A longitudinal study of the effects of business school training on the motivation to manage of Masters of Business Administration (MBA) students was conducted using the forced‐choice version of the Miner Sentence Completion Scale (MSCS). Male MBA students had significantly higher levels of motivation to manage than female MBA students, with part‐time females registering the lowest managerial motivation levels among the MBA students. Managerial motivation scores were significant predictors of salary after graduation, but failed to predict programme completion and MBA grade point averages. Based on measurements taken at the beginning of the degree programme and after graduation, results indicated no significant difference in managerial motivation levels associated with business school MBA training. Implications of these findings are discus