Value Co-creation in a Client-Serving MBA Capstone: Exploring Client, Executive, and Faculty Contributions for Understanding Useful-to-Career Business Competencies

Co-creation of value with stakeholders is important to MBA program success. We explore co-creation of value related to client-based team projects by combining survey results with course records across a 9-year period (2013–2021) for a required MBA client-based capstone course. We first validated two scales—Business Project Career Competency (BPC) and Opportunity Discovery Career Competency (ODC)—designed to measure useful-to-career competencies. We then tested the relationships of Project Intensity and three stakeholder contributions—Client Helpfulness, Project Executive (PE) Contribution, and Lead Professor Contribution—as explanations of variance in the scales. After controlling for demographic variables (Gender, Race, Years of Professional Experience) and project background variables (Modality, MBA Program Type, COVID, Years Since Taking Course, Type of Organization), regression results indicated that Project Intensity did not contribute to the explanation of BPC or ODC. However, Client Helpfulness and PE Contribution helped to explain BPC, while Client Helpfulness, PE Contribution and Lead Professor Contribution helped to explain ODC. Additional analysis showed that part-time MBAs perceived higher useful-to-career competency development when Project Intensity was lower. We conclude suggestions for practice and additional research concerning the co-creation of value with MBA stakeholders through client-centered, team-based projects.