A quantitative analysis comparing senior leadership tenures within the Department of the Air Force from 1947 to 2005 with those of successful, private-industry corporations

Prior research has shown that implementing change requires consistency in leadership direction. The research problem addressed in this study was the lack of knowledge of how Air Force leadership tenures compare to those of corporations (where tenure provides one measure of consistency in leadership). The purpose of this study was to determine if there were differences in length of leadership tenures between Air Force leaders and leaders of successful, private-industry corporations. The theoretical foundation of this study was based on Weber's work on bureaucracies, Wilson's work on leadership tenures, and Mises' work on differentiating bureaucracies from corporations. A quantitative research methodology was used for this descriptive study. The research design was an ex post facto, historical cohort approach covering the years 1947 to 2005. The main research hypothesis was that the mean Air Force leadership tenure value was greater than or equal to the mean private-industry leadership tenure value. A nonparametric difference of means test procedure was used to test the hypothesis. The hypothesis was rejected. The central finding was the mean length of tenure of private-industry leaders was over 3 times longer than that of Air Force leaders. Future studies should examine the optimal length of Air Force leadership tenures. This study contributes to positive social change by suggesting that significantly shorter tenures form a structural limitation within the Air Force that potentially hinders the ability to implement change.