Leaving So Soon? Applying a Fit Perspective to College Presidential Tenure.

college president;person-organization fit;turnover;Education;Social Sciences (General);Social Sciences;Higher Education

McNaughtan, JonathanBahr, Peter Riley ;

University of Michigan

关键词: college president;    person-organization fit;    turnover;    Education;    Social Sciences (General);    Social Sciences;    Higher Education;   

Others  :  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/133176/jonmcnau_1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

Over the last century, the tenure of college president’s has been continually decreasing. While some scholars have approached this issue by studying individual characteristics of presidents and others have studied the characteristics of the institution, few have focused on the interaction of the individual and institution together, or ;;fit.” This study uses the person-organization framework to enhance understanding of the effect of fit between presidents and their associated institution on turnover to benefit both researchers and practitioners.For researchers, this study presents a new way to conceptualize the turnover challenge in higher education.For practitioners this study offers foundational scaffolding for defining and utilizing fit to select and retain presidents.Through the use of an innovative conceptual framework this study uses two methodological approaches to identify the relationship between fit and presidential transition. First, through a cross sectional analyses of college presidents from 2001, 2006, and 2011, this study utilized negative binomial regression to identify relationships between select presidential/organizational characteristics, fit constructs, and presidential tenure. The results reveal a number of statistically significant relationships including age-at-appointment, sex, and career pathway.High supplementary fit and complementary fit between presidential attributes and organizational attributes were associated with longer presidential tenure. The second application utilized event history analysis to measure how presidential/organizational characteristics and fit constructs were associated with presidential departure to another presidency.In this analysis, age-at-appointment, career pathway, proportion of revenues that were garnered by tuition, and low supplementary/complementary fit had meaningful relationships with the likelihood of presidential departure.These two analyses provide evidence that fit matters when predicting presidential tenure.This study highlights the importance of both presidents and institutions seeking to maximize two kinds of fit in order to ensure that incoming presidents have the opportunity to be successful and that the institution will benefit from continuity in both leadership and vision. The successful tenure of presidents can be markedly enhanced if both complementary and supplementary fit is improved. This study concludes by discussing practical applications regarding selecting and evaluating presidents as well as pointing out some potential directions for future research.