2003 IMTA Proceedings - International Military Testing Association

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DISCUSSION
This model provides an adequate fit to Navy data for use in relating job
satisfaction and organizational commitment to career intentions and continuation
behavior. Advantages over previously tested models include the use of structural equation
modeling over regression path analysis, and the treatment of job satisfaction and
organizational commitment as separate factors. Several points of interest are apparent in
evaluating the results of the model. First, several factors and observed variables
contributed to global job satisfaction. Satisfaction with work predicted the most variance
in global job satisfaction of any of the factors (path weight = .80). Satisfaction with other
agents was the next largest predictor of global job satisfaction, followed by working
conditions and satisfaction with rewards. Interestingly, the amount of variance in global
job satisfaction predicted by satisfaction with rewards was very low (path weight = -.02).
This suggests that the rewards listed on this survey are not as important to job satisfaction
as being generally satisfied with the job itself, or else these rewards do not adequately
capture what Sailors value when considering satisfaction with their job. Perhaps these
results may also indicate the differences between intrinsic and extrinsic rewards as
predictors of job satisfaction. The relationships between variables relating to intrinsic and
extrinsic motivation should be explored further in this model as they pertain to job
satisfaction.
Job satisfaction as it is modeled here is a good predictor of affective
organizational commitment. The path weight from job satisfaction to organizational
commitment is .70 for the exploratory model. Adding a path from global job satisfaction
to career intentions did not add any predictive value to the structural equation model.
Here, organizational commitment mediates the relationship between job satisfaction and
career intentions/continuation behaviors. Organizational commitment predicted both
career intentions and continuation behaviors adequately in the model. Since the model
did not explain all of the variation present (as evidenced by the significant chi-square
statistic), this difference could be the result of an unknown third variable that is
influencing this relationship. This problem should be explored more in the future.
The more the Navy understands regarding Sailor behavior, the more change can
be implemented to improve the Navy. The results of this study suggest that job
satisfaction is a primary predictor of organizational commitment and that both play an
important role in predicting both career intentions and actual continuation behavior. In
addition, the results of this paper suggest that career intentions are actually stronger in
predicting continuation behavior than organizational commitment when evaluating them
in the context of all of the other variables in the model. More research is needed to fully
understand these relationships, and the specific contributions to job satisfaction that can
be implemented in the Navy. A validation of this model should be conducted in the future
to verify these relationships. However, it is clear at this point that understanding Sailor
continuation behavior would be incomplete without measurement of job satisfaction,
organizational commitment, and career intentions.
45 th Annual Conference of the International Military Testing Association
Pensacola, Florida, 3-6 November 2003