©2016 LinkedIn Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Executive

Education Survey

Key Findings

48% of attendees didn’t comparison shop EE programs

– Implication: Reach them early in the decision process. Don’t wait for them to find you.

Attendees are likely to recommend their program to colleagues

– Implication: Keep in touch with former attendees to increase word-of-mouth

recommendations

Senior leadership & HR teams (approvers) are a large referral source

– Implication: Make sure they are aware of your programs and how their org will benefit

Programs that are tailored to a specific function are very appealing

– Implication: Market your “tailored” programs to professionals in the appropriate functions

and industries.

Methodology

Sample: US LinkedIn members who listed “executive education” on profile

553 respondents completed the survey (Oct/Nov 2016)

16 questions in the survey

6-min average completion time

$10 incentive

Who Completed the Survey

Respondents were senior professionals:

92% had 10+ years of experience and 55% were Director+

N = 553

19 Median Years of

Experience

17%

38% 16%

29%

CXO/Owner/Partner

Director/VP

Manager

IndividualContributor

Seniority

10th Percentile = 10 90th Percentile = 31

Respondents represented a broad mix of functions

N = 553

Function

25%

4%

5%

6%

6%

6%

8%

15%

24%

Other

Consulting

HR/Legal

IT

Engineering/Product Management

Accounting/Finance/Purchasing

Marketing/Communications

Operations/Quality/Project Management

BD/Sales

The most common topic was management/leadership

N = 553

7%

4%

6%

9%

10%

16%

48%

Other

Nonprofit or Social Enterprise

Operations or Information Technology

Marketing, Public Relations, or Sales

Finance, Accounting, or Economics

Innovation, Strategy, or Growth

General Management, Leadership, or Corporate Governance

Executive Education Program Topic

EE program was not required for advancement

10% of respondents said that the EE program they completed was required by their organization for training or promotion

N = 553

Discovery

51% learned about their EE program through word of mouth

1%

13%

4%

9%

22%

24%

27%

I don’t know

Other

Advertising - digital, radio, mail, TV, newspaper, etc.

Found it while looking at a school’s website or program brochure

Found it while searching for executive education program on theweb

A colleague/peer told me about it

My boss or HR/training department told me about it

% of Respondents

N = 553

How did you first discover this executive education program?

Consideration

48% never researched/considered alternative programs

N = 553

Before you enrolled in this executive education program, did you research and consider similar programs offered by other universities or institutions?

1%

29%

22%

48%

I don’t know

Considered 2 or more other programs

Considered 1 other program

No - I did not consider other programs

% of Respondents

Employer Support

Most important factor in getting support from their employer:

They understood how their organization would benefit

47%

24%

20%

8%

4%

9%

18%

69%

The amount of time that you would miss work wasreasonable

The cost of attending the program was reasonable

The program was offered by a prestigious schooland/or instructor

Your employer understood how their organizationwould benefit from you attending the program

% of Respondents Who Assigned: Most Impact Least Impact

Among the following factors, which do you think had the most impact and which had the least impact on getting your employer’s financial support?

N = 428

Program Outcomes

Built Valuable Relationships

59% of respondents reported building valuable relationships with other attendees or instructors

N = 553

Gained Valuable Knowledge or Skills

89% of respondents felt that their program helped them gain valuable knowledge or skills

N = 553

Solved Actual Challenges

71% of respondents said the program helped them solve challenges that their organization faced

N = 553

Would Recommend EE Program to a Colleague

76% of respondents said they would recommend the EE program they completed to a colleague

N = 553

Ideal Program Features

Hypothetical scenario: Comparing two EE programs

Imagine that you were considering attending an executive education program

that:

Costs $15K (including room and board)

Is 6 days of full-time instruction (you will stay on location during the

program)

Take place at a university that is a 5-hour flight away

However, you found an alternative program that was exactly the same,

except for a few features. Among these features, which would be most

appealing and which would be least appealing about the alternative

program?

Participants were asked to assign “Most Appealing” and

“Least Appealing” to these 7 features

More tailored to your specific industry

More tailored to your specific function

Offered by a more prestigious/well-known university

Recommended by a colleague who took it in the past

Provided online with real-time lectures and discussions

3 days of full-time instruction (shorter)

Costs $5K (cheaper)

They evaluated 4 features at a time across 8 different sets

Validity check: The first 7 choices were used to predict the

last choice. Predictions were correct for 63% of respondents.

Use prior answers to predict respondents’ choice for “most appealing” in this set of features

Feature with greatest appeal to the entire market:

Program that is more tailored to a specific function

N = 350. Zero-centered, interval scale (based on LN(SQRT(M/L)). M = total “Most” votes, L = total “Least” votes.

Among these factors, which would be most appealing and which would be least appealing about the alternative program?

55%

25%

27%

20%

21%

15%

11%

13%

15%

20%

31%

35%

29%

32%

Online

Shorter

Recommended

Cheaper

More Prestigious

More Tailored to Industry

More Tailored to Function

% of Times Assigned Most Appealing Least Appealing

Relative Appeal of Features

100

85

78

75

47

37

0