diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/compute/kernels/scalar_temporal_unary.cc b/cpp/src/arrow/compute/kernels/scalar_temporal_unary.cc
index f49e201492c..45ae35ffb95 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/compute/kernels/scalar_temporal_unary.cc
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/compute/kernels/scalar_temporal_unary.cc
@@ -1782,7 +1782,10 @@ const FunctionDoc strptime_doc(
     ("For each string in `strings`, parse it as a timestamp.\n"
      "The timestamp unit and the expected string pattern must be given\n"
      "in StrptimeOptions. Null inputs emit null. If a non-null string\n"
-     "fails parsing, an error is returned by default."),
+     "fails parsing, an error is returned by default.\n"
+     "\n"
+     "**Note:** The strptime kernel currently ignores the %Z specifier for any\n"
+     "string."),
     {"strings"}, "StrptimeOptions", /*options_required=*/true);
 const FunctionDoc assume_timezone_doc{
     "Convert naive timestamp to timezone-aware timestamp",
diff --git a/docs/source/cpp/compute.rst b/docs/source/cpp/compute.rst
index e7310d2c0c7..f01f504777d 100644
--- a/docs/source/cpp/compute.rst
+++ b/docs/source/cpp/compute.rst
@@ -1327,7 +1327,7 @@ provided by a concrete function :func:`~arrow::compute::Cast`.
 +-----------------+------------+--------------------+------------------+--------------------------------+-------+
 | strftime        | Unary      | Temporal           | String           | :struct:`StrftimeOptions`      | \(1)  |
 +-----------------+------------+--------------------+------------------+--------------------------------+-------+
-| strptime        | Unary      | String-like        | Timestamp        | :struct:`StrptimeOptions`      |       |
+| strptime        | Unary      | String-like        | Timestamp        | :struct:`StrptimeOptions`      | \(2)  |
 +-----------------+------------+--------------------+------------------+--------------------------------+-------+
 
 The conversions available with ``cast`` are listed below.  In all cases, a
@@ -1343,6 +1343,8 @@ null input value is converted into a null output value.
 
 .. _detailed formatting documentation: https://howardhinnant.github.io/date/date.html#to_stream_formatting
 
+* \(2) The strptime kernel currently ignores the ``%Z`` specifier for any string.
+
 **Truth value extraction**
 
 +-----------------------------+------------------------------------+--------------+