ATTRACTING QUALIFIED MINORITY AND DIVERSITY NAVAL

OFFICER CANDIDATES: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY

by

Scena B. Webb

A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree

Doctor of Management in Organizational Leadership

UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX

September 2011

© 2011 by Scena B. Webb

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

ATTRACTING QUALIFIED MINORITY AND DIVERSITY NAVAL OFFICER

CANDIDATES: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY

by

Scena B. Webb

September 2011

Approved:

Orlando Ramos, Ph.D., Mentor

Katrina Zimmer, Ph.D., Committee Member

Donyell L. Roseboro, Ph.D., Committee Member

Accepted and Signed:____________________________________________________ Orlando Ramos Date

Accepted and Signed:____________________________________________________

Katrina Zimmer Date Accepted and Signed:____________________________________________________

Donyell L. Roseboro Date ______________________________________________________________________ Jeremy Moreland, Ph.D. Date Executive Dean, School of Advanced Studies University of Phoenix

iv

Abstract

The population of the United States will experience an increase of 54% in the

number of diverse people entering the workforce by 2050. The qualitative

phenomenological research study explored the specific problem of the lack of minority

and diversity naval officers attracted by the Navy through lived experiences of 27 officer

recruiters dispersed throughout the United States. The Navy has reported that only 21%

of all Navy officers are minorities. The study explored what causes recruiters to engage

in attraction practices aimed at qualified minority and diversity officer candidates from

the perspective of conscious and unconscious thought theory and group theory. The

study examined the link between attraction to members of the same ethnic or racial group

as recruiters and attraction to members not of the same ethnic or racial groups. The

findings from the research study provides organizations interested in increasing minority

and diversity leadership in their companies with relevant information they may use to

attract more minority future leaders.

Keywords: diversity, Navy, military representation, minority officers, attraction

practices

v

Dedication

I dedicate this dissertation to my husband, Boyce. Thank you for all of your love,

support, and inspiration. I also dedicate this dissertation to my family whom has been pillars of

support in all of my endeavors. Lastly, and most especially, I dedicate this dissertation to my

God, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who guides my every moment in life.

vi

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my husband, Boyce for his unconditional love and support in my

educational journey. The patience, understanding, deeply reflective discussions, and constant

motivation you always gave meant the world to me, thank you Boyce!

I would like to thank my mentor and committee members for your flexibility, critical

analysis, and guidance. Dr. Ramos, Dr. Zimmer, and Dr. Roseboro, your professionalism was

the best!

Last, I would like to thank the United States Navy ROTC recruiters across the nation who

gave their support and insights to this project. Thank you for serving to help protect our nation

both foreign and domestic! Go Navy!

vii

Table of Contents  

Abstract ..................................................................................................................... iv  

Dedication .................................................................................................................. v  

Acknowledgments ..................................................................................................... vi  

Table of Contents ..................................................................................................... vii  

List of Tables ........................................................................................................... xii  

List of Figures ......................................................................................................... xiii  

Chapter 1: Introduction .............................................................................................. 1  

Background of the Problem ....................................................................................... 3  

Statement of the Problem ........................................................................................... 3  

Purpose of the Study .................................................................................................. 4  

Significance of the study ............................................................................................ 5  

Significance of the study to leadership ...................................................................... 6  

Nature of the Study .................................................................................................... 7  

Research Questions .................................................................................................... 8  

Conceptual Framework ............................................................................................ 10  

Definitions................................................................................................................ 14  

Minority and Diversity Definitions. ................................................................. 14  

Diversity. ...................................................................................................... 14  

Minority. ...................................................................................................... 15  

Social identity. ............................................................................................. 15  

Acronyms. .................................................................................................... 15  

IM – Impression management. ..................................................................... 16  

viii

NRD – Navy Recruiting District. ................................................................. 16  

NROTC – Navy Reserve Officers Training Corps or Navy ROTC. ............. 16  

Assumptions ............................................................................................................. 16  

Scope, Limitations, and Delimitations ..................................................................... 17  

Summary .................................................................................................................. 18  

Chapter 2: Review of the Literature ......................................................................... 20  

The need for diversity in organizations ................................................................... 23  

Attracting minorities and diversity; an organizational perspective ......................... 24  

Attraction through Big Five Personality Traits. ............................................... 24  

Attraction through the use of Impression Management. .................................. 26  

Attraction through the use of literature and media. .......................................... 28  

Attraction through word-of-mouth. .................................................................. 30  

Attracting minorities and diversity; a candidate perspective ................................... 31  

Attracting minorities and diversity; an organization recruiter perspective .............. 32  

Implicit and explicit attitudes in attraction practices. ....................................... 33  

In-group and out-group perceptions that affect attraction. ............................... 36  

Naval Application .................................................................................................... 38  

Attraction to the military .......................................................................................... 42  

Leadership applications ........................................................................................... 42  

Attraction through the lens of group theory ............................................................. 45  

Attraction through the lens of unconscious thought theory ..................................... 47  

Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 49  

Summary .................................................................................................................. 50  

ix

Chapter 3: Method ................................................................................................... 52  

Research Method and Design Appropriateness ....................................................... 53  

Population, Sampling, and Data Collection Procedures and Rationale ................... 54  

Population. ........................................................................................................ 54  

Sampling Frame. ............................................................................................... 54  

Informed Consent. ............................................................................................ 55  

Confidentiality. ................................................................................................. 55  

Geographic Location. ....................................................................................... 56  

Data Collection. ................................................................................................ 56  

Interview Protocol ............................................................................................ 57  

Instrumentation. ................................................................................................ 58  

Credibility, Transferability, and Reliability ............................................................. 59  

Credibility. ........................................................................................................ 59  

Transferability. .................................................................................................. 59  

Reliability. ........................................................................................................ 60  

Data Analysis ........................................................................................................... 60  

Summary .................................................................................................................. 62  

Chapter 4: Results .................................................................................................... 63  

Research Questions .................................................................................................. 63  

Review of Data Collection ....................................................................................... 64  

Participants. ...................................................................................................... 64  

Gender Distribution. ......................................................................................... 65  

Ethnicity Distribution. ...................................................................................... 66  

x

Age Distribution. .............................................................................................. 67  

NROTC Officer Recruiter Experience. ............................................................ 68  

Data Analysis Procedures ........................................................................................ 68  

Collection of the data. ....................................................................................... 69  

Reading of the data. .......................................................................................... 69  

Dividing the data into parts. .............................................................................. 70  

Organization and expression of the data. .......................................................... 70  

Synthesis of the data. ........................................................................................ 70  

Data Management .................................................................................................... 71  

Findings ................................................................................................................... 71  

Emerging themes. ............................................................................................. 71

The theme of no special attraction techniques used……………………….72

The theme of promoting educational benefits……………………………..72

The theme of conducting NROTC presentation. .......................................... 73  

Sub-themes. .................................................................................................. 73  

Sub-theme 1: Recruiter selection. ............................................................... 73

Sub-theme 2: Minority and diversity success measures…………………...73

Sub-theme 3: Recruiter demographics…………………………………….74

Outliers ..................................................................................................................... 74  

Summary .................................................................................................................. 75  

Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 76  

Chapter 5: Conclusions and Recommendations ...................................................... 77  

Conclusions .............................................................................................................. 77  

xi

Interpretation of results ............................................................................................ 78  

The theme of no special attraction techniques used. .................................... 78  

The theme of promoting educational benefits. ............................................ 79  

The theme of conducting NROTC presentations. ........................................ 80  

Theme rationale. .......................................................................................... 80  

Sub-themes. .................................................................................................. 81  

Sub-theme 1: Recruiter selection. ............................................................... 81  

Sub-theme 2: Minority and diversity success measures. ............................. 82  

Sub-theme 3: Recruiter demographics. ........................................................ 82  

Implications and Significance of findings ............................................................... 83  

