In recent years, soft skills have become increasingly important in many areas of the labor market and in the training of higher education students. This paper explores the perception that different crewmembers of Spanish flag vessels have about the influence of different soft skills in their work environment. A quantitative study is developed based on the answers to a survey to assess the different soft skills. The study involved 120 crewmembers of Spanish vessels, representing all possible positions and all types of coastal or ocean-going vessels. Student's t-test and ANOVA test were used to compare mean perceptions by gender, age range, navigation experience, position held, position experience, navigation class and vessel type. Three families of soft skills are distinguished: (i) communicative skills, (ii) team effectiveness, and (iii) long-range planning skills. In all of them, participants gave very high ratings, especially in team effectiveness. Significant differences were also identified in the perception of communicative skills and long-range planning skills when differentiated by position held and in the perception of communicative and teamwork skills when differentiated by type of vessel. © 2023 Eskisehir Osmangazi University. All rights reserved.
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