ScholarOne - A Preliminary Analysis of the Effects of Perceived Soft
Skills on the Leadership Styles of College Students
Abstract
A Preliminary Analysis of the Effects of Perceived Soft Skills on the
Leadership Styles of College Students Abstract Soft skills are important
to leadership and leadership styles; however, there are limited studies
on how perceived soft skills affect the leadership styles of college
students. Therefore, the study assessed the effects of perceived soft
skills on the leadership styles of college students. The data were
collected from a purposive sample of college students in a leadership
training program and analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple
regression analysis. The results show that the most dominant leadership
styles were, telling, selling, and delegating. Regarding the selected
soft skills vis-à-vis what participants would do in scenarios, there
were four high combined “most likely” and “likely” responses, 70%
or above for communication: particularly, for active listening, conflict
resolution, writing a letter, and public speaking. For problem-solving,
all five combined “most likely” and “likely” responses, were high,
above 70% for creative skills, research and consult, consensus
solutions, decision-making skills, and critical thinking skills. For
work ethic, there were four high combined “most likely” and “likely”
responses, above 60% for correcting an oversight, doting “is” and
crossing “ts”, doing a task methodically, and completing a task on
time. Additionally, the results of the multiple regression showed that
the problem-solving soft skills, overall, dominated the composite
leadership style. Therefore, problem-solving appears to be a critical
soft skill that affects leadership styles. Keywords: College Students,
Leadership, Leadership Styles, Soft skills