The Impact of Organizational Leadership upon Premature Attrition in Homeland Security Investigations

摘要

Attrition, especially premature turnover, is a problem faced by many organizations. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is a major investigative directorate within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This directorate was formed in 2003 as the result of the merger of the legacy investigative divisions of the U.S. Immigration and U.S. Customs Services. Premature attrition appears to be an ongoing concern within HSI, which potentially threatens the mandate of the agency to enforce numerous federal laws. Researchers have asserted that transformational leadership, especially in the wake of major organizational change, can increase employee commitment and reduce attrition; however, there is little or no literature related to the relationship between leadership style and premature attrition from HSI, or in federal law enforcement generally. The researcher used a quantitative study and a slightly modified version of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire-5X Short to survey a convenience sample of HSI special agents in the South Florida area to assess the impact of leadership style and historical or anticipated premature attrition. The resultant data was subjected to a logistic regression analysis using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The analysis revealed that leadership style was not a statistically significant factor in identifying past or anticipated attrition; however, the small sample size and the possibility of confounding factors, such as physical, psychosocial, or financial, were important limitations of the study. This study, while yielding unexpected findings, provided one of the first known examinations of the connection between leadership style and premature attrition in federal law enforcement, and serves as a starting point for additional future inquiry.