Overview

Born from an immediate need to provide internships for graduating seniors at Charleston Southern University, the CRI has had several iterations since March 2020. Through our continued partnership with the Hans A. Nielsen College of Business we have spent the past several semesters with the goal of helping prepare Gen Z for the workforce and the workforce for Gen Z. The CRI is run by Dr. Kristen Donnelly and Dr. Erin Hinson, The Good Doctors of Abbey Research (two older Millennials). Our work as empathy educators has always focused on understanding generational differences. With access to and engagement with members of Gen Z (born between 1995-2010), we saw a great opportunity to help bridge the gap we are seeing between this generation and the folks coaching, leading, managing, and employing them. Problems between generations have always impacted the workforce. We hope that through this generational focus, our work can create pragmatic solutions for business leaders based on evidence and research. This research is collected directly by CRI, but we also rely on existing data collected from organizations such as Gallup. In 2021, we had interns from the College of Business run our CRI social media - doing research and producing content relating to Gen Z and the workplace. The reach of our internship grew to include a partnership with the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce. During the Spring semester 2022, two of our interns held work placements with local businesses in the Charleston area. We also work with Marketing students in the College of Business each semester and help them conduct research on Gen Z. These students survey their colleagues, asking them tough questions on COVID-19 and stress, workplace expectations, and more. This page serves to share the research and insights produced by our talented and inquisitive interns. Be sure to give the page a follow so you don't miss any of this exciting content!