A Qualitative Research Assessment of the MBA for 2020 and Beyond

Introduction

The Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree accounts for two-thirds of all advanced degrees in the United States (Wellins & Sinar, 2017), nowadays, the MBA is in a vortex of change. The MBA was once considered a premier academic graduate degree to managers and leaders in complex organizations (Hubbard, 2019). Peppering questions continue to cover the spectrum of change. Such questions, ask what is the value of an MBA, or what is being taught by current traditional programs relevant? (Hubbard, 2019). Of course, the answer to these questions wraps around an opportunity cost, which includes the cost of any missing salary, other direct costs related to the degree, as well as whether the degree-granting institution is a state school, or ranked high to low as a private institution of higher learning (Mercadante, 2019). This onslaught of change is continuous due to ever-present Internet-driven technologies (i.e., smartphones, and tablets), and artificial intelligence (Saliba, 2018). In addition to scandals surrounding MBA degree programs at colleges and universities (Allen, 2018), the value of the MBA degree represents the expense, time, and effort upon graduating to work in a business management related field, or as an organization’s founder (Hubbard, 2019). Significant to understand is that MBA graduates and employers must acknowledge that while business degree programs create a resilient base of key leadership skills, the degree program is habitually a deficient education (Wellins & Sinar, 2017) as it is not focused enough on engaging employees.