Comparing corporate aerospace leadership groups with and without military leadership experience

United States aerospace companies are realizing a decline in executive employment because of many retiring executives. Risk associated with positioning wrong leaders as aerospace executives may be detrimental to a company's future. A quantitative comparison of 290 aerospace executive aerospace leaders from KWM, a medium sized aerospace company, was measured using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). Parametric testing confirmed there were significant (p < .001) MLQ leadership behavior differences among executives with civilian experience, executives with retired military officer experience, and executives with former military officer experience. Aerospace executives with former military officer leadership experience had the highest leadership behavioral scores. Findings within this study may give U.S. aerospace companies the insight to make proper executive selections for future aerospace leaders. It is recommended this study be expanded using aerospace executive government employees who work within the Department of Defense to determine if differences exist between aerospace executives in both civilian and government industries. This would give more leadership exposure to the overarching aerospace executive organization within the U.S., helping maintain the global competiveness the United States needs today.