Identifying Criteria for a New MBA Program Model: a Qualitative Study of MBA Stakeholder Perceptions of 21St Century Management and Leadership
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CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Pepperdine Digital Commons Pepperdine University Pepperdine Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations 2014 Identifying criteria for a new MBA program model: a qualitative study of MBA stakeholder perceptions of 21st century management and leadership Christopher Arthur Najera Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/etd Recommended Citation Najera, Christopher Arthur, "Identifying criteria for a new MBA program model: a qualitative study of MBA stakeholder perceptions of 21st century management and leadership" (2014). Theses and Dissertations. 524. https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/etd/524 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by Pepperdine Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Pepperdine Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected] , [email protected]. Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology IDENTIFYING CRITERIA FOR A NEW MBA PROGRAM MODEL: A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF MBA STAKEHOLDER PERCEPTIONS OF 21ST CENTURY MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership by Christopher Arthur Najera December, 2014 June Schmieder, Ph.D. – Dissertation Chairperson This dissertation, written by Christopher Arthur Najera under the guidance of a Faculty Committee and approved by its members, has been submitted to and accepted by the Graduate Faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION Doctoral Committee: June Schmieder, Ph.D., Chairperson Jack McManus, Ph.D Elio Spinello, Ed.D © Copyright by Christopher Arthur Najera (2014) All Rights Reserved TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...............................................................................................................x VITA .............................................................................................................................................. xi ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. xii Chapter 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................1 Statement of the Problem ...............................................................................................6 Study Framework ...........................................................................................................7 Purpose and Importance of the Study ..........................................................................10 Study Approach and Research Questions ....................................................................11 Research Questions ..........................................................................................12 Limitations ...................................................................................................................14 Definition of Terms......................................................................................................14 Summary ......................................................................................................................16 Chapter 2. Review of Relevant Literature .....................................................................................17 Higher Education in the United States .........................................................................19 History of the MBA Degree .........................................................................................24 The MBA Degree .............................................................................................27 Purpose of the MBA Degree ........................................................................................29 Leadership ........................................................................................................30 Management .....................................................................................................32 Current MBA Paradigm ...............................................................................................35 Academics and Curricula .................................................................................35 Distance Education (Online Learning) ................................................37 Faculty..................................................................................................38 Business School Accreditation ........................................................................40 Business School Rankings ...............................................................................41 Economics of the MBA Degree .......................................................................42 Critiques and Challenges for the MBA Degree ...........................................................45 Review of Five Southern California MBA Programs ..................................................51 A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management, University of California Riverside .........................................................................................52 Anderson School of Management, University of California Los Angeles ......53 Graziadio School of Business and Management, Pepperdine University ........54 Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California ....................55 Paul Merage School of Business, University of California Irvine ...................56 Summary ......................................................................................................................62 Chapter 3. Methodology ................................................................................................................64 Qualitative Case Study Research Design .....................................................................65 Data Sources ....................................................................................................66 Group 1: Employed MBA Graduates ..................................................66 Group 2: MBA Faculty ........................................................................66 Group 3: MBA Graduate Recruiters ....................................................66 Research Questions and Approach to Data Collection & Analysis ......................................................................................67 Research Question 1 (R1) ....................................................................67 Research Question 2 (R2) ....................................................................69 Research Question 3 (R3) ....................................................................71 Research Question 4 (R4) ....................................................................72 Data Generation Strategies ..............................................................................72 Interviews .............................................................................................73 Recruitment Strategy ...............................................................74 Execution of the Interview .......................................................75 Document Review ................................................................................75 Data Analysis Strategies ..............................................................................................76 Interview Data ..................................................................................................76 Document Data ................................................................................................79 Research Credibility, Role, Rapport, and Neutrality ...................................................82 Reliability and Validity ................................................................................................84 Limitations of Methodology ........................................................................................85 Summary ......................................................................................................................86 Chapter 4. Research Findings ........................................................................................................87 Data Collection ............................................................................................................87 In-Person Interviews ........................................................................................88 Institutional Documents Review ......................................................................93 Working with Data in NVivo ...........................................................................94 Overview of Findings ..................................................................................................95 Guided Question 1 ...........................................................................................96 Guided Question 2 ...........................................................................................97 Guided Question 3 ...........................................................................................98 Guided Question 4 ...........................................................................................99