A model of career orientation for military Nurse Corps Officers.

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate whether the perception of alternative job factors affected the career orientation of military Nurse Corps officers in both their initial and non-initial period of service obligation. The sample was selected from the 1978 Department of Defense Survey of Officer and Enlisted Personnel conducted by the Rand Corporation. Nurses were divided into career orientation groups according to years of service intended. The groups were homogeneous with respect to demographic and current job characteristics. Stepwise discriminant analyses were performed to select the set of alternative job attributes which best discriminated between each career orientation group. Discriminant analyses were also performed on each individual alternative job attribute to determine the single best discriminator. Knowledge of the perception of alternative job factors will provide manpower planners with useful information to evaluate the effect of personnel policies on the stay/leave decision of junior Nurse Corps officers.