Editorial: Interpersonal skills: individual, social, and technological implications

Although interpersonal skills are the touchstone of human social interaction, with hundreds of such skills identified, defining them has remained elusive. Yet, we know interpersonal skills when we see them in action all around us. Students who engage one another to support learning, work colleagues who collaborate productively, supervisors who mentor subordinates in ways that yield satisfaction and task performance, relationships between service providers and customers based on trust and mutual respect—in all these domains, interpersonal dynamics contribute to fulfilling social interactions between individuals and groups. Indeed, productive and meaningful social exchanges are a fundamental need that strikes at the core of what it means to be human (Huston and Burgess, 1979; Ryan and Deci, 2000; Erdogan and Liden, 2002). Our collective experiences of social isolation during the pandemic further underscores that interpersonal skills in everyday life are more important than ever. Therefore, so is research on this topic.

We bring together a collection of six articles that directly or indirectly explore interpersonal skills and dynamics in a variety of domains including educational settings, work settings, and customer service settings. Across these studies, interpersonal skills or interpersonal dynamics are investigated as antecedents, outcomes, mediators and moderators.