IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/lan/wpaper/24284581.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The International Market for MBA Qualifications

Author

Listed:
  • Caroline Elliott
  • Kwok Tong Soo

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between fees charged by MBA programmes and the number of applications to these programmes, using a panel dataset comprising universities from countries across the world. Using Three-Stage-Least-Squares methods for simultaneous equations, we find a two-way relationship between fees and applications: higher application numbers encourage universities to charge higher fees in the future, but higher fees in turn curtail application numbers. Of particular note are the results pertaining to additional explanatory variables that potentially represent MBA programme quality signals to applicants. We find evidence that higher GMAT scores of existing students increase applications, as do higher post MBA salaries. Meanwhile, university and programme professional accreditations do not impact on student application choices, nor do alumni ratings of programme quality. Published MBA programme rankings appear to have little impact on applications, and where an effect can be identified, it appears that a better ranking discourages applications.

Suggested Citation

  • Caroline Elliott & Kwok Tong Soo, 2012. "The International Market for MBA Qualifications," Working Papers 24284581, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    • Handle: RePEc:lan:wpaper:24284581
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/documents/lums/economics/working-papers/Elliot_2012_005.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Donald E. Heller, 1997. "Student Price Response in Higher Education," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 68(6), pages 624-659, November.
    2. DANIEL P. McMILLEN & LARRY D. SINGELL & GLEN R. WADDELL, 2007. "Spatial Competition And The Price Of College," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 45(4), pages 817-833, October.
    3. Wayne A. Grove & Andrew Hussey, 2011. "Returns To Field Of Study Versus School Quality: Mba Selection On Observed And Unobserved Heterogeneity," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 49(3), pages 730-749, July.
    4. Christopher F Baum & Mark E. Schaffer & Steven Stillman, 2007. "Enhanced routines for instrumental variables/generalized method of moments estimation and testing," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 7(4), pages 465-506, December.
    5. Harford, Jon D. & Marcus, Richard D., 1986. "Tuition and U.S. private college characteristics: The hedonic approach," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 415-430, August.
    6. Nelson, Phillip, 1970. "Information and Consumer Behavior," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(2), pages 311-329, March-Apr.
    7. Andrew Abbott & Derek Leslie, 2004. "Recent Trends in Higher Education Applications and Acceptances," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1), pages 67-86.
    8. Lucas, Robert E B, 1975. "Hedonic Price Functions," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 13(2), pages 157-178, June.
    9. Soo, Kwok Tong & Elliott, Caroline, 2010. "Does price matter? Overseas students in UK higher education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 553-565, August.
    10. Bezmen, Trisha & Depken II, Craig A., 1998. "School Characteristics and the Demand for College," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 205-210, April.
    11. Rosen, Sherwin, 1974. "Hedonic Prices and Implicit Markets: Product Differentiation in Pure Competition," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(1), pages 34-55, Jan.-Feb..
    12. Michael Luca & Jonathan Smith, 2013. "Salience in Quality Disclosure: Evidence from the U.S. News College Rankings," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 58-77, March.
    13. Peter Arcidiacono & Jane Cooley & Andrew Hussey, 2008. "The Economic Returns To An Mba," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 49(3), pages 873-899, August.
    14. Neill, Christine, 2009. "Tuition fees and the demand for university places," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 561-570, October.
    15. Rajindar Koshal & Manjulika Koshal, 1998. "Determinants of tuition at comprehensive," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(5), pages 579-583.
    16. Savoca, Elizabeth, 1990. "Another look at the demand for higher education: Measuring the price sensitivity of the decision to apply to college," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 123-134, June.
    17. Grove, Wayne A. & Hussey, Andrew, 2014. "Returns to MBA quality: Pecuniary and non-pecuniary returns to peers, faculty, and institution quality," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 43-54.
    18. Dennis Epple & Richard Romano & Holger Sieg, 2006. "Admission, Tuition, and Financial Aid Policies in the Market for Higher Education," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(4), pages 885-928, July.
    19. Griffith, Amanda & Rask, Kevin, 2007. "The influence of the US News and World Report collegiate rankings on the matriculation decision of high-ability students: 1995-2004," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 244-255, April.
    20. Hussey, Andrew, 2011. "The effect of ethics on labor market success: Evidence from MBAs," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 168-180.
    21. Montgomery, Mark, 2002. "A nested logit model of the choice of a graduate business school," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 471-480, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Montserrat Entrialgo & Víctor Iglesias & Frank Müller, 2019. "Are European Part-Time MBA Programs Designed to Foster Entrepreneurial Minds? An Exploratory Study," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-12, June.
