ABSTRACT

The Army has a need to develop and maintain a force of soldiers for military service who are highly motivated and capable. Organizational commitment is a construct potentially useful for characterizing and understanding willing and active military service of soldiers despite the associated hardships. Empirical results have shown the utility of organizational commitment for understanding the behavior of members of organizations. It has been suggested that the development of organizational commitment is a gradual process. Although several longitudinal studies of organizational commitment have been conducted the longitudinal period covered did not typically exceed 12 months. The Army has assembled a data archive potentially suitable for longitudinal research on the development of the organizational commitment of commissioned officers. Although discipline in interpreting findings is warranted, the results for the test and target samples were consistent and have implications for the wider literature on organizational commitment and research in the military.