Elite MBAs in the making of top business careers

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 This typology specifies how the symbolic value of elite credentials is granted, constrained, or withdrawn under varying macro-institutional conditions.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.