With or without you: Career capital development as experienced by MBA alumni

Abstract

This article focuses on understanding the qualitatively different experiences of career development reported by the MBA alumni of a UK business school. Although the potential of the MBA to support career capital development has been previously identified, a thorough investigation into how this is experienced has been lacking. The study contributes to career capital theory in the context of post-experience management education in three ways. First, our findings report the development of career capitals, and we describe how these are manifested within the context of an MBA. Second, we identify five different experiences of career capital development, to which we ascribe the following labels: applying, achieving, collaborating, believing and transforming. These five different experiences contribute to theory by revealing the interrelationships and interdependencies between different forms of capital. Finally, we highlight that while it is possible to develop certain forms of career capital either with or without others, this is not the case for those involving personal transformation, which cannot be achieved alone. The article concludes with reflections on the implication of our findings for management educators, MBA teachers and researchers.