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Importance of Soft Skills for Education and Career Success
Shaheen Majid, Zhang Liming, Shen Tong, Siti Raihana
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Abstract
Appropriate soft skills play an important role in
a successful career as well as during social
interactions in the society. These skills are also
highly sought after by employers recruiting fresh
graduates. The main purpose of this study was to
investigate students’ perceptions of the importance of
soft skills for their education and employment. A
questionnaire was used for data collection and 188
undergraduate business management students from
four universities in Singapore participated in this
study. It was found that a majority of the respondents
felt that soft skills were useful for social interaction
as well as for career advancement. However, they did
not think that these skills contribute considerably to
their academic performance. The top five important
soft skills identified by the students were: teamwork
and collaboration, decision-making, problem-solving,
time management and critical thinking skills. This
paper suggests certain measures for improving soft
skills of students which may also help improve their
employment perspectives.
1. Introduction
Due to a variety of factors, today’s business
environment is becoming more complex, uncertain
and competitive. All types of organizations consider
human resources as their key asset, which plays a
critical role in organizational performance and
success. Most employers are likely to hire, retain and
promote persons who are dependable, resourceful,
ethical, having effective communication, self
directed, willing to work and learn, and having
positive attitude [1]. Employers usually prefer to see
a fine blend of competencies in their staff and, in
addition to discipline-based knowledge and skills,
adequate levels of soft skills are considered desirable
for moving forward in the career [2]. They feel
professional and technical skills alone cannot help
achieve organizational goals and objectives. It is
because their staff will also be involved in different
levels of leadership and decision-making activities.
Employees also need to communicate effectively
within the organization, with their customers and
other stakeholders.
Basically, soft skills refer to personalities,
attributes, qualities and personal behaviour of
individuals. Soft skills include certain abilities such
as communication, problem-solving, self-motivation,
decision-making, and time management skills [3]. A
study by Hodges and Burchell [4] investigated the
perceptions of business employers of the importance
of different skills. It was reported that eight out of
top ten skills were soft skills which included the
ability and willingness to learn, teamwork and
cooperation, interpersonal communication, energy
and passion, and problem-solving skills. A study
covering over 52 different professions with more than
8,000 managers in the United States identified soft
skills of employees as the major competency in
nearly all the professions, even in the technical
environments [5].
While it is now a well-established fact that
employers are increasingly putting more emphasis on
soft skills, it is equally important that students should
also adequately appreciate the value of such skills
and make deliberate efforts to acquire them. Porter
[6] reported that many business students do not put
much value to developing soft skills. Probably that is
why, as suggested by Rynes et al [7], the business
students’ attitude towards behavioural courses, with
substantial coverage given to soft skills development,
is usually negative together with their reluctance to
register for such courses. As a result, there is an
awareness gap resulting in deficiency of soft skills
among business graduates entering the work force.
Consequently, there is now more pressure on
academic institutions to enhance soft skills of their
students. Kumara and Sahasranam [8] used a core
soft skills inventory test to investigate soft skills of
engineering students in India. They reported that,
with well-planned training programs, it is possible to
tune, shape and develop creativity and soft skills
among all students. Addams et al [9] believed the
communication skills of business students,
particularly for writing persuasive business letters,
can be improved by designing assignments using
real-life organizations and scenarios. Alshare, Lane
and Miller [10] studied perceptions of students and
faculty of the adequacy of soft skills in information
systems curricula in different universities in the USA.
It was reported that generally students were more
satisfied than faculty about the coverage of soft skills.
Realizing the importance of soft skills, several studies
International Journal for Cross-Disciplinary Subjects in Education (IJCDSE), Special Issue Volume 2 Issue 2, 2012
Copyright © 2012, Infonomics Society
1036
have also emphasised the point that these skills
should be embedded in the curriculum, thus making it
easier for students to acquire them [11, 12].
The literature review suggests that a majority of
the studies on this topic have been done from
employers’ perspective and only a limited number of
studies have focused on the perceptions and attitudes
of students towards soft skills. In addition, a higher
percentage of such studies were conducted in North
America and Europe with different learning
environment and work culture then in many Asian
countries. It is, therefore, worth exploring students’
perceptions of soft skills from a new angle and
context. The main objective of this study was to
investigate the perceptions of business management
students of the importance of soft skills for their
education and employment. Some areas covered by
this study were: students’ perceptions of the value of
soft skills, self-efficacy of the level of skills
possessed by them, skills needing further
improvement, participation in skill development
programs, and the role of academic institutions in
developing soft skills.
