Escaping the Penalty of Marginalization through Management Education

Drawing on the Social Dominance Theory and the Integral pheno-practice of well-being framework, we develop two new constructs: penalty and degree of marginalization. We then examine their impact on the occupational choice and economic returns of marginalized individuals in India. Using a large-scale administrative dataset, we demonstrate that socioeconomic inequalities manifest as the penalty of marginalization and limit occupational choice and subsequent earnings. The degree of marginalization suggests that the penalty varies significantly across social classes. Our findings provide evidence of positive externalities associated with management education in higher earnings and better occupational choices. However, though management education improves economic returns for those pursuing it; it, unfortunately, remains accessible only to a privileged few. Since most marginalized individuals typically cannot access or have limited access to management education, economic inequalities are perpetuated and exacerbated. Our findings have important implications for policymakers and business schools, as we highlight how management education reinforces existing socioeconomic inequalities and, therefore, underscores the need to limit barriers to access.