consortiums

PROJECT 7

SELECTION AND CLASSIFICATION

David P. Donnelly, Jeffrey J. Quirin Kansas State University Proposed Grant $73,608

Abstract:
A central question being faced by the military is how to attract qualified individuals with long-term potential, while at the same time increasing minority and female representation. While attracting minority and female members may be challenging enough, retaining them may be even more difficult. Females and minorities are likely to possess characteristics that differ from the Caucasian male. Employee retention issues

such as these have been the subject of extensive examination in the industrial psychology literature.Traditional voluntary turnover literature has found that job-related stress has a significant effect on an employee’s intent to leave the organization. This line of literature indicates that the antecedents of occupational stress are situation specific. The current proposal suggests that in an occupation such as the military females and minorities possess greater levels of occupational stress than their male and Caucasian counterparts. Thus, gender and ethnicity are deemed important antecedents of occupational stress in a military setting. In addition, this proposal identifies three additional factors that act as mediators of stress. Specifically, an individual’s personality type (locus of control), the perceived existence of social support groups, and the nature of the employment expectations established during the recruitment process are all viewed as stress-buffers in a military context. As such, these mediators play an important role in the employee’s decision to remain with an organization.

Employee expectations concerning the job and individual efficacy are significantly related to the overall level of stress (Maslach and Jackson 1984, Cherniss 1980). These expectations are traditionally developed during the recruitment process (Wanous 1973). When expectations are too high, an employee will oftentimes deem them unachievable. The resulting effect is an increased level of occupational stress. The greater the discrepancy the greater the harmful effects on the job. Social support can be broadly defined as the availability of help from supervisors, co-workers, family members, and friends in times of need. The existence of adequate social support has also been found to reduce employee job-related stress (Rahim 1997, Rahim and Psenicka 1996, Daniels and Guppy 1994). Because an individual’s perception of stress is a function of the individual’s characteristics and the potential source of the stress, there has been considerable research documenting the relationship between a personality variable, locus of control, and occupational stress (Cohen and Edwards 1989). Several studies have provided support for the notion that locus of control personality characteristics can also moderate the adverse effects of occupational stress (Rahim and Psenicka 1996, Cummins 1988). Data regarding these variables will be collected by the investigators via a survey questionnaire as well as through interviews. All measures will be drawn from prior literature. If the results of the proposed study are supportive of the hypothesized relationships, the mediating factors identified could become critical components of the military’s recruitment, retention, and career development processes.