2. Methodology
A questionnaire was used to collect data from
undergraduate business management students from
four universities in Singapore, i.e. Nanyang
Technological University (NTU), National University
of Singapore (NUS), Singapore Management
University (SMU), and Singapore Institute of
Management (SIM). The questionnaire was mainly
consisted of multiple choice and rating scale matrix
questions to solicit responses. Most of the questions
were close-ended, however wherever needed, the
respondents were provided with the flexibility to
make comments or provide additional information.
The ethics approval of the study was obtained from
the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the
University.
The survey participants were selected through
the convenience sampling technique. Business
management undergraduate students at the four
selected universities were approached with an oral
request to participate in this study. A copy of
questionnaire was provided to those students who
expressed their willingness to participate. The survey
lasted for two weeks in the second quarter of 2011,
and a total of 188 students participated in this study.
3. Findings
The following sections provide data analysis and
findings of the survey.
3.1. Respondents’ profile
A comparable number of participants from the
four universities participated in this study: SIM (51),
NTU (50), SMU (49), and NUS (44). Six respondents
did not fully complete the questionnaire; therefore,
the data analysis is based on 188 completely filled-in
survey forms. The percentage of Singaporean and
overseas students was 67.6% and 32.4% respectively.
The overseas students were mainly from China,
India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Thailand and the
Philippines. In terms of gender, more female
respondents took part (57.8%) than their male
counterparts (42.2%). As for the year of study, there
were 72 respondents (38.3%) in their second year of
study and it was the largest group, while 41 (21.8%)
were in first year, 52 (27.7%) in third year and only
18 (9.6%) were in their fourth year of study. Five
students did not indicate their year of study.
3.2. Awareness of soft skills
The participating students were asked what skills, in
their opinion, can be categorized as soft skills. The
purpose was to investigate if they have a clear
understanding of soft skills. Based on literature
review, a list of 14 skills was developed. Out of the
188 respondents, less than 40 (21.3%) students chose
all the skills, which reflects their limited
understanding of soft skills. The top four soft skills,
as identified by the students, were communication,
leadership, persuasion and negotiation skills (see
Table 1).
Table 1. Skills considered as soft skills by the
respondents (multiple responses)
Ranking
Soft Skills
Frequency
(n=188)
1
Communication skills
147
2
Leadership skills
118
3
Persuasion skills
112
4
Negotiation skills
107
5
Conflict management
91
6
Time management
74
7
Problem solving
71
8
Teamwork spirit
70
9
Creative problem solving
70
10
Personal effectiveness
62
11
Strategic thinking
61
12
Positive work attitude
54
13
Willingness to learn
48
14
Passion towards work
42
Some of the personality attributes such as
positive work attitude, willingness to learn and
passion towards work were not regarded as soft skills
by a majority of the students. Other soft skills
International Journal for Cross-Disciplinary Subjects in Education (IJCDSE), Special Issue Volume 2 Issue 2, 2012
Copyright © 2012, Infonomics Society
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suggested by the students, not included in the
questionnaire, were ‘project management skills’,
‘saying no to inappropriate requests/suggestions’ and
‘know when/where to stop arguments’.
3.3. Perceived importance of soft skills
A set of statements were used to investigate
students’ overall perceptions of the importance of
soft skills. A majority of the students either agreed or
strongly agreed with the statements that soft skills
were very important for career advancement, highly
sought after by employers, and for getting a better job
(see Table 2). Similarly, 103 (55.1%) of the
respondents agreed with the suggestion that soft skills
are difficult to learn compared to professional
knowledge and skills.
On the contrary, a majority of the respondents
either disagreed or strongly disagreed with the
statements that soft skills cannot be enhanced through
practice and that these skills were not as important as
professional knowledge and skills. This indicates that
students have a good understanding of the important
and value of soft skills.
Table 2. General perceptions of soft skills (n=187)
Statement
SD
D
N
A
SA
Soft skills are critical for
career advancement
6
7
39
83
52
Soft skills are highly
sought after by employers
5
7
52
89
34
Soft skills are important for
getting a better job
5
8
48
95
31
Soft skills are difficult to
learn compared to
professional knowledge
5
31
48
83
20
Soft skills cannot be
enhanced through practice
25
81
47
28
6
Soft skills are not as
important as professional
knowledge
48
56
38
33
12
SD: strongly disagree, D: disagree, N: neutral, A: agree,
SA: strongly agree
Students were also asked to rate the importance
of soft skills for different purposes, using a 7-point
semantic differential scale. As shown in Table 3, soft
skills were considered the most important for ‘getting
along with people’ (mean score 5.70), followed by
‘career advancement’ (mean score 5.46). However,
the students felt that such skills were comparatively
less important for their academic performance.