Implications to Leadership ....................................................................................... 84  

Reflection of Experience .......................................................................................... 85  

Recommendations .................................................................................................... 87  

For Higher Education. ...................................................................................... 88  

Leadership. ........................................................................................................ 88  

Further research. ............................................................................................... 89  

Summary .................................................................................................................. 89  

References ................................................................................................................ 91  

Appendix A: Additional Information Form ........................................................... 112  

Appendix B: Informed Consent Form ................................................................... 113  

Appendix C: Questionnaire .................................................................................... 115  

xii

List of Tables

Table 1 Summary of Literature Reviewed by Search Topic .................................... 21  

Table 2 Demographic Data of Participants ............................................................. 65  

xiii

List of Figures

Figure 1. Navy Diversity Officer Goals for 2037 ................................................... 10  

Figure 2. The projected demographics of Navy-wide personnel for 2020 ............. 40  

Figure 3. The projected demographics of officers for 2020 ................................... 41  

Figure 4. Data collection and analysis process ....................................................... 58  

Figure 5. Gender Distribution. ................................................................................. 66  

Figure 6. Ethnicity Distribution. .............................................................................. 67  

Figure 7. Age Distribution. ...................................................................................... 67  

Figure 8. NROTC Officer Recruiter Experience. .................................................... 68  

Figure 9. Emergent themes by frequency and intensity of inductive recurrences. . 73  

1

Chapter 1: Introduction

Diversity refers to a state or fact of being diverse; difference; unlikeness; and variety

("Diversity," 2011). Diversity is by definition, a noun. The use of the term, diversity, in

mainstream literature is normally found as an adjective often interchangeably with the term

minority (Alire, 2001; Eagly & Chin, 2010; Fuentes, 2007, 2010; K. Barrett, 2009, 2010a,

2010b; Ng & Burke, 2005; Wiltrout, 2008). The term diversity appears throughout the study in

the same manner as the literature presented, as an adjective interchangeably with the term

minority.

During the 2008 presidential race, public attention to the importance of gender and race

for leadership escalated dramatically in the United States (Eagly & Chin, 2010). Americans

appeared more concerned for the race and ethnicity of the presidential hopeful than the

qualifications (Eagly & Chin, 2010, p. 216). Projections suggest that minorities will become the

majority of working aged people in the United States by 2020 (Christie, 2009). In the federal

government system, every minority group has increased its participation since 1996 except for

African American men, who dropped slightly. The federal workforce has 7.6% of Hispanic

workers compared to the Hispanic percentage of the civilian labor workforce (14%). In fact,

there are no Hispanics in senior-management positions in the Office of the Secretary of Defense

(Lewis, 2006).

The Supreme Court of the United States, which is the highest judicial body in the United

States, has been slow to reflect minority and diversity among the ranks holding only one African

American male along with just four women associate justices (Kellerhals Jr, 2010). Women in

the United States federal and state-level judgeships fall short of equal representation of women

on the nation’s federal and state benches. “In the U.S., women make up only 22 % of all federal

2

judgeships and 26 % of all state-level positions,” according to the study, prepared by the center

for women in government and civil society at the State University of New York at Albany (The

Center for Women in Government & Civil Society, 2011, p. 1). The population of the United

States expects to experience an increase in the number of diverse people entering the workforce

(Adler, 2011; Overman, 2011).

Only one of 38 four-star generals or admirals serving as of May 2008 was African

American and just 10 African American men have ever gained a four-star rank – five in the

Army, four in the Air Force, and one in the Navy (Wiltrout, 2008). In 2008, African Americans

made up about 17% of the total force in the Navy with only 9% members of the officer corps

(Wiltrout, 2008). The Navy fails to attract and train minority and diversity naval officers; only

21% of all Navy officers are minorities (K. Barrett, 2010b). In an effort to understand the

phenomenon surrounding the Navy’s failure to attract this group, research exploring the problem

is needed.

The under-representation of minorities and diversity among leadership has not gone

unnoticed in the United States military services. The Navy has policies in place to attract

qualified diversity officer candidates, but there does not seem to be a significant amount of

literature to suggest why increased amounts of diversity representation among leaders have not

been achieved (Armor & Gilroy, 2010; Blowers, 2008; Stauffer, 2008).

Key areas in chapter 1 include an introduction to the current research study. The focus of

chapter 1 highlights the problem, the purpose of the current research study, its significance, and

research questions guiding the research study along with the conceptual framework. The

research method and design along with definitions of terms are presented. The final discussions

in chapter 1 conclude with the scope, limitations, and delimitations of the current research study.

3

Background of the Problem

The population of the United States will experience an increase in the number of diverse

people entering the workforce. Civilian and military organizations have recognized the need for

diversity representation (Armor & Gilroy, 2010; Chiplock, 2009; Eagly & J. L. Chin, 2010;

Fuentes, 2007; Ployhart, 2006). The best method to increase diversity representation in

organizations varies from an applicant perceived fit (Kristof-Brown, 2000), to an organization

perceived fit (T. Kim, D. M. Cable, & S. Kim, 2005), to collectivism (Akande, 2009), and to

various strategies on recruitment efforts (Roberson, C. J. Collins, & Oreg, 2005).

The focus on at what point the thought of attraction moves into action, whether on a

conscious or unconscious level may offer insight into the rationale for the decision to move

forward or not move forward with attraction practices toward out-group members. The primary

focus with thought theory is not whether or not recruiters use conscious or unconscious thought

to propel them toward engaging in attraction practices, but an understanding of the current

findings on thought theory as a contextual background for the current study. The basis of the

current research study sought to understand the lived experiences of attraction of minority and

diversity naval officer candidates from the officer recruiter perspective using decision-making

and thought theory applications from a social identity conceptual framework.

Statement of the Problem

The general problem is despite 44% of the United States population consisting of

minorities with an estimated increase to 54% by 2050 Ortman and Guarneri (2009), the Navy

fails to attract and train minority and diversity naval officers; only 21% of all Navy officers are

minorities (K. Barrett, 2010b). The current qualitative phenomenological research study

4

explored the specific problem of the lack of minority and diversity naval officers attracted by the

Navy through lived experiences of 27 officer recruiters dispersed throughout the United States.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the current qualitative, phenomenological research study was to explore

the lived experiences of the attraction process from the perspective of Navy officer recruiters in

the United States. The study explored what causes recruiters to engage in attraction practices

aimed at qualified minority and diversity officer candidates from the perspective of conscious

and unconscious thought theory and group theory. The study examined the link between

attraction to members of the same ethnic or racial group as recruiters and attraction to members

not of the same ethnic or racial groups.

The study used a qualitative research method to explore decision-making theories and

group affiliation practices that may help recruiters become aware of attraction techniques that

may be helpful in attracting minority and diversity candidates. The study gained knowledge

from 27 regional Navy officer recruiters throughout the United States. The recruiters

participated in online questionnaires. The purpose of the questionnaires was to explore the

recruiters’ perceptions of effective attraction practices geared toward minority and diversity

officer candidates.

To determine the effectiveness of attraction processes currently in place, the study helps

officer recruiters evaluate their attraction practices by comparing the conscious or unconscious

thoughts toward minority candidates of different groups with attraction methods used.

Throughout the process, the study examined the attraction procedures geared toward minority

and members of diverse groups. A qualitative method was the most appropriate method to

collect and analyze data for the broad topic of recruiter attraction practices. Attraction practices

5

used in recruiting efforts is a very complex and dynamic process that benefits from

understanding attraction theory, cultural diversity, and group socialization, which is best

captured from the lived experiences of recruiters.

The findings from the research study provides organizations interested in increasing

minority and diversity leadership in their companies with relevant information they may use to

attract more minority future leaders. The results of the study offer insight into best practices

from the perspective of recruiters’ to increase their current understanding of methods to attract

diversity. For the Navy specifically, the results may assist senior leadership in their efforts to

increase minority and diversity officer representation to higher levels.

