ABSTRACT
In recent years, considerable attention has been given to turnover in the executive ranks of local government. In particular, the issue of what factors account for turnover among local government managers has been the subject of several empirical analyses (DeSantis and Renner 1993; Renner 1990; DeHoog and Whitaker 1990; Whitaker and DeHoog 1991). Understanding and predicting manager turnover is not only important to the field of public management, it may have implications for public policy. Management researchers argue that administrative turnover leads to inconsistent organizational outcomes (Finkelstein and Hambrick 1990). Within the field of public administration, scholars have assumed that administrative turnover is significant because it indicates a loss of institutional memory and neutral competence (Heclo 1977; Wilson 1994; Hass and Wright 1989; Lewis 1991).
