The Civilianization of the US Military: Army and Navy Case Studies of the Effects of Civilian Integration on Military Personnel

Abstract

Since the late 1980s the United States federal government has been pushing for dramatic increases in the civilianization of jobs formerly performed by military personnel. This trend is particularly evident in the increased pace and scope of military outsourcing. Yet the impact of integrating military personnel and civilians at the unit level is not well understood. The future appears to hold more of the same, judging by the rhetoric of the current administration. This relatively new but dramatic shift in military organizational policy merits close examination. This chapter examines effects of civilianization of the military on service members assigned to units that incorporate civilians. This study differs from most examinations of civilianization because its focus is on social-psychological outcomes rather than macro-level effects of using civilians to support the military effort (e.g., fiscal outcomes that are expected from this management decision). We examine the impact that structural change brought on by civilianizing the military has on the attitudes and behavioral intentions of military personnel. Two military units, one Navy and one Army, are used as case studies to examine this question. This study uses level of contact and social comparisons between civilian and military personnel as two civilianization-related variables predicted to impact retention intentions directly, and indirectly through job satisfaction and organizational commitment. This work demonstrates that organizational structure matters with respect to perceptions of relative advantage or deprivation on numerous highly salient job characteristics.

This research was supported in part by the US Army Research Institute under contract W74V8H-05-K-0007. The views presented in this chapter are those of the authors and not of the Army Research Institue, the US Department of the Army, the US Department of Defense, or the US Military Academy. Earlier versions of this research were presented at the 2005 meeting of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces & Society, Chicago and the 2005 meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society, Washington, D.C.