The Impact of CEO Tenure and Effective Board Performance on Organizational Change

Abstract

We investigated the impact of CEO tenure on non-profit organizational change with board performance as a mediator. Using data from a survey of CEO’s, we operationalized positive organizational change (POC) as activities such as developing a strategic plan and launching a major initiative or expansion. Negative organizational change (NOC) included actions like cutting staff and using reserves or endowment. Our findings show that CEO’s with less tenure enacted POC and that tenure had no impact on NOC. Further we found that board performance mediates the relationship between CEO tenure and both POC and NOC, supporting the need for effective boards.