Privately educated CEOs seen as ‘safer bet’ by investors, study finds

Privilege being mistaken for competence as study reveals no evidence to suggest companies run by state-educated peers underperform Chief executives who attended private school are perceived by investors as a “safer bet”, according to a study, despite there being no evidence they perform or behave differently to their state-educated counterparts. Companies run by privately educated bosses tend to experience lower stock market volatility, even though there are no meaningful differences in their performance, decision-making or crisis management, the research from the University of Surrey found. Continue reading...

Joanna Partridge · Thu, May 14, 2026, 4:09 AM
US news | The Guardian

Privately educated CEOs seen as ‘safer bet’ by investors, study finds

Privilege being mistaken for competence as study reveals no evidence to suggest companies run by state-educated peers underperform

Chief executives who attended private school are perceived by investors as a “safer bet”, according to a study, despite there being no evidence they perform or behave differently to their state-educated counterparts.

Companies run by privately educated bosses tend to experience lower stock market volatility, even though there are no meaningful differences in their performance, decision-making or crisis management, the research from the University of Surrey found.

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