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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Charles HarveyORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
The Master of Business Administration (MBA) remains contested, and its long-term association with executive education underexplored. Drawing on Bourdieu's theorization of capital, field, and symbolic power, we analyze the career trajectories of 106,874 S&P 500 executives from 2000 to 2018 using longitudinal BoardEx data. Empirically, we investigate 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 This typology specifies how the symbolic value of elite credentials is granted, constrained, or withdrawn under varying macro-institutional conditions.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 the corporate elite, 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 barriers thereafter.
Author(s): Maclean M, Kling G, Harvey C, Foster M
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Academy of Management Learning & Education
Year: 2026
Pages: epub ahead of print
Online publication date: 16/03/2026
Acceptance date: 16/01/2026
Date deposited: 21/01/2026
ISSN (print): 1537-260X
ISSN (electronic): 1944-9585
Publisher: Academy of Management
URL: https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2024.0437
DOI: 10.5465/amle.2024.0437
ePrints DOI: 10.57711/mdm3-yf78
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