Destructive-Constructive Leadership and Active-Duty Service Members’ Commitment to Military Service

Abstract

The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine if and to what extent the dimensions of destructive leadership construct (arrogant, unfair; threats, punishments, over-demands; ego-oriented, false; passive, cowardly; and uncertain, unclear, messy) and constructive leadership construct (exemplary model; individualized consideration; and inspiration and motivation) have an effect on predicting service members’ likelihood of commitment to military service for US military active-duty service members. The Destructive-Constructive Leadership (DCL) model, developmental leadership model, and Net Promoter Score provided the theoretical foundation for the study. The study examined the extent to which the dimensions of the destructive leadership construct and constructive leadership construct separately and together have an effect on predicting service members’ likelihood of commitment to military service for US military active-duty service members. A Qualtrics survey was completed by a sample target population (N = 963) of active-duty service members of the United States military who met the criteria of currently serving full time in any military branch of the United States. The study used a quantitative methodology, correlational design, and ordinal logistic regression for data analysis. The results indicated that the dimensions of constructive leadership, exemplary model (p = .001) and inspiration and motivation (p < .001) predict active-duty service members’ likelihood of commitment to military service in the United States military. The other dimensions were not statistically significant.