Table 3. Importance of soft skills
Purpose
n
Mean
(1~7)
SD
Getting along with people
188
5.70
1.46
Career advancement
188
5.46
1.69
Finding a job
188
5.07
1.64
Academic performance
188
4.29
1.82
To further corroborate students’ perceptions of
the importance of soft skills, they were asked to rate
the relative importance of a set of 14 skills, derived
from previous studies, for the purpose of
employment. The five top skills were: leadership,
teamwork, decision-making, problem solving, and
time management (see Table 4).
Table 4. Importance of soft skills for employment
Soft Skills
n
Mean
(1~7)
SD
Leadership
187
5.53
1.35
Teamwork and collaboration
187
5.47
1.28
Decision-making
187
5.43
1.43
Problem-solving
186
5.38
1.39
Time management
187
5.34
1.36
Passion and optimism
187
5.29
1.25
Critical thinking skills
183
5.27
1.45
Willingness to learn
187
5.26
1.37
Self-motivation and self-direction
186
5.16
1.40
Making presentations
187
5.05
1.74
Small group discussions
187
5.00
1.50
Writing business communications
187
4.91
1.32
Writing proposals
187
4.68
1.29
Writing memoranda
186
4.62
1.24
It was a matter of concern that five
communication-related soft skills were perceived to
be the least important for seeking employment. It was
particularly puzzling as earlier the highest number
(147 or 78.2%) of the respondents categorized it as a
soft skill. It means although they consider
communication-related skills as part of soft skills,
they do not think these skills are important in seeking
employment despite the fact that they need to prepare
their job applications and appear for interviews.
3.4. Importance of soft skills for different
professions
The students were asked to indicate the
importance of soft skills for different business related
professions. Students felt that soft skills were more
important for those jobs where business professionals
need to frequently communicate and interact with
International Journal for Cross-Disciplinary Subjects in Education (IJCDSE), Special Issue Volume 2 Issue 2, 2012
Copyright © 2012, Infonomics Society
1038
customers and other stakeholders, such job positions
as marketing executives, sales personnel and
insurance consultants (see Table 5). On the contrary,
they felt that professionals involved in back office
jobs such as financial analysts, auditors, and
accounts, need comparatively lesser levels of soft
skills. Although business professionals engaged in
such jobs probably less frequently communicate with
external customers, they still need good soft skills to
effectively discharge their responsibilities within the
organization.
Table 5. Level of soft skills required by different
category of professionals (n=188)
3.5. Students’ perception of the level of soft
skills possessed by them
The students were asked about their self-
assessment of the level of soft skills possessed by
them. The top five soft skills, as claimed by the
students were: willingness to learn, teamwork,
passion and optimism, time management, and self-
motivation and self-direction (see Table 6).
Table 6. Self-assessment of the level of soft skills
possessed by the respondents (n=188)
Once again, bottom five skills were related to
communication which means students think that they
do not possess adequate levels of communication
skills.
The correlation analysis showed a strong
relationship between the perceived importance of the
majority of soft skills and the level of these skills
possessed by the students (see Table 7). In other
words, students scored better for those skills which
they perceived to be important. It is likely they were
making efforts to improve those skills that they
considered important. As most of the communication
related skills were considered less important for
career development, there is a need that academic
institutions should create awareness among students
about the importance of such skills in seeking
employment and undertaking work related activities.
Table 7. Correlation between perceived importance and
skills level
Soft Skills
Correlation
Willingness to learn
.395(**)
Teamwork and cooperation
.384(**)
Passion and optimism
.355(**)
Time management
.231(**)
Self-motivation and self-direction
.416(**)
Decision-making
.244(**)
Problem-solving
.235(**)
Leadership
.186(*)
Critical thinking skills
.305(**)
Small group discussions
.524(**)
Writing proposals
.121
Making presentations
.529(**)
Writing business communications
.184(*)
Writing memoranda
.259(**)
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
3.6. Desire for improving soft skills
The respondents were asked to choose what soft
skills they would like to improve. The top two soft
skills that students wanted to improve were
leadership and communication skills (see Table 8).
Earlier these skills were also picked as the two most
important soft skills (see Table 1). However, it was
interesting to note that when communication skills
were divided into more specific communication skills
(see Table 4), these skills received the lowest
ranking. It appeared there were some misperceptions
among the students about the scope of different
communication skills.
