FROM EMAILS TO EMOJIS: HOW GEN Z IS REDEFINING MANAGERIAL COMMUNICATION THROUGH DIGITAL MEDIA

Abstract

This qualitative research paper discusses the manner in which the managers of Generation Z are redefining managerial communication using digital media. Being the first generation to enter the leadership sector entirely engaged in the digital culture, Gen Z develops new communicative standards that combine authenticity, emotionality, and digital literacy. Conducting semi-structured interviews with 20 Gen Z managers who work in various industries, the research applied thematic analysis based on the approach to their measurement suggested by Braun and Clarke (2006) to identify the primary tendencies in digital managerial behavior. There were four key themes that came out: professional credibility in the form of digital authenticity, emotional expression by visual symbols, reframing professionalism in the hybrid work spaces, and leadership connectivity through empathy in digital space. The results indicate that Gen Z leaders do not understand professionalism as language style but rather as interpersonal sincerity and emotional intelligence, mediated with technology. The digital team creates trust, inclusivity, and psychological safety through their use of emojis, instant messaging, and multimodal communication. The theoretical contribution of the study to the social information processing and the symbolic interactionism is that authority can be negotiated during the digital relational leadership model, in which empathy and expressiveness are central in yielding authority. In practice, it reveals the necessity of incorporating emotional and symbolic literacy into the training of leaders within the organization to respond to the changing digital communication environment.