Impact assessment study of an executive education program for university leaders

ABSTRACT

University-based executive education programs continue to expand across the country, but program directors are unclear about how to articulate the impact and effectiveness of their programs. To help identify possible measurements for future studies, we conducted an exploratory case study of a university-based executive education program for higher education leaders and documented how participants discuss the benefits of program attendance. Based on thematic coding, we found that program participants reported impacts related to: (i) generalised learning (field knowledge and personal knowledge), (ii) perspective-taking, (iii) organisational socialisation, (iv) organisational strategies, (v) career trajectory, and (vi) affective changes to mood and confidence. These possible impacts suggest possible metrics around which program directors and researchers may wish to further operationalise and measure.

KEYWORDS:

• University-based executive education
• impact assessment
• grounding concept
• organisational socialisation
• peer benchmarking
• collective mentoring model
• adult learning
• professional education

Disclosure statement

The study received research funding from the entity being studied (Harvard Graduate School of Education Programs in Professional Education) for carrying out the research. Prior to undertaking the project, the researchers consulted with and obtained agreement with the director of the program on the study design. Data collection and analysis, the writing of the findings, and the decision to submit were conducted independently of the director.

ORCID

Barbara Hou http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2396-8781