Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
- abdolrahim gheyassi 1
- Amir Alambegi 2
- Ahmad Rezvanfar 3
- Seyed Mahmood Hosseini 3
- seyed ahmadreza Pishbin 4
1 -
2 Assistant Professor, Agricultural Extension and Education, Department Of Agricultural Extension and Education, University Of Tehran, Karaj, Iran
3 Professor, Agricultural Extension and Education, Department Of Agricultural Extension and Education, University Of Tehran, Karaj, Iran.
4 Assistant Professor of Agricultural Extension and Education, Faculty of Economics and Agricultural Development, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran
Abstract
The following research aims to provide a structural model for the development of essential soft skills in agricultural students. In this regard, a mixed approach (qualitative-quantitative) was used. In the qualitative part of the research, the data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 19 Participants (faculty members of agricultural majors) who are expert in the subject of research. Participants were selected using purposeful and snowball sampling methods. In qualitative phase, "grounded theory strategy" was used to design the initial model of the research. In the quantitative part of the research, after confirming the reliability and validity of the instrument, data were collected from 384 of the senior students of agricultural majors. In order to evaluate the research model, Structural equation modeling with partial least squares approach was used. The results of the research confirmed the research model. Based on this model, the factors affecting on essential soft skills and essential soft skills consequences for agricultural students were clarified.
Keywords
- soft skills
- essential soft skills
- agricultural students
- grounded theory
- Structural equation modeling
Main Subjects
- Ahmad, A. R., Awang, M. M., and Mohamad, N. A. (2021). The roles of social capital to promote soft skills among university students in facing the challenge of society 5.0 transformation. In Educational Innovation in Society 5.0 Era: Challenges and Opportunities(pp. 18-26). Routledge.
- P. A. (2017). Sizzling Soft Skills for Spectacular Success: A Practical Guide on Personality Development. Notion Press.
- Andreas, S. (2018). Effects of the decline in social capital on college graduates’ soft skills. Industry and Higher Education, 32(1), 47-56.
- Castillo-Montoya, M. (2016). Preparing for interview research: The interview protocol refinement framework. The qualitative report, 21(5), 811-831.
- Chamorro‐Premuzic, T., Arteche, A., Bremner, A. J., Greven, C., and Furnham, A. (2010). Soft skills in higher education: Importance and improvement ratings as a function of individual differences and academic performance. Educational Psychology, 30(2), 221-241.
- Cimatti, B. (2016). Definition, development, assessment of soft skills and their role for the quality of organizations and enterprises. International Journal for quality research, 10(1), 97-130.
- Cinque, M. )2016(. "Lost in Translation". Soft Skills Development in European Countries.” Tuning Journal for Higher Education 3 (2), 389–427.
- Cleveland, S. (2013, March). On-the-job informal learning practices for IS students. In Proceedings of 2013 Southern Association for Information Systems Conference (pp. 16-21).
- Cornalli, F. (2018, July). Training and developing soft skills in higher education. In 4th International Conference on Higher Education Advances, HEAd (Vol. 18, pp. 20-22).
- Crawford, P., Lang, S., Fink, W., Dalton, R., and Fielitz, L. (2011). Comparative analysis of soft skills: What is important for new graduates?. Michigan State University and the University Indus try Consortium, 1-24.
- Damayanthy, D., Hardyastuti, S., and Irham, I. (2020). Structural equation modelling on employee performance: Evidence from intrapreneurial behavior and soft skills analysis. Jurnal Aplikasi Manajemen, 18(3), 428-436.
- Dell'Aquila, E., Marocco, D., Ponticorvo, M., Di Ferdinando, A., Schembri, M., and Miglino, O. (2017). Educational Games for Soft-Skills Training in Digital Environments: New Perspectives. Springer.
- Devadason, E. S., Subramaniam, T., and Daniel, E. G. S. (2010). Final year undergraduates’ perceptions of the integration of soft skills in the formal curriculum: a survey of Malaysian public universities. Asia Pacific Education Review, 11(3), 321-348.
- Foerster-Metz, U. S. F. P., and Golowko, N. (2018). The need for digital and soft skills in the Romanian business service industry. Management & Marketing. Challenges for the Knowledge Society, 13(1), 831-847.
