Turnover of junior Army officers: a test of the Mobley, Griffeth, Hand and Meglino model of personnel turnover, using structural equation techniques

Abstract

This thesis attempted a test of the Mobley, Griffeth, Hand and Meglino model of personnel turnover, using structural equation techniques, on a sample of junior Army officers. Procedural, data and,possibly, model specification problems, resulted in the failure of the initial model. Following simplification, the model was run on the whole sample, Academy, OCS/OTE, ROTC(S), and ROTC(R) method of entry groups, married and single groups, a short term turnover group, and a group unconstrained by initial service obligations. Differences in causal relationships were found for the separate groups, suggesting that specific models of turnover may be appropriate for individual groups. Intended remaining service was found to be more strongly related to turnover in the short term than the long term. Initial obligations were found to have a confounding effect on the model and should be controlled for in future studies. Recommendations for further tests of the Mobley, Griffeth, Hand and Meglino model, using more appropriate analytic procedures and a more suitable sample, were made.