Leadership, Work and Organisation Research Seminar: Executive Education and Business Elites
About this seminar
Talk 1: Executive Education Tradition: Mechanisms of Business Elite Formation
(Forthcoming in Academy of Management Learning & Education)
Time
10:00–11:00
Presenter
Dr Virpi Sorsa, University of Eastern Finland
Co-authors: Pasi Nevalainen (University of Jyväskylä), Aleksi Korhonen (Aalto University), Juha Kansikas (University of Jyväskylä)
Abstract
Executive education affects business leaders, corporate practices, and, by extension, broader society. Yet research on the executive education programs—and particularly the traditions embedded within them—remains limited. To examine how educational tradition can function as a gateway to the business elite, we conducted a historical case study of the Finnish Institute of Management (LIFIM) and its executive education program from the 1950s to the early 2000s. During this period, LIFIM emerged as a pioneer of executive education in Finland and became the country’s dominant provider. Our study contributes to research on executive education and business elites by identifying four interdependent mechanisms—honoring, educating, networking, and socializing—through which executive education traditions operate as gateways into the business elite. Furthermore, our historical approach extends existing research by revealing how educational traditions are dynamically developed, stabilized, and may eventually erode over time.
Talk 2: Elite MBAs in the Making of Top Business Careers
(Forthcoming in Academy of Management Learning & Education)
Time
11:00–12:00
Presenter
Professor Charles Harvey, Newcastle University
Co-authors: Mairi Maclean (University of Bath), Gerhard Kling (University of Aberdeen), William M. Foster (University of Alberta)
Abstract
The Master of Business Administration (MBA) remains contested, and its long-term association with executive attainment underexplored. Drawing on Bourdieu’s theorization of capital, field, and symbolic power, we analyse the career trajectories of 106,874 S&P 500 executives from 2000 to 2018 using longitudinal BoardEx data. Empirically, we identify consistent patterns in the timing and likelihood of executive advancement associated with elite MBA credentials, even after accounting for demographic and career-related factors. Theoretically, we extend Bourdieu’s framework by proposing a recognition-based typology of elite reproduction under uncertainty, distinguishing consolidated reproduction, crisis-legitimated inclusion, symbolic accommodation, and defensive retrenchment. This typology specifies how the symbolic value of elite credentials is granted, constrained, or withdrawn under varying macro-institutional conditions. Practically, we show that elite MBA programs continue to shape the composition of corporate leadership, albeit unevenly. While American men benefit most consistently, women and non-US nationals experience conditional and shifting recognition, particularly following the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). These findings suggest that elite MBAs function not only as educational signals but as socially contingent markers of legitimacy. Overall, our study advances research on management education, inequality, and executive careers by highlighting both temporary inclusion during crises and the reassertion of symbolic boundaries thereafter.
Online meeting details
Venue: Online (Microsoft Teams)