| Despite the knowledge that community college presidents are retiring or leaving the presidency at a higher rate than ever before, and that the traditional pipelines to the presidency are dwindling, there has been very limited research to explain the cause for the increase in vacancies. As known from previous studies the incumbents are on average older, have less experience as a community college president, and have greater female representation than in the past. The American Council on Education issued a report on the overwhelming turnover of toplevel administrators with the primary reasons for the high turnover rate being job satisfaction, stress, and burnout. The study showed that neither years of experience, ethnicity, and gender or college classification affected the community college presidents' job satisfaction. There is a direct connection between job dissatisfaction and stress resulting from role conflict or role ambiguity, and that job dissatisfaction and voluntary job-turnover are strongly correlated. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the perception of stress and the presidents' intentions to remain in their positions and/or profession. Also considered were their demographic characteristics, such as age, gender, and tenure based on a previous study of community college presidents. A specific goal of this study was to demonstrate that stress perceptions and demographics together have a potential influence on whether community college presidents remain as president, retire, or change professions. |
