The organizational attitudes of dual-income, single-income and single Canadian Forces personnel

Abstract

Since World War II, participation by women in the labour force has increased markedly reflecting corresponding increases in the number of women in the Canadian Forces (CF) (a seven-fold increase in the last 15 years) and the number of civilian spouses of military personnel who are employed. Many servicewomen marry and remain in the CF. Dual-income military couples create unique demands for CF personnel management. Conceivably, the employment of a spouse (military or civilian) could affect the job satisfaction and performance of CF personnel as well as their commitment to a military career. While the dual-income relationship for civilian couples has been studied, this issue has not been examined in the military context. CF personnel (n=738) completed the Job Descriptive Index (Smith, Kendall, & Hulin, 1975); a version of the Organizational Commitment Scale (Mowday, Steers, & Porter, 1979); the Military Ethos Scale (Cotton, 1979); a measure of perceived performance level; and specific attitudinal and biographical questions. From the 643 usable questionnaires, the respondents were divided into four marital lifestyle groups: dual income/dual military (DI/DM); dual income/single military (DI/SM); single income/single military (SI/SM); and, single CF member who was never married. The groups were also classified by gender and military rank status. Analyses indicated that: differences in rank were significantly related to job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and military ethos but not to perceived job performance; differences in gender were significantly related to military ethos, to a limited extent to job satisfaction, but not to organizational commitment or perceived job performance, and marital lifestyle was only related to overall job satisfaction. Results are discussed within the context of implications for military personnel, in the various lifestyle groups, as well as their relevance to current CF personnel policies. A recognition of both similarities and differences among personnel in the different marital lifestyles should contribute to a process which maximizes the needs of both the individual and the organization.