Executive Education Tradition: Mechanisms of Business Elite Formation

Executive education affects business leaders, corporate practices, and, by extension, broader society. Yet research on executive education programs—and particularly the traditions embedded within them—remains limited. To examine how educational tradition can function as a gateway into the business elite, we conducted a historical case study of the Finnish Institute of Management (LIFIM) and its executive education program from the 1950s to the early 2000s. During this period, LIFIM emerged as a pioneer of executive education in Finland and became the country’s dominant provider. Our study contributes to research on executive education and business elites by identifying four interdependent mechanisms—honoring, educating, networking, and socializing—through which executive education traditions operate as gateways into the business elite. Furthermore, our historical approach extends existing research by revealing how educational traditions are dynamically developed, stabilized, and may eventually erode over time.