Generalist and specialist graduate business degrees: Tangible and intangible value [An article from: Journal of Vocational Behavior]

This digital document is a journal article from Journal of Vocational Behavior, published by Elsevier in . The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
Completion of a graduate degree in business, be it the general MBA or a specialized Master program, should add value to graduates and provide them with certain competencies to make them better managers and leaders. This article evaluates the impact of several Master level studies in business at a large, urban university in the southwestern US. We analyzed competencies, skills, self-perception, and career progress as well as salary and performance. Participant choice of degree program was either the generalist MBA degree or specialist graduate Master degree. Responses from 318 alumni, most of them now working managers, clearly indicate the value they gained from pursuing a graduate business degree. The most prominent impact of competencies and skills portfolio gained was on both internal and external measures of career success, for both the MBA and specialized programs.