Is Digital Personal Branding the Ticket to Executive Employability? Exploring Bourdieusian Capital in Latin America

Abstract

This study analyzes the influence of digital personal branding on the employability of Peruvian and Colombian executives, who are active on social media. Using a qualitative, phenomenological approach and Bourdieu’s theory of capital as a conceptual framework,
in-depth interviews were conducted to explore how executives experience and manage their digital personal brand. Data analyzed with ATLAS.ti shows that strategic digital branding enhances professional visibility and positioning. Findings reveal that social capital facilitates access to opportunities, cultural capital sustains performance through knowledge and skills, and symbolic capital reinforces legitimacy through prestige and academic credentials. This study offers theoretical and practical insights and shows that digital personal branding strengthens employability by amplifying, not replacing, core professional competencies in highly
competitive labor markets.