Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship & Business Ethics
» The Ralph W. Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics
New Publication: Generation Z and the COVID-19 by Professor Jake Aguas
In November 2019, members of Generation Z in the United States were laying the foundation for their adult future. While the majority of this emerging generational cohort was still in high school and college, an increasing number of recent college graduates were making their way into the workforce. On the other side of the world, a 55-year-old individual from Hubei province in China would be the first person identified with a SARS-like illness caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Unbeknownst to the world, this coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) would become a global crisis infecting over 235 million people and killing 4.8 million worldwide by October 2021. The United States alone had suffered 700 thousand deaths and reported 43 million COVID-19 cumulative cases within that time frame. COVID-19 had suddenly disrupted the world and the emerging generational cohort in the United States.
With a year that included natural disasters, the death of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, soaring unemployment rates, the Black Lives Matter movement, the rise of anti-Asian violence, and a fierce presidential election, COVID-19 remained present amid these significant events and continued to shape and mold Generation Z’s values and behavioral systems in an extraordinary fashion. This formative event demanded a clear and focused examination of its goliath impact on the emerging generation. Utilizing an updated model of strategic analysis (PHEESTLE Model), Aguas and Prater examine the political, health, economic, educational, sociocultural, technological, legal, environmental, and ecological implications of COVID-19 on Generation Z.
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