Motivational "Contagion" Between Squad Leaders and Their Squad Members

Abstract

Forty-nine Army squad leaders (SLs) and their squad members (SMs) provided self-report measures of their job involvement before and after a 3- to 4-month 'train-up' during which time the units prepared for a major field combat exercise. Using these self-report repeated-measure data, the authors tested a 'motivational contagion' hypothesis-i.e., that SMs and their SL influence one another with regard to their job involvement. The results of the analysis indicate that job-involvement scores of SLs are correlated with job-involvement scores of the SMs of these SLs and that the strength of the correlation varies directly with the length of the SM-SL relationship. Also, ratings of their SL's overall leadership ability predicted the magnitude of the SM-SL correlation. Examination of SM and SL scores at time 1 and time 2 suggests that influence may have been operating in both directions. Finally, overall mean job involvement was slightly (but reliably) lower at time 2 than at time 1, both for SMs and for SLs.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 1992
Accession Number
ADA254283

Entities

People

  • Joel M. Savell
  • Ross C. Teague
  • Trueman B. Tremble

Organizations

  • U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Applied Psychology
  • Behavioral Sciences
  • Data Analysis
  • Human Behavior
  • Leadership
  • Management Personnel
  • Measurement
  • Measuring Instruments
  • Military Research
  • Psychology
  • Social Psychology
  • Social Sciences
  • Students
  • Teamwork
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Educational Psychology
  • Military Training and Readiness Simulation
  • Organizational Psychology.