Understanding and Managing the Career Continuance of Enlisted Soldiers

Abstract

The U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences (ARI) implemented a large research program titled "STAY: Strategies to Enhance Retention." The enlisted portion of the STAY project identified factors influencing enlisted Soldiers' career continuance decisions, developed a model of the decision process, generated an extensive list of attrition and retention interventions, and evaluated two of them. Interviews and focus groups across Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) and Forces Command (FORSCOM) were conducted during FY06 and FY07 to identify factors influential to both enlisted attrition and retention. The FY06 Trainee Inventory and Soldier Inventory were developed and administered to further inform model development. The resulting career continuance model for enlisted Soldiers accounted for growth and development of Soldiers, influential experiences, individual characteristics, and Family and organizational influences; it also drove the intervention development. A multi-phase process was used to develop and pilot-test interventions for decreasing attrition and improving enlisted Soldier career continuance. Promising interventions were identified based on feedback from ARI and Subject Matter Expert (SME) advisory panels on feasibility and potential success. Two interventions (Soldier Transition Survey and Unit Retention Climate Feedback System) were further investigated. The Soldier Transition Survey provided useful empirical information on factors driving career continuance decisions and demonstrated the value of alternate sources (i.e., proxies) for capturing this information. The Unit Retention Climate Feedback System examined shared unit-level perceptions influencing decisions to reenlist or leave the Active Army, and provides an approach for feeding that information back to unit leaders.

Emotional Efficacy Beliefs at Work and Turnover Intentions: The Mediational Role of Organizational Socialization and Identification

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