Authors : Md Tahsin Ahmed; Ashraful Islam; Md Mursalen Sinha

Volume/Issue : Volume 11 - 2026, Issue 3 - March

Google Scholar : https://tinyurl.com/3br85tzp

Scribd : https://tinyurl.com/3nvjx6te

DOI : https://doi.org/10.38124/ijisrt/26mar1099

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Abstract : This study explores how MBA education affects the career advancement of technical graduate students. While technical degrees provide the specialized knowledge necessary for specific fields, the acquisition of business and management skills through an MBA may offer graduates a broader understanding of organizational strategy, leadership, and financial acumen. This research explores how the combination of technical expertise and an MBA influences job opportunities, salary progression, leadership roles, and career mobility within various industries. [3] Through a mixedmethods approach, including surveys and interviews with technical graduates who pursued MBAs, this paper highlights key factors such as the value of cross-disciplinary knowledge, network expansion, and adaptability in the corporate landscape. The findings suggest that an MBA significantly enhances career advancement prospects, particularly in leadership and strategic positions, while also providing a competitive edge in dynamic industries that prioritize both technical and business acumen. The deepening interplay between technical knowledge and managerial proficiency has expanded interest in how business education influences career paths in technical fields. The study investigates the influence of MBA education on the career advancement of technical graduates through a convergent mixed-method design. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with MBA-qualified technical professionals to assess its impact on leadership skills, salary improvement, and career mobility. To further triangulate these results, secondary quantitative analyses were performed on a global sample of 3,755 technical workers to test our hypotheses concerning the structural antecedents of salary outcomes by means of cross-validated linear regression. [5] The qualitative findings suggest that business education positively impacts strategic decision- making, managerial selfconfidence, and senior management opportunities. The results of the quantitative analysis show that career seniority and organizational size account for 39.4% variation in salary (R²=0.394) providing economic evidence on the importance of upward mobility across the hierarchical levels in technical labor markets. While it is not possible to observe the MBA degree in the secondary dataset, because seniority, and higher pay are closely related establishing that better crossdisciplinary education led to higher pay supports structurally the theories suggested for a mechanism. [1] The results can advance human capital theory by revealing the extent to which a technical and managerial skill set combination may influence career advancement in high skill-based occupations. This research contributes to our knowledge of career development across disciplines and has implications for universities, technical professionals, and policy makers in increasing leadership capacity within innovation- based sectors.

Keywords : Technical Field, Career, Bangladesh, Master of Business Administration, Graduate Student

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