Profession
Mean
(1~7)
SD
Marketing Executives
5.86
1.21
Sales Personnel
5.74
1.40
Insurance Service Consultants
5.72
1.30
Media & Advertising Executives
5.72
1.30
Corporate Communications Officers
5.66
1.37
Human Resource Officers
5.64
1.39
Project Management Executives
5.57
1.36
Financial Service Consultants
5.32
1.31
Business Administrators
4.99
1.47
Stock Brokers
4.98
1.56
Bank Executives
4.88
1.57
Financial Analysts
4.79
1.19
Auditors
4.19
1.50
Accountants
3.78
1.56
Soft Skills
Mean
(1~7)
SD
Willingness to learn
5.32
1.29
Teamwork and collaboration
5.32
1.26
Passion and optimism
5.05
1.19
Time management
5.01
1.33
Self-motivation and self-direction
4.95
1.23
Decision-making
4.95
1.22
Problem-solving
4.94
1.21
Leadership
4.90
1.33
Critical thinking skills
4.90
1.37
Small group discussions
4.87
1.27
Writing proposals
4.64
1.17
Making presentations
4.63
1.44
Writing business communications
4.56
1.27
Writing memoranda
4.43
1.25
International Journal for Cross-Disciplinary Subjects in Education (IJCDSE), Special Issue Volume 2 Issue 2, 2012
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Table 8. Soft skills needing improvement
(multiple responses)
Ranking
Soft Skills
Frequency
(n=188)
1
Leadership skills
88
2
Communication skills
87
3
Persuasion skills
83
4
Negotiation skills
80
5
Conflict resolution
79
6
Time management
71
7
Strategic thinking
68
8
Problem solving
63
9
Personal effectiveness
62
9 (tied)
Creative problem solving
62
11
Positive work attitude
39
12
Willingness to learn
38
13
Teamwork spirit
35
14
Passion towards work
34
The next two soft skills that students wanted to
improve were persuasion and negotiation skills. Four
soft skills that only 20% or fewer students wanted to
improve were positive work attitude, willingness to
learn, teamwork spirit, and passion towards work. It
was probably because earlier only a very small
number of the students considered these skills as part
of soft skills (see Table 1).
3.7. Barrier to developing and practicing
communication skills
As many previous studies suggest that a majority
of the students lack adequate communication skills,
students participating in this study were asked about
the barriers encountered by them in developing and
practicing different communication skills. The top
four barriers, as identified by the students, were: lack
of confidence, nervousness, shyness, and lack of
proper training (see Table 9).
Table 9. Barriers to practicing communication skills
(n=188)
Although around one-third of the respondents
were from overseas, limited English language
proficiency and cultural difference did not appear as
the major barriers to communication. It appeared that
proper training and adequate opportunities to practice
are likely to improve communication skills of the
students.
3.8. Efforts by academic institutions for
imparting soft skills
The students were asked about the avenues and
opportunities provided by their respective universities
for developing soft skills. Around 54% of the
students said that soft skills were usually embedded
in different academic courses. Another 47% of the
students mentioned that they had taken some credit
courses that focused on developing certain soft skills.
Some examples of such credit courses, as quoted by
the students, were: Business Communication,
Strategic Management, Leadership and Team-
Building, Management Communication, Effective
Communication, Fundamental Communication,
Creative Problem-solving, and Strategic Thinking.
In addition to integrating soft skills in certain
professional courses and specialized soft skills
development credit courses, the universities of the
participating students were also providing many
opportunities to their students to improve soft skills.
A list of such activities, compiled through discussions
with business students and their school
administrators, was provided in the questionnaire to
allow the respondents to indicate their level of
participation in these activities. Table 10 shows that,
except for ‘students coffee sessions’, other programs
were ‘often’ participated by less than 20% of the
students. Most of the programs that could help
develop students’ soft skills were ‘rarely’ participated
by a majority of the students. It appeared that the
students were heavily relying on business
professional courses as well as specialized courses
designed for improving certain skills and to lesser
extent on other soft skills development programs.
