Generalized exchange and propensity for military service: The moderating effect of prior military exposure

Abstract

The propensity for military service (PMS) of young Americans is an important issue for our Armed Forces. Since the 1990s, the PMS of young Americans has steadily declined. Overtime, a declining PMS may cause military mission degradation, lowering of military recruitment standards, base closures, and reinstatement of the unpopular military draft system. This paper investigates the moderator effect of prior military service on the Generalized Exchange–PMS relationship. Generalized exchange is when indirect benefits such as preserving freedom and the American way of life accrue to the larger society because of an individual's military service. This paper uses a structural equation modelling approach to analyse the moderating effect of prior military exposure on prospective recruits regarding their PMS. Findings indicate that the group of prospective recruits with prior military exposure had higher levels of PMS than the group without such exposure, that is, the young people with prior military exposure are more likely to enlist in the military than the young Americans with no prior military exposure.

Keywords:

• Propensity
• structural equation modelling
• military
• exchange theory

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Office of Naval Research for funding a grant (Grant No. 140110363; Marshall et al., 2001) which made this study possible, and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments during the review process.