The Future of the Planet in the Hands of MBAs: An Examination of CEO MBA Education and Corporate Environmental Performance

Abstract

Several critics contend that MBA education is irrelevant to practicing managers (e.g., Mintzberg, 2004), while others suggest it creates a profits-first mentality without regard for moral considerations (e.g., Ghoshal, 2005). Based on these criticisms, we explore the implications for CEOs with an MBA degree—specifically, if and how their MBA education might influence their firms' corporate environmental performance (CEP). Extant literature provides conflicting arguments; therefore, we empirically tested the relationship using a sample of 416 S&P 500 CEOs and found a significant positive association between CEOs with MBAs and CEP, even after accounting for several firm- and individual-level characteristics. In addition, post-hoc analysis revealed that the MBA program ranking had no effect on CEP.