The power of connections: a mixed methods approach to understanding social capital’s influence on engineering students’ professional skills

Providing engineering students with the non-technical professional skills they will need in the workforce, including communication, teamwork, and leadership, requires repeated, contextually embedded development opportunities. Yet, limited research has explored how such opportunities vary by institutional type and academic year, or how students gain access to them. This study examines the relationship between engineering students’ social capital and their access to opportunities to practice their professional skills, focusing on variation across institution types (e.g., research-intensive, minority-serving institutions) and students’ school years. We employed an explanatory sequential mixed methods design using a probabilistic stratified cluster sampling strategy. A total of 1234 undergraduate engineering students across 13 institutions completed two assessment instruments, and 20 students were selected for follow-up interviews. Quantitative analysis using a linear mixed model revealed that instrumental support significantly predicted access to professional skill development. Qualitative findings elaborated on how students utilize relationships with faculty, instructors, advisors, and organizational peers to practice problem-solving, communication, and shared leadership skills. These interactions served as key enablers of access. Social capital plays a pivotal role in facilitating engineering students’ access to professional skill-building opportunities. Faculty, academic advisors, and student organization leaders should foster relationship building and mentor networks to support students’ professional growth throughout their academic journey.