Do Business Administration Studies Offer Better Preparation for Supervisory Positions than Traditional Economics Studies?

The central theme of the paper is the question of whether graduates of business administration (BA) are better prepared for supervisory positions than non‐BA economics graduates and consequently have a greater chance of acquiring supervisory positions and, when they have such positions, earn more. In order to answer this question, we use a data‐set that relates to the labour market position of graduates from Dutch universities at the early stages of their careers. We find that BA graduates, despite their multidisciplinary education and the fact that they perceive fewer deficiencies in their education with respect to the ability for teamwork than non‐BA graduates, do not have a greater chance of acquiring supervisory positions than graduates from non‐BA economics courses. We also find that earnings in supervisory positions do not differ significantly between BA graduates and non‐BA graduates. The finding that most of the skills required for supervisory positions are acquired through work and not in education suggests that a combination of working and learning may be more effective for developing supervisory skills than a purely educational setting.