ABSTRACT
In this study, we developed and validated a scale that measures the sense of community among Korean military personnel. We conducted the research in three stages. In the first preliminary stage, we administered an open-ended questionnaire to 47 military officers in order to develop the initial questions. Experts verified the content validity of the 60 preliminary questions, and the questions were modified based on the experts’ input. In the second preliminary stage, we extracted preliminary scales for 20 items based on the responses of 457 Army soldiers. In the third stage, we provided the preliminary scale to 656 Korean military personnel, and their responses were used to extract a five-factor matrix with 20 items. The five factors were Needs Fulfillment, Influence, Shared Emotional Connection, Rule Compliance, and Membership; each factor consisted of four items. Finally, after four weeks, we administered the scale to 208 additional military personnel, and the stability of the scale was confirmed, with a test-retest reliability of .90. To conclude the paper, we describe the implications of the scale developed in this study as well as directions for future studies.
Compliance with Ethical Standards
All procedures in studies involving human participants were performed in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Impact statement
In this study, we developed and validated the Korean Military Personnel’s Sense of Community Scale, and extracted a five-factor solution with four items per factor. The five factors are Needs Fulfillment, Influence, Shared Emotional Connection, Rule Compliance, and Membership.