Date of Award

6-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Publisher

Santa Clara : Santa Clara University, 2026

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

First Advisor

Marco Murillo

Second Advisor

Ezinne Ofoegbu

Third Advisor

Christine Bachen

Abstract

Despite career outcomes being a primary measure of institutional quality, career services leaders often remain in terminal mid-level positions with limited organizational influence. This qualitative study explores the forms of capital—including skills, knowledge, and networks—that career services leaders possess and how they leverage these assets to obtain greater organizational influence. Drawing on Bourdieu’s (1986) theory of capital and Bolman and Deal’s (2021) four-frame organizational model, the researcher conducted focus group interviews with 28 current and former career services leaders from diverse U.S. higher education institutions. The findings identify five distinct forms of Career Services Capital: knowledge, social, economic, reputational, and symbolic. Analysis revealed that while these leaders possess significant capital, they can strategically reframe their capital through different  frames (Bolman and Deal, 2021)—structural, human resource, political, symbolic—to accumulate and exercise greater organizational power. This study offers a new framework for career services professionals to articulate their value, ultimately seeking to align higher education’s value proposition with evolving public expectations for student career success.

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