Significance of the study

McKay and Avery (2005) emphasized several reasons for diversity attraction and

recruitment to include labor shortages, avoidance of legal scrutiny, enhancement of public

image, gained access into minority consumers, and increased organizational creativity and

innovation. Despite the growing diversity among leaders, the still under-representation of

women and of racial and ethnic minorities in leadership roles demands an explanation (Eagly &

J. L. Chin, 2010). Diversity attraction practices from the perspective of the officer recruiter may

add to the existing literature on attraction strategies (Devendorf & Highhouse, 2008; Ryan &

Tippins, 2004) by focusing on the social identity aspect. Organizations that engage in worldwide

communications may have a need to attract minorities and people of diverse cultures and

backgrounds. The ability to engage in a cross-cultural examination of business attraction

practices from the perspective of organizational reputation is a concern of many major

companies (Caligiuri et al., 2010). An examination of attraction practices from the perspective

6

of recruiters’ fills a gap in the literature and adds another view for the changing dynamics of

minority attraction.

Social identity theory suggests that a person’s self-concept is a combination of a personal

identity, and a social identity. Restated, people identify with people who have similar

characteristics (Baray, Postmes, & Jetten, 2009). The decision to identify with particular groups

may be attributed to social identity consciousness. Current literature suggests that there are two

schools of thought, conscious, and unconscious involved in the most active decision-making and

impression management processes (Dijksterhuis & Nordgren, 2006). The theory distinguished

between two modes of thought; unconscious and conscious. The significance of thought theory

to the study is central to the theoretical framework, which suggests that groups provide insight

into a sense of social identity (S. A. Haslam et al., 2009) and that perceptions about various

groups have a significant impact on socialization of group members (p. 7).

Significance of the study to leadership

Alire (2001) articulated why there is a need for diversity in leadership by insisting that

“Leaders of Color” are more sensitive to challenges of diverse workers. According to Alire,

minority leaders can serve as role models, leaders, and spokespersons that provide a linkage to

minority communities. Cultural intelligence can increase with the inclusion of diversity in

organizations. As a result of globalization and advances in communication technology, cultural

intelligence research in leadership circles that pertained to expatriates, has become more

prevalent in business in America. Leaders who have diverse populations in organizations may

have challenges that can benefit through the lens of shared social identity.

Fairhurst and Grant (2010) recognized that literature is inconsistent with regard to the

definitions of social construction of leadership. The research identified variations of the same

7

topic, depending on the author. Two common traits, “(1) leader-centric approach where the

leader’s personality, style, or behavior is the primary influence on follower’s thoughts and

actions, or (2) leadership as a co-constructed reality, the processes and outcomes of interaction

between and among social actors” (p. 175). Accordingly, literature supports the need for

inclusionary processes designed to remove obstacles to succession into leadership positions by

qualified minorities (McCarty-Kilian, Hukai, & McCarty, 2005).

Nature of the Study

Seeking an understanding of the effectiveness of diversity in naval officer programs is

not a new concept. In 1998 a research study on the effectiveness of the Navy ROTC program

(Pompey, 1998), sought to understand recruitment practices of African American high school

students from historically black colleges. The current research sought to expand Pompey’s

research by understanding the attraction practices of minorities and diversity candidates through

the same Navy ROTC program by enlarging the population across the United States. Qualitative

inquiry works well for addressing the “how” questions and for understanding the world from the

perspective of the studied (Huberman & Miles, 2002; Magilvy, Thomas, & Kotzer, 2009).

Qualitative research methods are exploratory and understanding-oriented, whereas quantitative

research methods are descriptive and explanation-oriented.

Data collection was achieved through the use of online questionnaires designed to elicit

recruiters’ perceptions of how minority and diversity attraction is achieved. Participants were

solicited through purposeful sampling of individuals central to diversity recruiting. Navy

recruiting sites were selected through the use of purposeful sampling because of the expertise of

naval officer recruiters who are employed at the recruiting sites. Officer attraction and

recruitment are the best method to study the phenomenon. Recruiters are the first contact

8

negotiators for the Navy and have the responsibility to attract minority and diversity applicants.

Navy officer recruiters were given an invitation to participate in the current research study and

receive the results by completing an Additional Information Form (Appendix A).

Quantitative research methods are best for answering “how many” or generalize results of

research across a larger population through the use of statistical data analysis that identifies

trends, comparisons, and relationships (Neuman, 2003). The use of a mixed-method design has

the potential to yield the most comprehensive findings of the research study; instead because of

the limited amount of time for the research study; mixed-method is not the most efficient.

The exploration of the lived experience could be approached from a grounded theory

perspective if the goals were to use the data to support new theories or from an ethnological

perspective shared culture and lived experience of people involved shared the same lived

experiences while the experience took place (Goulding, 2005). An ethnographic design is

appropriate if the focus is on a shared culture of a group of people (Neuman, 2003).

Consideration was given to grounded theory and ethnological approaches to the research study.

A conclusion that even though personal experience as a recruiter for several years was

accessible, the time frames were different and the practices involved in attracting minority and

diversity candidates may be different. The phenomenological design is most appropriate to the

current research study because the focus is to enlarge and deepen an understanding of diversity

attraction practices through the lived experiences of those who engage in the business of

recruiting (Huberman & Miles, 2002).

Research Questions

Highhouse, Brooks, & Gregarus (2009) introduced social identity theory and attraction to

organizations as a framework that conveys the importance of diversity. The interview process

9

has received noticeable attention (Kristof-Brown, 2000) with respect to the interview applicant

perceptions of fit to the organization. The Navy has two avenues where applicants can enter the

naval officer career track without any prior military service, acceptance to the Naval Academy or

acceptance to the Naval Officer Reserves Training Corps (NROTC) program. NROTC qualified

candidates must possess a standard set of criteria (United States Navy [USN], 2010) with no

regard to race, gender, ethnicity, or financial status. The requirements equally apply to qualified

officer candidates and should produce an equal number of candidates.

The Navy has confirmed the shortfall in attracting qualified diversity officer candidates

(K. Barrett, 2010) and has made a commitment to increase the number of diversity officers. The

current research study had the goal to understand the phenomenon surrounding the inability to

attract qualified minority and diversity naval officer candidates through the NROTC program.

The central areas of minority and diversity attraction to the Navy were explored.

Q1: How do naval officer recruiters experience attraction methods aimed at minority and

diversity candidates to the NROTC program?

Lievens (2007) found that impressions of military organizations are formed by applicants

through organizational advertisements, applicant perceptions of organizational fit, and the

interactions of recruiters. Impression management (IM) becomes a significant tool in attraction

and recruitment efforts. In the context of IM, the following sub-questions were explored.

Q2: How are officer recruiters selected for recruiting assignments?

Q3: How is recruiting for minorities and diversity performed to ensure success?

Q4: What are the demographics of the current recruiters?

A collective understanding of the lived experiences of NROTC officer recruiters on how

minority and diversity candidates are attracted to the Navy’s program and the selection process

10

for officer recruiters offered the best avenue to gain insight into why the diversity officer

attraction and recruitment efforts have failed to reach the Navy’s goals. The Chief of Naval

Operations, Admiral Roughead, set the officer diversity goal for 2037, to reflect 64% officer

diversity, 10% African American, 13% Hispanic, and 13% a combination of Asian Pacific and

Native Americans.

Figure 1. Navy Diversity Officer Goals for 2037

Conceptual Framework

De Rue and Ashford (2010) identified three levels involved with leadership identity

construction. The levels are an individual internalization, relational recognition, and collective

endorsement. A meta- analytical review of identity work was undertaken both by an individual

projecting a particular image and by mirroring back and reinforcing (or not) that image as a

legitimate identity. Diversity leadership has the potential to increase relational recognition

among diversity workers and increase the level of collective endorsement in organizations. The

implications of the projected minority population in the United States coupled with research on

the social construction of leadership (Fairhurst & Grant, 2010) warrant further research in the

11

interplay of UTT and social identity constructs in an attraction of qualified minority and diversity

officer candidates for the United States Navy.

