Abstract

Future business leaders must possess digital competence and soft skills like critical thinking, assertiveness, and emotional self-regulation. Traditional training and development methods lack flexibility, thus hindering adaptability. Smartphones, ubiquitous, adaptable, and providing the most digital equality among m-learning platforms, play a crucial educational role as demonstrated by many applications for language learning or academic content in math, history, or science. However, it remains unclear if user-generated interactions in mobile apps can develop soft leadership skills. This research, conducted within the guidelines of a PRISMA scoping review, aims to validate smartphones as a quality medium for acquiring soft leadership skills. It explores mobile apps as a learner-driven, flexible, universal, timeless, and fast alternative to traditional training methods for leadership skills such as critical thinking, assertiveness, and emotional self-regulation.