The intentions of undergraduate business students to someday be an organization's top executive: Implications for business school leadership education

Business schools have an important role to play in students' career leadership development. This study examines factors influencing business students' intentions to someday be a top executive (CEO). Using the theory of planned behavior, we find intentions to someday be a CEO are driven by students’ behavioral, normative and control beliefs regarding the CEO position. We also find that female students report lower CEO intentions as well as lower behavioral, normative and control beliefs regarding the CEO position. The impact of gender on CEO intentions is mediated by behavioral and control beliefs. Implications for leadership development activities in and out of the classroom for students during their important “impressionable years” are discussed.