Bridging the Transferable Skills Gap in MBA Education: A Stakeholder-Informed Framework for Employability Alignment in India

Abstract

A persistent gap remains between the transferable skills developed in MBA programmes and those required by contemporary organizations, despite sustained scholarly attention and ongoing employer concern. This paper examines the gap as a structural issue shaped by conceptual ambiguity, fragmented stakeholder engagement, and misalignment in pedagogical and assessment practices, with a particular focus on the Indian context. The study adopts a conceptual approach, drawing on a critical review of the literature on graduate employability, transferable skills, and management education, supported by practitioner insights from industry professionals, faculty, and career services practitioners in India’s National Capital Region (NCR). The analysis is grounded in Human Capital Theory and Jackson’s Two-Stage Model of Graduate Employability, which together frame transferable skill development as an investment process and highlight the role of institutional design in shaping employability outcomes. The paper proposes the Stakeholder-Informed Transferable Skills (SITS) Framework, conceptualizing skill development as an ongoing, feedback-driven process shaped by sustained stakeholder interaction. The framework offers a structured approach to aligning MBA curricula with evolving labour market expectations and outlines directions for future empirical research.