    2. Gabriele Marconi, 2013. "Rankings, accreditations, and international exchange students," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-22, December.
    3. Huang, Lu & Liu, Yizao, 2014. "The Dynamics of Brand Value in the Carbonated Soft Drinks Industry," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 172389, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. Fumitoshi Mizutani & Noriyoshi Nakayama & Tomoyasu Tanaka, 2015. "Determinants of University Tuition in Japan," Discussion Papers 2015-08, Kobe University, Graduate School of Business Administration.
    5. Gregory Gilpin & Michael Kofoed, 2020. "Employer-Sponsored Education Assistance and Graduate Program Choice, Cost, and Finance," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 61(4), pages 431-458, June.
    6. M. Ul’yanova E. & М. Ульянова Е., 2018. "Факторы повышения конкурентоспособности вузов: международный контекст // Factors Increasing the Competitiveness of Universities: The International Context," Мир новой экономики // The world of new economy, Финансовый университет при Правительстве Российской Федерации // Financial University under The Governtment оf The Russian Federation, vol. 12(2), pages 72-77.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Elliott, Caroline & Soo, Kwok Tong, 2013. "The international market for MBA qualifications: The relationship between tuition fees and applications," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 162-174.
    2. Stephen Gibbons & Eric Neumayer & Richard Perkins, 2013. "Student Satisfaction, League Tables and University Applications," SERC Discussion Papers 0142, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    3. Gibbons, Stephen & Neumayer, Eric & Perkins, Richard, 2015. "Student satisfaction, league tables and university applications: Evidence from Britain," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 148-164.
    4. Havranek, Tomas & Irsova, Zuzana & Zeynalova, Olesia, 2017. "Tuition Reduces Enrollment Less Than Commonly Thought," MPRA Paper 78813, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Megan Way & Yunwei Gai & Lidija Polutnik, 2016. "Compensation and Employment Impact of a Full-time MBA Program," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 22(1), pages 49-63, February.
    6. Caroline Elliott & Kwok Tong Soo, 2012. "The Returns to an MBA Degree: The Impact of Programme Attributes," Working Papers 24284646, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    7. Arnaud Chevalier & Xiaoxuan Jia, 2016. "Subject-Specific League Tables and Students' Application Decisions," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 84(5), pages 600-620, September.
    8. Gicheva, Dora, 2012. "Worker mobility, employer-provided general training, and the choice of graduate education," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 232-240.
    9. Grove, Wayne A. & Hussey, Andrew, 2014. "Returns to MBA quality: Pecuniary and non-pecuniary returns to peers, faculty, and institution quality," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 43-54.
    10. Jepsen, Christopher & Montgomery, Mark, 2009. "Miles to go before I learn: The effect of travel distance on the mature person's choice of a community college," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 64-73, January.
    11. Stijn Broecke, 2015. "University rankings: do they matter in the UK?," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(2), pages 137-161, April.
    12. Jacqmin, Julien & Lefebvre, Mathieu, 2021. "The effect of international accreditations on students’ revealed preferences: Evidence from French Business schools," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    13. Julien Jacqmin & Mathieu Lefebvre, 2021. "The effect of international accreditations on students’ decisions: Evidence from French business schools," Working Papers of BETA 2021-06, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    14. Meyer, Andrew G. & Hanson, Andrew R. & Hickman, Daniel C., 2017. "Perceptions of institutional quality: Evidence of limited attention to higher education rankings," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 241-258.
    15. Joseph G. Altonji & Peter Arcidiacono & Arnaud Maurel, 2015. "The Analysis of Field Choice in College and Graduate School: Determinants and Wage Effects," NBER Working Papers 21655, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Wayne A. Grove & Andrew Hussey & Michael Jetter, 2011. "The Gender Pay Gap Beyond Human Capital: Heterogeneity in Noncognitive Skills and in Labor Market Tastes," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 46(4), pages 827-874.
    17. Mira Fischer & Patrick Kampkötter, 2017. "Effects of German Universities' Excellence Initiative on Ability Sorting of Students and Perceptions of Educational Quality," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 173(4), pages 662-687, December.
    18. Nicolai V. Kuminoff & Jaren C. Pope, 2014. "Do “Capitalization Effects” For Public Goods Reveal The Public'S Willingness To Pay?," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1227-1250, November.
    19. M.A. Jabbar, 1998. "Buyer preferences for sheep and goats in southern Nigeria: A hedonic price analysis," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 18(1), pages 21-30, January.
    20. Smed, Sinne & Hansen, Lars Garn, 2018. "Consumer Valuation of Health Attributes in Food," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 43(2), May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:lan:wpaper:24284581. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Giorgio Motta (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/delanuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.