USAR prior service market : a comparison of reenlistment motivations with Reserve enlistment motivations of Active Duty personnel

Abstract

This paper analyzes two decisions of Active Duty personnel: reenlistment and Reserve participation. Explanatory variables used to develop general turnover models for each decision included demographic, tenure, economic, and cognitive/affective orientation. Logit techniques were used to estimate the military affiliation models using data from the 1985 DOD Survey of Active Duty Officers and Enlisted Personnel. Results indicated that first term females tended to have both stronger Reserve intentions and stronger reenlistment intentions. Level of education affected reenlistment and Reserve intentions differently. For reenlistment intentions, college education was not a significant factor. However, enlistees with two or more years of college education had substantially stronger Reserve participation intentions than other enlistees. Cognitive/affective factors of military life had a more significant impact on reenlistment intentions than on Reserve participation intentions. Major policy implications concern the potential impact of educational incentives, the strengths of female market, and the potential for management impact in job attributes that affect military affiliation intentions. Keywords: Enlistment; Prior service market enlistment motivations; Logit models; Reserve manpower. (sdw)