Shared social identity can be seen as the basis for all forms of productive social

interaction between people, including leadership, motivation, communication, cooperation,

helping, and trust (S. A. Haslam, Jetten, Postmes, & C. Haslam, 2009). Diversity leaders can be

very helpful in linguistic challenges (Eagly & Chin, 2010) by drawing upon a common cultural

heritage. Additionally, diversity leaders can become a valuable asset in understanding self-

esteem of workers from a cultural standpoint (Akande, 2009). Leaders responsible for conflict

management must be aware of social identity at work with workgroup conflicts. Dalton and

Chrobot-Mason (2007) implied that workgroups form inside of organizations, which share

commonalities for support and guidance in an effort to navigate through the dominant culture.

The lens of social identity theory works well when studying issues of social,

organizational, and corporate identity Cornelissen, S. A. Haslam, and Balmer (2007).

Inconsistencies on the application of identity theories highlighted by the work of (Cornelissen et

al., 2007) demonstrated various applications to the same theory. For example, social identity

examines issues of cognitive process and structure, organizational identity addresses the

patterning of shared meanings, while corporate identity focuses on products that communicate a

specific message (Cornelissen et al., 2007, p. 31). The conceptualization of identities has blurred

resulting in a multi-disciplinary approach to understanding identities. A focus on social identity

theory complements realistic group conflict theory by highlighting group identification (Brief,

2005). Managers, who are not members of salient groups, may have difficulty managing work

conflict of diverse groups Dalton and Chrobot-Mason (2007). An understanding of the various

identity theories and the various applications of these theories may be helpful to managers

12

responsible for dealing with conflicts among diverse groups. Senior leaders in the military have

the increased responsibility to handle conflict among diverse groups as a consequence of the

stress inherent in military operations and therefore, an understanding of identity theory is

paramount.

The phenomenon of the failure to attract qualified minority and diversity naval officer

candidates is best studied through the conceptual framework of social identity theory on the

individual level. The recruiter perspective has the potential to offer the most salient contribution

to existing literature on minority and diversity attractions. To date, literature has examined

recruitment from the organization perspective of attraction (Lievens, Decaesteker, & Coetsier,

2001; Van Hoye & Lievens, 2007), from the interviewer perspective of interview techniques, and

from the perspective of the applicants (Desrumaux, De Bosscher, & Leoni, 2009; Devendorf &

Highhouse, 2008). The perspective of the recruiter and what motivates the recruiter to pursue

qualified minority and diversity applicants has not been adequately researched.

S. A. Haslam et al. (2009) articulated that groups provide insight into a sense of social

identity, which has an understanding that people belong to certain social groups together with

some emotional and value significant to the group membership. For example, a person may

choose to affiliate with a group because of racial and ethnic commonalities. Perceptions about

various groups have a significant impact on socialization of group members. Self-categorization

builds on three insights, group behavior, sharing category membership, and shared social identity

(p. 7).

One focus of the current research study was socialization from the perspective of the

individual recruiter. For instance, a recruiter who feels more comfortable with group members

who have racial similarities, Caucasians may gravitate toward other members considered a part

13

of the in-group of Caucasians. The rationale for the decision not to pursue the out-group

member is unknown. The perspective of shared identity states that when people perceive

themselves to share group membership with other people in a given context an increased

motivated to strive actively to reach agreement and to coordinate behavior in relation to activities

relevant to that identity occurs (Bakker & Schaufeli, 2008; Caligiuri et al., 2010).

With respect to the concept of sharing category membership, it is possible that the effort

that goes into pursuing a qualified minority officer candidate who is Asian (a member of an out-

group) may be different by an officer recruiter who is not Asian. The intention of this research

was to understand the dynamics of the minority and diversity attraction process for qualified

naval officer candidates. The assumption was that decisions and actions about how to pursue

diversity candidates rest with the recruiter. The uniqueness of the research study provided

insight into how those decisions are made by naval officer ROTC recruiters. Unconscious

thought theory (UTT) is the conceptual framework that primarily guided the research at the level

of decision-making exercised by officer recruiters.

Thought theory literature supports the belief that conscious thought and first impressions

may lead to effective decision-making Waroquier et al. (2010) often with conflicting results.

The literature was inconsistent about the level of the effect conscious or unconscious thought has

on decision-making. Proponents of UTT suggested that the “go home and sleep on it” concept is

an effective process for complex decision-making (Dijksterhuis & Nordgren, 2006). Opponents

of UTT suggested that unconscious thought does not necessarily result in better normative

decision-making performance (Newell, Wong, Cheung, & Rakow, 2009). A definitive case for

the effects of unconscious thought theory in the affirmative or the negative has not surfaced in

the literature (Dijksterhuis & Nordgren, 2006; Gawronski, Hofmann, & Wilbur, 2006; Newell,

14

Wong, Cheung, & Rakow, 2009; Rey, Goldstein, & Perruchet, 2009; Thorsteinson & Withrow,

2009; Waroquier et al., 2010).

The research postulates that both conscious and unconscious thought is active when naval

officer recruiters are engaging in diversity attraction. Social identity becomes the implicit

forerunner and has a greater impact on the level of attraction that involves qualified diversity

candidates of out-group members. In other words, the current research study sought to

understand the reasoning behind implicit actions in decision-making involving the attraction of

diversity candidates expanding the approach Admiral Mullen took when serving as Chair of the

Joint Chief of Staff (Parrish, 2010).

Definitions

The following definitions occur several times in the current research study. The

definitions are common in diversity texts (Alire, 2001; Armor & Gilroy, 2010; Christie, 2009;

Eagly & J. L. Chin, 2010; Stauffer, 2008). Previous literature contains many of the definitions

with varying contextual applications. The presentation of definitions seeks to clarify the

contextual use in the current research study.

Minority and Diversity Definitions.

Diversity.

Diversity refers to a state or fact of being diverse, difference, unlikeness, and variety

(Minority, 2011). Diversity is by definition, a noun. Diversity is used in mainstream literature as

an adjective often interchangeably with the term minority (Alire, 2001; Eagly & J. L. Chin,

2010; Fuentes, 2007, 2010; Ng & Burke, 2005; Wiltrout, 2008). The use of the term diversity

throughout the study is in the same manner as the literature presented, as an adjective

interchangeably with the term minority.

15

Minority. Minority refers to a group differing, especially in race, religion, or ethnic

background from the majority of a population; a member of such a group (Office of the

Assistance Secretary of the Navy for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, 2011). The term minority

has been used interchangeably with diversity in this study to represent African Americans,

Asian/Pacific Islanders, Latinos, Native Americans, and Alaskan Natives (Armor & Gilroy,

2010; Fuentes, 2010; Halibut, 2011; Kelly, 2011; Lewis, 2006; McCarty-Kilian et al., 2005;

McKay, Avery, Tonidandel, Morris, Hernandez, & Hebl, 2007; Blowers, 2008; Stauffer, 2008).

The use of the term minority throughout the study is in the same manner as the literature

presented, as an adjective interchangeably with the term diversity.

Social identity.    Social identity functions refer to the facility of attitudes to establish

identities and obtain social approval (Cornelissen et al., 2007; Highhouse, Thornbury, & Little,

2007). Social identity has been used in this research study in the context of self-categorization.

Self-categorization probes into the social psychological dynamics of self with respect to

perceived fit into groups (S. A. Haslam et al., 2009).

Unconscious thought theory has two modes of thought: conscious and unconscious.

