Abstract Bourdieu's sociological concept of social capital highlights its significance in enabling individuals to access other forms of capital for personal advantage. In the literature on university students' employability, particularly that concerning international and non‐local students, social capital is widely recognised as a key asset, alongside human, cultural, identity and psychological capital. However, the specific processes through which social capital influences employability, both directly and indirectly by facilitating the accumulation of other graduate capitals, remain underexplored. This study draws on semi‐structured interviews and an ego network background survey conducted with 43 cross‐border students from the Chinese Mainland studying in Hong Kong. It examines how social capital provides direct access to information and resources and indirectly enhances employability by supporting the development of other forms of capital. The findings demonstrate that social capital networks contribute to employability through two main pathways: direct access to career opportunities, and indirect support for acquiring other forms of capital. Nonetheless, structural barriers persist. Limited meaningful relationships with local Hong Kong students, exacerbated by linguistic gatekeeping and citizenship‐based social hierarchies, restrict the potential of social capital. Under‐resourced academic advisory services and systemic power imbalances further constrain students' ability to acquire and mobilise social capital for employability gains. The study therefore calls for institutional interventions, such as linguistically inclusive support and adequately resourced advisory services, to strengthen students' agentic capacities and improve their career prospects.
Gao et al. (Sun,) studied this question.
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