (Brooks & Youngson, 2016; Jackson, 2020; Jackson & Bridgstock,
2021).
Future Research
The rapid rise in remote work modalities among organizations triggered the sudden
demand for updated remote worker and leadership skills. This study focused on the thoughts and
experiences of a private university’s business school faculty, yet much more research needs to be
done to understand other perspectives and aspects surrounding remote work modalities. The
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following are three lines of inquiry that might be pursued, which build on the findings of this
study.
One area that should be examined in depth and longitudinally are the career trajectories
of those workers and managers who are fully remote, both with domestic and international
employers. Several questions arise as to how this group fares in terms of upward mobility, given
the attitudes of older leaders versus younger, more digitally adept leaders.
Relatedly, research is needed on how best to address management attitudes and biases
toward remote leaders and managers. The studies may show that the bias may not be
generationally based but psychologically based in that a remote worker who is out of sight is out
of mind. One of the outcomes of the research may be alternative means of managing a remote
leader’s professional persona, given limited physical contact with key corporate leaders and
departments. More research is needed to determine the source of the biases and how these can be
remedied.
A third area of study may examine how the rising generation of leaders addresses the
labor force’s digital skills and workplace flexibility. A highly skilled digital workforce helps to
modernize an organization’s business processes and customer relationships (Philip & Gavrilova
Aguilar, 2021). Studies on younger generation employees have shown digital skills and
workplace flexibility are of greater importance than compensation alone (Cogin, 2012; De Smet,
Mysore et al., 2021; Maier et al., 2015; Scribner et al., 2020; Siebel, 2017).
A fourth area of research needed is how universities may perpetuate inequalities in
graduates’ capitals regarding underrepresented minorities and FGCS. As stated previously, many
of these students have job and family responsibilities that traditional undergraduate students do
not; thus, they lack the time and financial support to further the development of their capitals
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(Dokuka et al., 2020; Jackson, 2020; Lin, 2000; Parutis & Howson, 2020). Studies can examine
various student service offerings to determine how best to support the students so that they can
take advantage of the opportunities to grow and strengthen their employability capitals. The
current research has shown that building the employability capitals increases retention and
graduation rates (Almeida et al., 2019; Bourdieu & Passeron, 1990; Friend, 2020; Mishra, 2020)
and improves employment outcomes (Clarke, 2018; Marginson, 2016; Tomlinson, 2017).
Conclusion
Since the onset of the pandemic, working remotely has become commonplace among the
majority of knowledge workers. It also appears that industries that were previously exclusively
face-to-face in work modality, such as the services and health care industries, are more
frequently adopting contactless venues with the public. Because of this growing trend, additional
research is needed to understand the short- and long-term ramifications of this type of work
modality. It is clear from the research that remote work, in all its forms and for various reasons,
will be utilized by employers for many years to come.
This study’s research question was not fully answered because of the timing of the study
and because the pandemic significantly shifted the relative importance of various leadership soft
skills that were once considered a top priority. However, as the interviews progressed, I noted
that the participants provided a much-needed psychological safety net for the students. The
sudden shift to ERT was only one aspect of the emotional upheaval for the students and faculty.
Some to learn how to accept family, financial, and job losses. Despite the surrounding trauma,
the faculty members remained stable and encouraging, and the business school administration
recognized and praised the importance of this provision of emotional stability.
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For this reason, and because governmental health organizations are warning of future
pandemics, I believe that the skill of resilience, both personally and professionally, is a crucial
soft skill that needs enhancing and should be taught as part of an undergraduate business school
curriculum.

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Appendix A: Interview Protocol
I am currently working on my doctoral dissertation and am researching how the development of
undergraduate leadership skills have shifted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. You have
been invited to participate because you: a) teach an undergraduate leadership course, and/or b)
conduct research on leadership issues, and/or c) manage an undergraduate leadership program at
the school.
This study is intended to determine how best to enhance the development of the skill of leading
in a remote work environment. Thus, I’m seeking your input on:
• how students are taught to develop or form relationships as leaders in terms of
building ties with: a) those whom they serve as leaders (their staff or team), b) with
peers, and c) with those they report to or are in a position of influence
• how a resilient leader mindset can best be developed in students for their future role
as a leader
The interview is expected to take one hour. You are under no obligation to participate – your
participation is purely voluntary. The interview will be recorded in Zoom. At any point in time,
if you prefer to stop the recording, please let me know.

For the interview, I will start with questions on how the skills were taught in the pre-pandemic,
face-to-face modality, and then will transition to asking about the changes that were made when
the school moved to Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT).
Pre-pandemic Data (Baseline Data)
1. How is the skill of leadership in the area of relationship formation with staff, peers,
and supervisor(s), developed or reinforced in the core curriculum? IF NO MENTION
OF MODELING
a) How is it modeled in the class?
b) In co-curricular activities?