Conscious thought is thought with attention; unconscious thought is thought without attention (or

attention directed elsewhere) (Dijksterhuis & Nordgren, 2006; Lakin, Jefferis, Cheng, &

Chartrand, 2003; Waroquier et al., 2010). The use of unconscious thought theory is as a

theoretical frame for complex decision-making used in attraction practices.

Acronyms. The uses of acronyms represent significant theories used throughout the

study.

16

IM – Impression management. Impression management refers to manipulation of

literature to present an impression of an organization from a positive perspective (Avery &

McKay, 2006; Bolino, Kacmar, Turnley, & Gilstap, 2008; Caligiuri et al., 2010; Highhouse et

al., 2009). Impression management also refers to manipulation of personality traits done by the

candidate whom present themselves as a good fit for the organization (Devendorf & Highhouse,

2008; McKay & Avery, 2005).

NRD – Navy Recruiting District.    Navy Recruiting District refers to the 26 districts that

are a part of Navy Recruiting Command. Each district is responsible for attracting and recruiting

future leaders for the Navy.

NROTC – Navy Reserve Officers Training Corps or Navy ROTC. NROTC refers a

program that trains officer candidates for service in the United States Navy.

Assumptions

The research study has the potential to be most useful for organizations, which engage in

diversity attraction and recruitment. D. M. Cable and Graham (2000) revealed that significant

losses have the potential to occur when diversity workers are recruited and leave the

organization. McKay and Avery (2005) indicated that minority turnover in American companies

is 40% to 50% higher than Caucasian turnover. According to McKay and Avery, organizations

seem to spend attention on diversity recruitment but little attention is on “re-addressing

conditions within organizations that undermine diversity efforts” (2005, p. 336).

From a Navy perspective, I bring 21 years of naval service to the research study assuming

that the Navy does want to capture a more diversified leadership cadre to become more reflective

of the population served. My assumptions come from reading leadership documents from the

Chief of Naval Operations on diversity inclusion, from working with aviators, shipboard

17

commanders, and sailors from many cultures. My final three years of service in the Navy were

spent as a naval officer recruiter being on the edge of attracting future naval leaders.

The focus on minority and diversity attraction may yield new insights that have the

potential to become areas for training included in established diversity training or new training

development specifically geared toward diversity attraction and recruitment. For the purposes of

the current research study, it is assumed that subjects will respond honestly to the questionnaires.

Scope, Limitations, and Delimitations

The scope is limited by the honesty of the subjects’ responses during the online

questionnaire responses and the amount of time available to conduct the study. The current

research study was also limited because of the possibility of researcher bias with regard to

minority and diversity recruiting practices. Three years spent as a naval officer recruiter from

2003 until 2005 brings prior subject-matter knowledge to the research study. The research

validation process was designed to eliminate or mitigate researcher bias through the use of data

triangulation.

The population was a theory-based purposeful sampling. The findings cannot be

generalized outside the scope of the theoretical concept using social identity theory. Since online

questionnaires were sent using the Internet, there was a possibility that certain participants would

not respond. The current research study was delimited by the use of Navy ROTC officer

recruiters as the population.

The research study was further delimited to “current Navy ROTC” recruiters who do not

permit the inclusion of corporate knowledge gained from prior successful recruiters. Only

NROTC officer recruiters were potential subjects even though the Navy has other types of naval

officer accession programs. The research study was delimited by using written communication

18

via questionnaires that did not allow the participants to ask for further explanation of terms that

may have been unclear. The current research study was delimited by not using in-person

interviews, time, money, and human resources.

The population was composed of 27 naval officer recruiters representing each of the

states in the United States and travel, geographical constraints, and time zone demands delimit

the current research study. The research study was delimited by using social identity as the

conceptual framework. Within the bounds of social identity theory, questions centered on social

identity to include group theory and decision-making applications.

Summary

The key areas discussed in chapter 1 were the background of the problem attracting and

recruiting minority and diversity applicants to civilian and military organizations. A review of

recruitment practices from the perspectives of the need for diversity in organizations based on

the United States workforce population forecasts (Armor & Gilroy, 2010; Christie, 2009), from

the applicant fit perspective (Armor & Gilroy, 2010; Chapman, Uggerslev, Carroll, Piasentin, &

Jones, 2005; Christie, 2009; Devendorf & Highhouse, 2008), and from the interviewer

perspective (Desrumaux et al., 2009; Kristof-Brown, 2000) provided a historical basis for the

study. A presentation of the purpose and significance of the current research study through the

conceptual framework of social identity in leadership construction and group theory provided

significance to leadership (Cornelissen et al., 2007; De Rue & Ashford, 2010; S. A. Haslam et

al., 2009). A discussion of the key concepts of unconscious thought theory with regard to the

interviewer decision-making (Dijksterhuis & Nordgren, 2006; Gawronski et al., 2006) with

respect to attracting and recruiting qualified diversity candidates provided a background to the

19

significance of the current research study. A review of research design and method along with

the scope, limitations, and delimitations of the research study concluded the discussion.

Essential elements of chapter 2 presented a review of germinal and current literature

related to the examination of diversity attraction and recruitment. Chapter 2 began with an

introduction to the need for diversity in organizations. The majority of the chapter included a

discussion of germinal and current literature on attraction and recruitment practices. The chapter

concluded with a discussion on the gap in literature and a summary presentation of key points

was included in the chapter.

20

Chapter 2: Review of the Literature

The qualitative research study is a phenomenological approach that examines the lived

experiences of naval recruiters responsible for attracting qualified minorities and diversity officer

candidates into the naval service. A key element when organization’s search for top performers

is diversity (McDonald, 2006). The search for leadership that encompasses diversity is also one

of the priorities set forth in the military (Armor & Gilroy, 2010; Fuentes, 2007). Senior

leadership in the Navy has set policies establishing a need for diversity among the officer ranks

(Blowers, 2008). The literature review supports a need for attracting qualified minority and

diversity officer candidates in the military as well as attracting diversity in organizations

(Chiplock, 2009). The literature is organized in themes that emerged beginning from the general

need for minority and diversity leadership in organizations, attraction, minority, and diversity

representation in the military.

A search of the literature produced one similar research study that set out to understand

the effectiveness of the Navy’s ROTC program and minority recruitment of African American

high school students entering historically black colleges (Pompey, 1998). The research findings

suggested that Navy organizations that wish to increase the success rate for minority recruitment

should employ minority recruiters who look like the target population. The current research

expands Pompey’s research by shifting the focus from the recruiter group identity to the

recruiter’s implicit and explicit thought processes in decision-making while engaged in minority

and diversity attraction and recruitment.

The foundational compilation of the research includes peer reviewed journals from the

Journal of Leadership Studies University of Phoenix, Military Leadership, and Defense

Technical Information Center. Database searches included EBSCOhost, ProQuest Dissertations

21

and Thesis @ University of Phoenix. Internet search engines included Google Scholar and

Google. Title searches consisted of key words that included diversity, attracting diverse

candidates, recruitment, social identity theory, group theory, organizational theory, in-group/out-

group theory, minority population, military demographics, and decision-making theory.

Theoretical concepts and search topics

Peer-reviewed journal articles

Empirical Research and Dissertations

Books, reports, & Other

Government issued documents

Total

Organization Attraction Methods & Models 25 25

Recruitment practices & recruitment models 31 1 9 40

U.S. population trends 4 1 5 Diversity in the military/Navy 5 6 5 16

Diversity leadership 9 9 Leadership identity theory 3 3

Social identity theory 7 7 Cultural, Organizational, and Group theory

16 16

Thought theory 17 2 19 Approachability theory 10 10 Diversity retention 3 3 Research designs 15 3 18 Research methods 6 3 9 185 Table 1

Summary of Literature Reviewed by Search Topic

The complied research presents the implications of diversity and inclusion in the

workplace. Literature in the chapter focused on the need to attract qualified minorities in

corporations, in public organizations, and in the military. Demographic material has been

presented that illustrates the diverse population in the military and the specific diverse population

in the Navy. The analysis of the literature is in support of a need for attracting diversity in

22

leadership. Social identity theory is the contextual lens for the presentation of literature on

attracting qualified diverse people into the workforce and into the Navy’s officer ranks. The

gaps in literature concerning identifiable measures that can be taken to increase the probability of

attracting qualified diverse people into organizations were addressed in the chapter.

