Impact and Effectiveness of Soft Skills on Critical Thinking and Innovative Behavior of School Principals (With DEMATEL Methodological Approach)

Having innovative behavior and critical thinking among managers are two essential and vital elements to promote the effectiveness of the organization and its productivity.

This study was conducted with the aim of finding the influence and effectiveness of soft skills on critical thinking and innovative behavior of school principals. This is an applied-developmental research and from a methodological point of view, it is descriptive-survey. The statistical population of the study includes all 260 school principals in districts 1 and 3 of Tabriz city in 2020, among which the sample size was estimated to be 84 people through Cochran's formula. The research tool includes a researcher-made questionnaire specifically designed for the DEMATEL method. Data analysis was performed using DEMATEL method. The results showed that the most influential factor is creativity and problem solving and the critical thinking variable is in the second place of influence. In terms of the intensity of impact, the components of soft skills are creativity and problem solving, lifelong learning, teamwork, professional ethics and communication, respectively, which have had the most impact. The most influential variable is innovative behavior. Also, among the influential components of soft skills, lifelong learning is the most important factor that has had a great impact on innovative behavior. Lifelong learning is like a driving force that, if properly used, can accelerate innovative behavior, professional ethics, communication and even teamwork and promote school principals in today's high-risk world.