The effects of career mobility, tenure, and experience on the real and ideal leader behavior of public school superintendents

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between the career mobility, tenure, and experience of school superintendents and their real and ideal leader behavior. The Ohio State Theory of Leader Behavior formed the theoretical base for this research, while the literature on place-bound and career-bound superintendents was the other major component in the study. Place-bound superintendents were defined as individuals who were promoted from within the system to the superintendency, whereas career-bound superintendents were defined as individuals who were selected for the superintendency from outside the system. Utilizing the Ohio State theory, it was the intent of the research to examine the real and ideal leader behavior of the two types of superintendents, and determine the effects of career mobility, tenure, and experience on that leader behavior. The dimensions of leader behavior were initiating structure and consideration, which broadly represented a task orientation and a people orientation respectively. There were two hypotheses and twelve sub-hypotheses in the study that were designed to test leader behavior differences with career mobility, tenure, and experience as main effects, and with the interaction effects of career mobility and tenure and career mobility and experience. [...]