Research has been thorough on the need to attract qualified minority and diversity

candidates into both public and private organizations (Chapman et al., 2005; Ployhart, Weekley,

& Baughman, 2006), and in military organizations (Fuentes, 2007; Parrish, 2010). Research has

been done on conscious and unconscious decision-making (Dijksterhuis & Nordgren, 2006). A

gap exists in the literature on the impact of conscious and unconscious decision-making through

the application of social identity theory. More specifically, research that centers on what makes

recruiters aggressively pursue certain groups of qualified applicants. The results of the current

research study’s aim were the generalizability of minority and diversity attraction methods to

both public and private sector organizations and to add to the body of literature on attracting

qualified minority and diversity applicants for officer programs in the Navy.

The research question, “How do naval officer recruiters attract minority and diversity

candidates to the NROTC program?” provided insight from the perspective of the recruiter

explored (Chapman et al., 2005; Devendorf & Highhouse, 2008). The context of impression

management provided the framework for the following sub-questions, “How are officer

recruiters selected for recruiting assignments?”, “How is recruiting for minorities and diversity

performed to ensure success?”, “What are the demographics of the current recruiters?”

In this chapter, the following sections on attraction are included: The need for diversity in

organizations, attracting minorities and diversity from an organizational perspective, reviewing

attraction through Big Five traits, attraction through the use of impression management,

23

attraction through the use of literature and media, and attraction through word-of-mouth.

Attraction methods focusing on attracting minorities and diversity from an organizational

recruiter perspective are addressed including a review of implicit and explicit attitudes in

attraction practices, and in-group and out-group perceptions that affect attraction. A review of

naval applications to attraction appears to include attraction to the military, and leadership

applications with respect to minorities and diversity constructs. The chapter ends with a review

of attraction through the lens of group theory, and attraction through the lens of unconscious

thought theory.

The need for diversity in organizations

Organizations in America have recognized the need for a more diverse workforce

(Chiplock, 2009; Stauffer, 2008). One basis for the need to increase diversity was the projected

increase in the minority population in the United States (Christie, 2009; Day, n.d.). Medical

schools reported struggles with recruitment aimed toward diversity students (Chiplock, 2009) as

well as newspapers that also referred to the projections, which reported minorities make up 33%

of the United States population, and that most news rooms do not mirror the statistic (Stauffer,

2008). Schools are making strides to keep track of the success and failure rates in the effort to

attract minority students. Grand Valley State University 2008 minority enrollment dropped to

9.8% compared to 15.6% in fall 2007. Western Michigan University and Ferris State

experienced declines. Considering the failure to attract minorities, schools used a more

aggressive recruitment strategy to obtain minority students such as inviting minorities to college

level football games.

Available literature on attracting diversity applicants stemmed from several viewpoints.

Highhouse et al. (2007) approached attraction to organizations from the perspective of the

24

person’s perception about the people who work at organizations. Social identity constructs and

attraction to the organization were the focus of research (Highhouse et al., 2007) that postulated

that symbolic features of the organization relay a message of the organization’s culture. The

presentation of organizational culture has been promoted through the use of corporate imagery

through recruitment messages such as literature about the organization, online media

advertisements, and recruiters (Roberson et al., 2005).

Attracting minorities and diversity; an organizational perspective

Attraction through Big Five Personality Traits.

Cole, Field, Giles, & Harris (2009) confirmed low levels of estimated inter-rater

reliability as a result of reviewing entry-level applicants’ resumes and made inferences regarding

applicants’ personality traits. A quantitative approach that used 244 recruiters provided data in

two pilot studies where 41 masters of business administration students provided data (resumes),

and 88 upper-level undergraduate business students participated to determine the validity of

recruiters’ inference of job characteristics based on applicant resumes. The findings indicated

little reliability or validity in inferences toward favorable traits made by recruiters.

Zhao and Siebert (2006) found that there are significant differences between

entrepreneurs and managers when compared to the big five personality dimensions. A review of

the Five Factor Model, which adopted Attraction-Selection-Attrition theory, explained the

association between personality and entrepreneurial status. Zhao and Siebert used a meta-

analysis review of entrepreneurs and managers to understand the differences of an

entrepreneurial framework and a managerial framework that may better help leaders of

organizations understand the diversity among workers. The implications of the research offered

25

insight into the perceptions of a high need for recognition, risk-taking, and openness of

applicants had an entrepreneurial work ethic.

Slaughter and Greguras (2009) studied a set of beliefs found to influence initial attraction

to organizations using a quantitative approach referred to as organization personality perceptions.

Slaughter and Greguras used a qualitative approach that included 828 undergraduate students

enrolled in a large, introductory to psychology course at a large university in the southern United

States. The participants completed a measure of the Big Five personality traits at different

intervals. The findings suggested individuals initial attraction to firms is influenced by the

perceptions of the degree to which firms display desirable traits.

Ployhart, Weekley, & Baughman (2006) integrated mult-level theory and the attraction-

selection-attrition model to conceptualize homogeneity hypothesis that stated members of the

same organization should be more similar in shared personality than members of different

organizations (p. 662). A multi-level analysis in conjunction with a quantitative approach that

involved 9,603 employees from 85 jobs in 12 organizations provided the catalyst for data

collection. The literature showed that high correlations exist between personality performance

and personality of organizations.

Assessing organizational attractiveness through the use of personality traits resulted in a

common thread that indicated that correlations exist between personality traits of applicants and

the propensity for applicant choice of certain organizations (Van Hoye & Lievens, 2007). The

current research study was not a departure from prior research on the Big Five Personality traits

and organizational fit but added to existing literature through the effort to explore the

effectiveness of personality traits and organizational fit from the perspective of Navy officer

recruiters. The next section presents a perspective on the use of attraction methods through the

26

lens of impression management, including in general, by using literature and media, and ending

the section with the use of word-of-mouth.

Attraction through the use of Impression Management.

Avery and McKay (2006) posited that organization impression management (OIM) was a

good tool for targeted recruitment in the attraction stage. OIM refers to any action purposefully

designed and carried out to influence an audience’s perceptions of an organization (p. 162).

Avery and McKay used a meta-analysis approach and emphasized that minority and female

applicants were attracted by different factors than Caucasian male counterparts, and with an

understanding of the different factors, organizations can increase diversity attraction by using

OIM. The salient point of the literature rested with the commitment of organizations to design

and implement targeted recruitment strategies, to communicate a desire to attract diversity, and

critically analyze failures that may occur in attracting minority and female applicants.

Bolino et al. (2008) conducted a multi-level review (individual level, concepts, and

organizational level) of literature that centered on OIM and behaviors. The literature served as a

compilation beginning from 1988 until 2006. The findings suggested that manipulation of OIM

happens by individuals in organizations toward each other, individuals who represent the

organization to outsiders, such as attracting applicants, or applicants who want to appear to have

a good fit for the organization. Recruiters responsible for attracting qualified minority and

diversity candidates could use OIM as a way to demonstrate the organization concern about a

diverse workforce by showing imagery of diverse workers.

Highhouse et al. (2009) presented a framework of reviews that focused on reputation

research formed by organizations during the last decade. A meta-analysis that viewed

corporations as social actors out for self-presentation was the method of choice that included an

27

illustrative electronic model that integrated corporate attributes, imagery, and an impression of

the organization. The literature highlighted the organization as the major actor involved with

organization impression management (OIM). Organizations, like people, have an interest in self-

preservation that brings a contrast to previous literature that focused on individuals as actors

involved in impression management (Avery & McKay, 2006; Bolino et al., 2008; D. M. Cable &

Graham, 2000). The findings suggested that an understanding of corporate reputation is an

important step to understanding the formation of reputations. In essence, the formation of

reputations may have a potential use as a tool for attraction with future applicants.

