Abstract:
County managers choose to remain in their position, and in doing so increase their tenure in their position or in their career as a local government manager, for a variety of reasons, which include various factors of influence in the areas of political stability, organizational attributes, position attributes, compensation and benefits, personal preferences and motivations and community qualities and demographics. This study addressed what groupings of factors have the most influence on a county manager’s decision to remain in their position. Using a national study of county managers in the United States, I surveyed 1,216 county managers seeking their inputs on what factors of influence were most impactful in their decision to remain in their present position. Tenure in both current position and tenure in terms of overall county government management service were both significantly related to certain factor groupings. Overall, managers’ valuations of certain factors of influence on tenure—specifically position attributes, age, educational level and community qualities and demographics—did not have significant effects.