Resilience is a characteristic that supports the individual in how they manage the challenges and
setbacks that inevitably occur during one’s career and lifetime.

2. Within the context of a leader role, how is the skill of resilience developed or
reinforced in the curriculum? IF NO MENTION OF MODELING
a) How is it modeled in the class?
b) In co-curricular activities?
3. If you could design the course, how would you have taught the skill of leadership
resilience during pre-pandemic times?

156

Emergency Remote Teaching Data (During pandemic)
At this point, I would like shift gears a bit to find out about the changes that were made as your
classes or program transitioned to an online/ERT format. Before I begin, though, I would like to
clarify that ERT does not mean that the move to remote learning was efficient or effective, only
that the transition was made to an online format out of necessity, and that improvements were
made as needed.
4. How was the development of leader relationship formation revised or adapted to fit
within a remote learning environment?
a) Do you have an example?
b) Was there success in the revision?
c) Was it measured or validated in any way?
i. Any measurable outcomes?
5. Were new ideas implemented for developing this skill?
a) If so, what was implemented?
ii. Was there success in the implementation?
iii. Was it measured or validated in any way?
6. How was the development of the skill of leader resilience revised or adapted to fit
within a remote learning environment?
d) Was there success in the revision?
e) Was it measured or validated in any way?
i. Any measurable outcomes?
7. Were new ideas implemented for developing this skill?
a) If so, what was implemented?
ii. Was there success in the implementation?
iii. Was it measured or validated in any way?

Post-Pandemic Data
The new graduate labor market is highly competitive due to mass access to higher education. As
a result, it is important for graduates to signal to potential employers the distinctiveness of their
skills and capabilities.
I would like to hear what you think the post-pandemic future holds for the skills of leader
relationship formation and for leader resilience, with some of the opportunities for change that
can be made to the curriculum and to the co-curricular programs, perhaps in a hybrid or solely
virtual format.
8. What insights, lessons, or new thinking have emerged on revising coursework or co-
curricular activities to support the development of relationship formation for leaders –
with staff, peers, and supervisors – within a virtual or hybrid environment?
a) Can you give an example?
Example: Indiana University’s Discover the Leader Within virtual leadership course
POSSIBLE FOLLOW-ON:
157

9. What rubric or criteria would you use to determine a successful outcome on those
skills?

In this section, I will be looking for your thoughts and ideas on ways to enhance a resilience
mindset for students in roles as remote leaders.
10. What insights, lessons, or new thinking have emerged on revising any teaching in
coursework to support the development or enhancement of a resilience mindset for
remote leaders?
a) Can you give an example?
b) Any thoughts on revisions to co-curricular activities?

Possible follow-on:
What rubric or criteria would you use to determine a successful outcome on those skills?
158

Appendix B: Document Analysis Protocol
Document analysis was utilized to strengthen the validity of themes and internal validity.
Specifically, leadership course syllabi (posted online on the business school’s website) was
utilized to corroborate what was stated in the interviews on the course content and to confirm
emerging themes.
I looked for two areas of study, activities, or assignments within the syllabi. First, I
perused the documents for the development or enhancement of leader relationship formation
skills. Second, I looked for examples of the development of leader resilience skills.
Participant
code
Syllabus course #
Leadership relationship
formation skill activities,
assignments, or readings
Leader resilience skill
activities, assignments, or
readings

Abstract (if available)

Abstract Many organizations are facing significant skills deficits in their labor force. The COVID-19 pandemic increased the hybrid and fully remote work models among knowledge workers, and as a result, the skills needed to secure a job and grow in a career have accelerated the need for reskilled and upskilled workers. This qualitative case study examined how best to enhance business school undergraduates’ remote leadership skills and resilient leader mindsets through the lens of Tomlinson’s (2017) graduate capitals model. This study utilized interviews to gather insight from faculty who are knowledgeable in leadership research, teach leadership courses, or manage leadership programs. The results showed that there were varied levels in knowledge of the important competencies that comprise effective remote leadership and that raising the awareness and acceptance on the necessity of remote leadership skills competencies for undergraduate students would support the curricular enhancements needed to grow students’ virtual leadership skills. This study informs the field of higher education and the post-pandemic employability skills needed for new business school graduate knowledge workers.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Robinson, Lynn Eiko (author)

Core Title Cultivating capital in a distanced world: preparing business school undergraduate students to lead in the virtual world of work

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Educational Leadership

Degree Conferral Date 2022-08

Publication Date 12/13/2023

Defense Date 04/29/2022

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag employability,leadership,OAI-PMH Harvest,remote work,virtual skills

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Filback, Robert (committee chair), Karpp, Edward (committee member), Randhawa, Ramandeep (committee member), Tobey, Patricia (committee member)

Creator Email lynnrobi@marshall.usc.edu,lynnrobi@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC111345253

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Document Type Dissertation

Rights Robinson, Lynn Eiko

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Source 20220622-usctheses-batch-947 (batch), University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

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