United States Military Reserve 2012: Operations Tempo, Organizational Commitment, and Retention
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2018-07
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Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this big data study was to explore the relationship among operations tempo, commitment, and retention among the different Reserve component personnel, including the Army National Guard, Army Reserve, Navy Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve, Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve Theoretical Framework. The theoretical framework of this research was grounded in Allen and Meyer’s (1990) 3-component model of organizational commitment. This theory suggests organizational commitment is a multidimensional model consisting of an affective, continuance, and normative component. The researcher of the study expected this theoretical framework to interact with operations tempo and retention.
Methodology. This study employed an exploratory nonexperimental quantitative research design that examined operations tempo, commitment, and retention among the Reserve component of the U.S. Armed Forces. A Spearman rank correlation coefficient was employed to examine the associations between operations tempo, commitment, and retention. Pay grade was also added to the Spearman rank correlation coefficient and due to limited access to demographic information, was the only demographic used in this study. A multiple linear regression analysis was then used to test whether operations tempo, affective commitment, continuance commitment, normative commitment, and pay grade predict retention. Finally, the researcher conducted an ANOVA to compare the mean scores of affective, continuance, normative, and organizational commitment among the different Reserve components.
Findings. Examination of the quantitative research data revealed a significant association between operations tempo and each of the 3 components of commitment. There was also a significant association between each of the 3 components of commitment and retention. Pay grade also revealed a significant association with each of the 3 components of commitment and retention. Most noteworthy among the predictive analyses was affective commitments role in predicting retention. Finally, the Air National Guard displayed the highest mean of organizational commitment and Marine Corps Reserve displayed the lowest.
Conclusions. This study adds to the body of knowledge by exploring the role operations tempo and commitment play in the retention of different U.S. Reserve components. Further, the Army National Guard, Army Reserve, Navy Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve, Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve contain differing levels of affective, continuance, and normative commitment.
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A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Public Administration
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Keywords
U.S. Military