Exploring students’ justifications for studying a master’s degree in business through problem-based learning

Many studies have espoused the pedagogical benefits of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) across multiple disciplines. With the increasing use of PBL within higher education there exists a need to consider its position not just as a pedagogical approach but as a functional instrument in the development and promotion of social capital and status. Drawing on social identity theory (SIT), this study explored Business Masters graduates’ justification for undertaking a PBL-based programme. The findings suggest that students discursively elevated the status of the PBL programme they had completed over other alternatives, in an attempt to gain professional mobility. Two primary strategies of individual mobility and social competition were employed by participants to elevate their position. This paper concludes by problematising the utilisation of pedagogical approaches as a mechanism for differentiating programmes and graduates within an increasing competitive higher educational landscape.