To tenure or not to tenure? Some implications for school leaders’ proactive behavior from a comparative perspective

Purpose Tenure is frequently conceived as a two-edged sword: on the one hand, it provides professional security enabling individuals to initiate hazardous endeavors characterized by uncertainty, risk and potential negative results. On the other hand, professional security may negatively affect motivation, promote indifference and undermine genuine initiatives. The purpose of this paper is to assess the implications tenure has on school leaders’ proactive behavior, evident in their tendency to innovate and initiate creative and authentic endeavors. Design/methodology/approach Questionnaires were administered to 30 non-tenured Greek school principals and 42 tenured Israeli school leaders. School leaders were questioned about their tendency to innovate and act creatively and authentically. Findings Comparisons of groups’ mean scores show that Greek school leaders obtained higher scores when creativity, authenticity and innovativeness are compared between the two groups. These findings are further supported in a discriminant analysis indicating that the two groups’ orientations toward the discriminant function comprising variables, which characterize proactive behavior, are opposite. Originality/value The findings of the authors obtained in this study show that job security, which follows tenure, does not guarantee proactive behavior. Implications are further discussed.