Generation Z participants of intellectual olympiads: labour market behavioral attitudes

Abstract

One of the processes actively transforming the labour market is the entry of new generations with their own values and requirements for the quality of working life. The article aims to identify the distinctive features of values, which will determine behavior in the labour market, as well as attitudes towards the conditions and content of labour among participants in the olympiads – intellectual competitions for schoolchildren – as representatives of generation Z. The empirical basis of the study was the results of a Google-form survey of the olympiad movement participants in Russia. It was revealed that having the behavioral attitudes typical for Generation Z, the olympiads’ participants have a number of them more pronounced. For instance, when choosing a place of work the following determinants are more significant: the prospect of going abroad and the company's commitment to corporate social responsibility. Among less significant determinants, there are comfortable office space; distance from the office to the home; the possibility of upskilling within the company. Relatively more likely factors for the olympiads’ participants to quit the job are lack of opportunities for professional development and career growth; unfriendly corporate culture and unethical business practices; lack of opportunities to offer and implement own ideas. In terms of behavioral values in the labour market, differences between the olympiads’ participants and Generation Z as a whole are more significant than between subgroups of the olympiads’ participants. Despite a number of methodological limitations of this exploratory study, the results allow us to conclude that this area of within-generation research is promising for further analysis aimed at identifying cause-effect relationships to underpin HR decisions about recruitment and motivation as well as public policy decisions about the formation and support of talented youth.