“Soft skills” in purchasing & supply management : crucial current and future skill sets for the profession of the purchaser

The fast changing environment is not only changing the landscape in the industries, but has also an effect on the skills of the individual. Nowadays, the business environment has changed and new jobs emerged. With these new jobs, new skills emerge and they have not received much attention yet. The aim of this research is thus to explore the so-called “Soft Skills”, namely which skill sets are currently important for Purchasing and Supply Management (PSM) and which ones will tend to get important in the future for PSM. An extensive literature review was performed in order to grasp the terminology and significance of Soft Skills. Further, Interviews with experts from the respective fields were conducted to seek for the Soft Skills that are relevant now and in the future. The interviews revealed that the most important skills in the literature overlap with the most important skills in the procurement departments. The results revealed that communication skills, leadership skills and negotiation skills are the most prevailing skills identified currently, in the future and in the literature. Besides, the analysis showed that these three skills are in interdependence which means PSM professionals should be able to perform the skills altogether in order to be effective. The second most prevailing skills are adaptability/flexibility, teamwork skills and problem-solving skills. All in all, this research is contributing to the existing literature and can be used for future research with regard to Soft Skills in Purchasing & Supply Management.