Generation-specific perception of competences leading to agility1

The digitalisation efforts of the 21st century have valorised the role of competences, as companies are only willing to employ employees with a wide range of knowledge, who can be trained and retrained in gradually changing workplaces. These workers are also more likely to have job security than unskilled and sometimes untrained workers. Competency has become a key concept in human resource management because it helps to identify the factors and pathways that can lead to a high performing, competent workforce. Nowadays, new competencies are being identified, such as a project-oriented approach, innovative behaviour and even an agile mindset. These concepts have not been encountered so far, or at least not to such an extent. The aim of our study is to identify and assess, through the eyes of different generations, which competences lead towards agile behaviour, based on the results of a primary research, highlighting the readiness and preparedness of different age groups to operate in an agile way.