Caligiuri et al. (2010) looked for cross-cultural and individual differences in predicting

employer reputation as a driver of organizational attraction focusing on the importance of

employee reputation and concluded that the need for power and achievement from the

perspective of the applicant had a high correlation to the importance attached to employer

reputation. A quantitative method using graduate engineering students across nine countries that

surveyed global graduate students revealed the need for recruitment practices to align corporate

reputation with the culture of the applicant. Students looked for ideal employers on the needs for

power, need for achievement, need for affiliation. The literature focused on global attractions for

applicants as contrasted to previous literature that focused on applicants for U. S. companies.

Understanding the use of organization impression management can be helpful to

leadership in several areas of management (Avery & McKay, 2006; Bolino et al., 2008).

Impression management is not only a function of organizations, employees, and applicants can

engage in impression management (Bolino et al., 2008). The current research study was not a

departure from prior research on impression management but added to the gap in existing

28

literature on impression management of the recruiter from the perspective of Navy officer

recruiters.

Attraction through the use of literature and media.

Roberson et al. (2005) contended that detailed recruitment messages led to enhanced

perceptions of organization attributes and person-organization fit. The use of a quantitative

approach determined the effects of detailed recruitment messages as compared to fewer detailed

recruitment messages on applicant perceptions of organization attributes as well as how

applicant’s perceived fit into the organization. The literature indicated that detailed information

on organizations would allow applicants increased references to base a judgment, whereas less

detailed information would suggest applicants had to infer about organizations. More detailed

advertisements may provide job seekers with sufficient information to generate favorable

perceptions of an organization, thus influencing an applicant’s perception of fit to the

organization (Devendorf & Highhouse, 2008).

Understanding how applicants perceive organizations may allow managers to change

working conditions that help form first impressions. D. M. Cable and Graham (2000) theorized

that the perceptions of an organization’s reputation were a considerable factor of the

organizations’ attractiveness to job seekers. Cable and Graham used a qualitative approach that

included 14 upper-level graduate students at two large state universities in the southeastern

United States. While some students participated in the surveys, other students sought to

understand the perceptions applicants had of organizations and the attractiveness to the

organization based upon the organizational perceptions. The findings suggested that

organizational reputation perceptions were affected by the industry in which employers operate,

the amount of organizational familiarity, and company profitability.

29

Body posture, facial expressions, and words as a form of literature and media

manipulation significantly increased the organizational beliefs of applicants (D. M. Cable & Yu,

2006). Through the use of quantitative inquiry a significant correlation emerged among the

types of organizational media such as an online advertisement delivered through websites,

electronic bulletin board use, and career fairs (D. M. Cable & Yu, 2006). The literature provided

an understanding of the research on perceptions of richness and credibility (body posture, facial

expressions, words) that later became more prevalent (Desrumaux et al., 2009).

Ryan and Tippins (2004) maintained that proven recruitment methods do work for

organizational efforts in attracting and recruiting applicants. The research was a meta-analytical

compilation of proven effective strategies targeted toward attracting and selecting applicants to

organizations with a focus on the benefits for human resources professionals. The implications

of the literature suggested that HR managers were not using practices established from research

to attract, recruit, and select the best qualified candidates could benefit from prior research on

attraction models and theories (Devendorf & Highhouse, 2008; Roberson et al., 2005).

Leaders engaged in the attraction and recruitment process for qualified minority and

diversity candidates should increase exposure to applicants through the use of career fairs in

combination with positive imagery on websites and bulletin boards. The diverse workforce

should be the highlight of a company in the attraction process for exposure to applicants were of

a diverse population (D. M. Cable & Yu, 2006). Additionally, increased positive posturing can

be achieved by organizations through the use of word-of-mouth advertising. The current

research study was not a departure from prior research on organizational manipulation of

literature and media in attractions, but added to existing literature through the effort to explore

the effectiveness of literature and media from the perspective of Navy officer recruiters.

30

Attraction through word-of-mouth.

Van Hoye and Lievens (2007) posited that word-of-mouth in attraction to organizations

would result in a positive effect. A quantitative approach using 171 graduate students in

industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology from a Belgian university was taken to understand the

relationship between word-of-mouth influence on organizations and which factors would

influence the effect. The goal was to identify the relationship between recruitment practices and

company product awareness to job seeker’s application behavior, which focused on how much

job seekers knew and how strong the job seeker’s intentions were. The findings implied that job

seekers tended to combine information from multiple sources, and that interactions from the

sources were likely to occur (p. 2040).

Van Hoye and Lievens (2009) expanded previous research (Van Hoye & Lievens, 2007)

on the positive relationship between word-of-mouth about organizations and applicant

attractiveness to organizations. The effects of positive influence word-of-mouth early in the

recruitment strategy were analyzed by using a qualitative approach with 612 potential applicants

targeted by the Belgian Defense with exposure to Internet advertisements. The first stage of

attraction to the organization was the focus. The findings suggested that time spent receiving

positive and negative word-of-mouth predicted applicant attractiveness to organizations in

tandem.

Word-of-mouth used as organizational advertising has the potential to increase

organizational attractiveness. For example, advertising from organizations combined with the

word-of-mouth of family members who favorably endorsed organizations increased the positive

attraction for applicants. The implication of the research on word-of-mouth advertising (Van

Hoye & Lievens, 2007, 2009) suggested that organizations could capitalize on increasing

31

exposure to minority and diversity candidates by holding job fairs and seminars that have the

potential to increase community awareness and generate positive word-of-mouth advertising.

The current research is not a departure from prior research on the effectiveness of positive word-

of-mouth advertisement. Little literature was found on the effectiveness of negative word-of-

mouth advertisement, and the research study added literature to the existing gap through the

effort to explore the effectiveness of negative word-of-mouth advertisements from the

perspective of Navy officer recruiters. The next section presents a perspective on the use of

attraction methods from a candidate perspective, through implicit and explicit attitudes in

attraction, and ends with a review of in-group and out-group perceptions that affect attraction.

Attracting minorities and diversity; a candidate perspective

Devendorf and Highhouse (2008) approached attraction to organizations from the

perspective that most decisions to join an organization rely on very little information about the

job. The research suggested that perceptions of typical coworkers played a part in the decision

for applicants to join organizations. The research used working adults in the clothing industry

where contact with coworkers was increased for applicants who followed the similarity-

attraction effect. T. Kim, D. M. Cable, and S. Kim (2005) studied the linkage between

organizational socialization tactics and person-organization fit (P-O) and examined the

moderating influence of employee’s pro activity behaviors. The method used was a quantitative

inquiry with the role of socialization tactics in an Asian cultural setting. The participants of the

research study were new employees across job types and job levels in seven large organizations

in South Korea.

McKay and Avery (2005) showed person-organization fit (P-O), realistic job preview,

and psychological contract literature to demonstrate how diversity recruitment strategies can fail.

32

A meta-analytical approach was taken that highlighted the use of impression management to

target diversity candidates. The caution that emanated from the research was if the organization

does not live up to the impressions made by the advertisements, high turnover can result. If the

psychological contract is not fulfilled the newly hired diversity employees may leave the

organization.

Attraction of an organization from the perspective of candidates based on perceptions of

organizational fit had the potential to affect the perception of fit from minority and diversity

candidates. The literature on person-organization fit suggested that organizations have the power

to manipulate the attractiveness of the organization through several techniques that included

literature and media. The current research study was not a departure from prior research on P-O

fit from the candidate perspective but added an additional perspective to existing literature

through the effort to explore the person-to organization fit from the perspective of Navy officer

recruiters.

