Abstracts

The purpose of this study was two-fold: to identify an echo chamber in superintendent shortage studies and to conduct an exploratory analysis of the Southeastern Pennsylvania superintendent labor market and, in turn, identify influences on the market(s) based upon the creation of an eight county (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Berks, Lehigh, Lancaster, and Northampton) superintendent repository. This study utilized the bibliometric tools of Web of Science and Google Scholar/Metrics to identify an echo chamber and found evidence in cross-citation mapping of the existence of an echo chamber. This study then applied UCINET software to conduct a social network analysis to identify superintendent labor market(s) in Southeastern Pennsylvania. This study found that a shortage of superintendents does not exist in Southeastern Pennsylvania and that several inter-changeable and intra-changeable labor markets exist exhibiting both homophily and non-homophily characteristics. Although predicted due to anticipated baby-boomer retirements, turnover played a cogent role in labor market dynamics as evidenced in comparative data from 2013 and 2016. The implications of this study suggest the need to re-conceptualize the framework of the superintendent shortage studies on the relationship between incentives and pipeline to better understand the agents that drive and influence the superintendent labor markets. Further implications suggest the need for additional research on turnover not as a negative trait but rather as a vehicle of change that affords career advancement for women and people of color. This study is a modest first step to promote superintendent labor market studies as a means to measure accurately the viability of the pipeline and network.