- Hair, J. F., Risher, J. J., Sarstedt, M., and Ringle, C. M. (2019). When to use and how to report the results of PLS-SEM. European business review, 31(1), 2-24.
- Hossain, M. M., Alam, M., Alamgir, M., and Salat, A. (2020). Factors affecting business graduates' employability–empirical evidence using partial least squares (PLS). Education+ Training.
- Ibrahim, R., Boerhannoeddin, A. and Bakare, K. (2017).The effect of soft skills and training methodology on employee performance, European Journal of Training and Development, 41(4),388-406.
- Idrus, H., MohdDahan, H., Abdullah, N. (2009). Challenges in the Integration of Soft Skills in Teaching Technical Courses: Lecturers’ Perspectives. Asian Journal of University Education, 5(2), 67-81.
- Juhasz, T., and Horváth-Csikós, G. (2021). The emergence of soft skills in agricultural education. Problems and Perspectives in Management, 19(3), 453-466.
- Kavishe, L. L. F. (2022). Internship Experiences and Critical Soft Skills Development among Tanzanian Graduates (Doctoral dissertation, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology).
- Kiser, R. (2017). Soft skills for the effective lawyer. Cambridge University Press.
- Kock, N., and Hadaya, P. (2018). Minimum sample size estimation in PLS SEM: The inverse square root and gamma‐exponential methods. Information systems journal, 28(1), 227-261.
- Lea, D. M. (2019). Adjunct Faculty Perceptions of Students' Soft Skills: A Review of a Community College Training Program (Doctoral dissertation, Trident University International).
- Lundry, J., Ramsey, J. W., Edwards, M. C., and Robinson, J. S. (2015). Benefits of Career Development Events as Perceived by School-Based, Agricultural Education Teachers. Journal of Agricultural Education, 56(1), 43-57.
- Majid, S., Liming, Z., Tong, S., and Raihana, S. (2012). Importance of soft skills for education and career success. International Journal for Cross-Disciplinary Subjects in Education, 2(2), 1037-1042.
- Marandi, R. J., Smith, B. K., Burch, R. F., and Vick, S. C. (2019). Engineering soft skills vs. engineering entrepreneurial skills. The International journal of engineering education, 35(4), 988-998.
- Matteson, M. L., Anderson, L., and Boyden, C. (2016). "Soft skills": A phrase in search of meaning. Portal: Libraries and the Academy, 16(1), 71-88.
- Mayor, L., Flynn, K., Dermesonluoglu, E., Pittia, P., Baderstedt, E., Ruiz-Bejarano, B. and Costa, R. (2015). Skill development in food professionals: a European study. European Food Research and Technology, 240(5), 871-884.
- Mitsea, E., Drigas, A., and Mantas, P. (2021). Soft Skills & Metacognition as Inclusion Amplifiers in the 21 st Century. International Journal of Online & Biomedical Engineering, 17(4).121-132.
- Parker, K. (2019). A grounded theory model for the soft skills development of community college students (Doctoral dissertation, Ferris State University).
- Pope, G. M. (2017). Perceptions of soft skills by former technical college business education students and their employers(Doctoral dissertation, Tennessee State University).
- Robles, M. M. (2012). Executive perceptions of the top 10 soft skills needed in today’s workplace. Business communication quarterly, 75(4), 453-465.
- Rubenstein, E., Fuhrman, N., Duncan, D., and Conner, N. (2018). Undergraduate Student's Reflections on Teaching Agricultural Education Abroad: An Opportunity for Soft Skill Development. Transformative Dialogues: Teaching & Learning Journal, 11(3), 1-16.
- Schulz, B. (2008). The importance of soft skills: education beyond academic knowledge. Journal of Language and Communication, 2(1).146-154.
- Sereda, H. (2020). Assessment of Formation of Students’soft Skills in Higher Education. Publishing House “Baltija Publishing”.
- Shakir, R. (2009). Soft skills at the Malaysian institutes of higher learning. Asia Pacific Education Review, 10(3), 309-315.
- Siddiky, M. R. (2020). Does soft skill development vary among the students? A gender perspective. Turkish Journal of Education, 9(3), 205-221.
- Teng, W., Ma, C., Pahlevansharif, S., and Turner, J. J. (2019). Graduate readiness for the employment market of the 4th industrial revolution: The development of soft employability skills. Education+ Training. 61 (5), 590-604.
)