Table 10. Participation in soft skills development
programs (n=187)
Programmes/Activities
Never
Rarely
Often
Workshops/ guest talks
11.2%
70.1%
18.7%
Job hunting skills
18.2%
65.8%
16.0%
Company orientation sessions
22.5%
58.8%
18.7%
Career advising sessions
27.8%
55.6%
16.6%
Students coffee sessions
27.8%
49.2%
23.0%
In addition, a set of statements were used to
capture students’ perceptions of the possible benefits
of different school-based initiatives in improving
their soft skills. These statements presented both
positive and negative sides of these programs. More
than 61% of the students either agreed or strongly
Barriers
Frequency
1
Lack of confidence
89
2
Nervousness
88
3
Shyness
59
4
Lack of proper training
58
5
Non-encouraging environment
51
6
Language deficiency
48
7
Lack of knowledge
47
8
Cultural barriers
38
International Journal for Cross-Disciplinary Subjects in Education (IJCDSE), Special Issue Volume 2 Issue 2, 2012
Copyright © 2012, Infonomics Society
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agreed with three statements suggesting that soft
skills programs provided them opportunities to gain
hands-on experience, boosted their skill levels, and
showed ways to apply soft skills in different
situations (see Table 11). However, split responses
were received for two statements suggesting that
content of these soft skills programs were less
relevant and cannot be easily applied into practice.
More respondents disagreed than agreed with the
statement that these programs were only theoretical
in nature. In other words they believed that skills
taught through these programs had their applicability.
Table 11. Perceptions of the benefits of soft skills
programs (multiple responses)
Statements
SD
D
N
A
SA
Provided opportunities for
hands-on experience
5
5
54
99
24
Provided me opportunities to
boost my soft skills
6
5
57
85
34
Showed adaptability of soft
skills in many situations
3
11
59
92
22
The contents are not so relevant
with soft skills improvement
7
45
75
53
7
The contents cannot be easily
applied into practice
10
42
77
45
12
Showed the usefulness of soft
skills only in theory
19
41
74
37
15
SD: strongly disagree, D: disagree, N: neutral, A: agree,
SA: strongly agree
3.7. Suggestions for improving students’ soft
skills
The respondents were asked to suggest measures
that universities should undertake for improving soft
skills of their students. Over 60% of the students
recommended that more soft skills development
activities should be incorporated into the curriculum
(see Table 12). Two other measures suggested by
around 45% of the students were to organize more
soft skills development workshops and hands-on
activities. Once again it appeared that, instead of
attending specialized soft skills development
workshops, a majority of the students desired that
such skills should be embedded in appropriate
professional courses.
Table 12. Soft skills development measures to be
undertaken taken by universities (multiple responses)
In addition, the respondents were asked to
suggest measures that students should undertake for
improving their soft skills. Nearly one-half of the
respondents suggested that students should attend
professional training workshops for improving their
soft skills (see Table 13). It was also suggested by
42% of the respondents each that students should join
those hobby clubs and students’ union activities that
can help improve their soft skills.
Table 13. Soft skills development measures to be
undertaken by students (multiple responses)
4. Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to investigate
students’ perceptions of the importance of soft skills
for education and employment. The results showed
that generally business management students in
Singapore were aware of the importance of soft skills
for employment and career advancement. However,
many students felt that their actual soft skills were
less than the desired levels. It was also found that
communication skills were perceived to be the least
important by the students and probably that is why
they did not try to improve these skills. It was a
matter of concern as many previous studies,
investigating competencies sought after by potential
employers, reported that communication skills were
among the most desired soft skills. Thus there is need
to create awareness among the students about the
importance of communication skills for career
advancement and how to develop and practice such
skills.
Another related finding was that a majority of the
students expressed the opinion that soft skills training
should be embedded in appropriate business courses.
Probably this approach was preferred because it
could provide an opportunity to the students to
understand how to apply these skills in a specific
situation. It is also possible that they feel overloaded
with professional courses thus less inclined to attend
specialized soft skill development programs
organized by their universities. It is, therefore,
desirable that business schools as well as other
Suggested Measures
Frequency
Incorporate more soft skills development
activities into the curriculum
114
Organize more workshops
84
Organize more hands-on activities
81
Arrange more internship programmes
75
Organize more company orientation talks
54
Suggested Measures
Frequency
Attend professional training workshops
93
Join hobby clubs providing soft skills
development opportunities
79
Participate in activities organized by the
student unions
72
Read books and articles on soft skills-related
topics
70
International Journal for Cross-Disciplinary Subjects in Education (IJCDSE), Special Issue Volume 2 Issue 2, 2012
Copyright © 2012, Infonomics Society
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schools should carefully review and incorporate the
desired soft skills into their curricula. However, they
should also continue running specialized training
workshops to help students further improve their soft
skills. It is equally important that students should also
make efforts for improving their skills level through
self-directed readings and participation in appropriate
skills development programs and activities.
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International Journal for Cross-Disciplinary Subjects in Education (IJCDSE), Special Issue Volume 2 Issue 2, 2012
Copyright © 2012, Infonomics Society
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