Psychological Climate, Organizational Commitment and Morale: Implications for Army Captains' Career Intent

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to examine how work experiences contribute to junior officers' intentions to leave the Army. Specifically, we hypothesized that psychological climate perceptions have direct and indirect effects on intent to leave through affective commitment and morale and that affective and continuance commitment interact to predict intent to leave the Army. The sample for this study was 649 captains who responded to an Army-wide survey, the Fall 2002 Sample Survey of Military Personnel. Results demonstrate support for full mediation, indicating that psychological climate impacts intent to leave the Army by influencing captains' affective commitment and morale. The psychological climate dimension of leadership had the largest impact on affective commitment, morale, and intent to leave the Army. Affective commitment did not interact with continuance commitment to predict intent to leave. Implications for Army retention policies and leadership are discussed.

Notes

The content of this report is based on the research conducted by the authors and does not represent the position of the U.S. Army Research Institute, the Army, or the Department of Defense.

This research was conducted while the first author was employed by the Consortium Research Fellows Program, U.S. Army Research Institute, Arlington, VA

¹In addition to the “captain's crisis,” we focused on captains because these officers, by nature of the rank, are at a point in their military career in which they must weigh the costs and benefits of staying in the Army. This cost analysis is more salient at the rank of captain than at any other rank because it represents 4 to 11 years of commissioned service in a possible 20- or 30-year military career

**p < .01

*p < .05;

Note: **p < .01