Attracting minorities and diversity; an organization recruiter perspective

Chapman et al. (2005) discovered that attraction to organizations was achieved through

recruiter behaviors, the recruiting process, perceived job fit, and hiring experiences. Chapman

and the team conducted a qualitative meta-analytic review that included 667 coefficients from 71

studies examined relationships between various predictions with job–organization attraction, job

pursuit intentions, acceptance intentions, and job choice (p. 928). Attraction and recruitment

practices that advanced type of job and organizational image were shown to be the most effective

in terms of attracting applicants.

Communication between recruiters and applicants was found to be an essential element

of attraction. Desrumaux et al. (2009) confirmed that perceptions about abilities of applicants

33

could be drawn from inferences, attractiveness, and gender stereotypes. The literature

represented a qualitative method that included 40 recruiters from Paris and Northern France,

whom only used photos, and resumes that investigated the relationship between gender,

attractiveness, and competence in situations in which the recruiters had to judge an applicant’s

hire ability, utility, and desirability (p. 33). The findings suggested that there is a strong

relationship between the physical attractiveness of an applicant and the recruiter’s perception of

the applicant’s hire ability.

Recruiters are the face of the organization and have a significant impact on the perception

of the organization. Recruiter behaviors and perceptions heavily influence the attraction process

(D. M. Cable & Yu, 2006; Desrumaux et al., 2009), a void exists on what influence, specifically,

has yielded little published literature. The research study added literature to the existing gap

through the effort to explore the specific influence of recruiters on minority and diversity

attractions from the perspective of Navy officer recruiters.

The contribution of employee knowledge, skills, and assessments to organizations has

been recognized (Bakker & Schaufeli, 2008; Bjarnason, 2009; E. Michaels, Handfield-Jones, &

Axelrod, 2001). The ability to attract the best applicants has become a priority in many

organizations. Interviewer assessment of applicants using the Big five personality dimensions

has been enumerated. A limited amount of literature exist that addressed the attraction efforts of

minority and diversity candidates in both negative word-of-mouth advertisements and impression

management from the perspective of Navy officer recruiters.

Implicit and explicit attitudes in attraction practices.

Recruiters most often are the first initial contact representing organizations with potential

candidates. The actions of recruiters have an effect on the impression that organizations make on

34

applicants (Desrumaux et al., 2009). Recruiters must make decisions when involved in attraction

and recruitment practices of whether or not to approach potential candidates to begin recruitment

efforts. Research has shown incoherency on what basis recruiters engage applicants (Chen & Li,

2009; Cole et al., 2009).

Betsch, Kaufmann, Lindow, Plessner, & Hoffmann (2006) found that implicit and

explicit information integration is not a function of one or two domains to thinking, but a result

of multiple strategies. A quantitative approach that used 14 psychology undergraduates at the

Universty of Heidelbert provided the venue for the research. The studies served to show the

relationship between implicit and explicit decision-making and varying access to information

used as a basis for decision-making. The literature made an argument for implicit and explicit

information integration processed through the value account model normally used in financial

decision-making discussions. The findings suggested that different aggregations principles guide

implicit and explicit attitude formation. The implications of the research offer insight into an

alternate view of implicit and explicit decision-making suggesting that no prior intention need be

present for outcomes of decision-making whether implicit or explicit.

Gawronski et al. (2006) posited that implicit attitudes are unconscious with at least three

different aspects of the unconsciousness. A meta-analytical approach was taken to focus

previous research surrounding aspects of unconsciousness in relation to attitudes. The literature

described source awareness, content awareness, and impact awareness as ways to understand the

levels of unconscious factors that help form attitudes. The findings suggested that people often

lack awareness of the causal origin of attitudes, which is considered source awareness people are

consciously aware of the attitudes as reflected in indirect attitude measures considered content

35

awareness, and last there is evidence that indirectly assessed attitudes can influence other

psychological processes outside of impact awareness.

Aberson and Haag (2007) found that dual attitude’s conceptualization existed with the

implicit and explicit perspective taking process. A quantitative approach using 153 Caucasian

undergraduates to categorize unpleasant words showed the effect of implicit and explicit

perspective taking with increased contact among different ethnic groups. The literature is not a

departure from prior research conducted on the positive effect of increased contact with other

ethnic groups (Betsch et al., 2006; Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006) ; an alternate perspective emerged

with regard to the quality and quantity of the contact within groups. The findings suggested that

a reduction in implicit and explicit prejudice is possible as a result of quality contact with the

group that has been pre-judged (Tajfel & J. Turner, 1979). The research implied, for example,

increased contact with African Americans improved the ability to understand African American

perspectives and reduced the amount of prejudice against African Americans.

The introduction of inter-group conflict theory Tajfel and J. Turner (1979) was unknown

before the pioneering work of Tajfel and Turner. The examination of inter-group conflict

contributed to development of the term realistic group conflict theory. Current literature (Betsch

et al., 2006; Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006) is an addition on the germinal work of Tajfel and Turner.

Current literature on implicit and explicit perspectives (Aberson & Haag, 2007; Betsch et

al., 2006; Gawronski & Bodenhausen, 2006; Gawronski et al., 2006; Prestwich et al., 2008)

exists, but limited current literature on assessment procedures to measure implicit and explicit

actions was available. Power, Barnes-Holmes, D., Barnes-Holmes, Y., and Stewart (2009) found

that the use of the implicit relational assessment procedure was an accurate measurement tool to

examine implicit beliefs or attitudes. The use of a quantitative approach determined if the

36

implicit relational assessment procedure could identify a socially sensitive attitude readily

predictable and to assess beliefs that involve comparative relations. For example, the study

advocates that individuals may not even be aware of their own beliefs, or if awareness does exist,

they make efforts to conceal their views if they are deemed socially undesirable (Power, et al., p.

621). The research did not imply that implicit relational assessment procedure was the only tool

to assess implicit attitudes or beliefs but that it was the only tool analyzed for the research study.

The findings suggested the use of the implicit relational assessment procedure was a good

measurement to identify socially sensitive attitude readily predictable even if the belief is well

hidden.

Understanding and measuring the impact of implicitness and explicitness with respect to

attracting and recruiting decisions geared toward minority and diversity candidates will add to

the existing decision-making literature. The knowledge of decision-making on whether or not to

engage a potential minority or diversity candidate may be useful in recruitment processes.

Identification of bias can be an extremely valuable asset when organizations develop attraction

models or processes targeted toward minority and diversity applicants. The research study added

to the gap in literature on the effects of implicit and explicit decision-making toward minority

and diversity candidates from the perspective of Navy officer recruiters.

In-group and out-group perceptions that affect attraction.

D. W. Campbell, Neuert, Friesen, & McKeen (2010) discovered that members of in-

groups did engage in social preferences to members of the same group at an increased rate over

members of the out-group. A qualitative approach using 130 young adult university

undergraduates enrolled in an introduction to psychology course served as the research sample.

Exposure to pictures of faces and probing questions concerning the rate the approachability

37

served as the data collection in laboratory settings. The findings suggested that people were

inclined to approach members of the same group supporting literature on in-group bias.

Pettigrew and Tropp (2006) found that inter-group contact can reduce racial and ethnic

biases. A meta-analytic approach was taken to produce a comprehensive timeline of attitudinal

research. The literature covered 713 independent samples from 515 studies who focused

primarily on the question, “Can intergroup contact reduce inter-group prejudice?” The findings

suggested that the explicit automatic reactions of racial bias were reduced by increased inter-

group contact. Additionally, the research indicated that the bias and prejudice of the dominant

group continued to decrease after the establishment of inter-group contact.

R. N. Turner, Voci, & Hewstone (2007) found that the inclusion of self-disclosure

significantly reduced out-group prejudice. A quantitative approach described the effects of self-

disclosure in inter-group settings and the reduction of prejudice against out-group members. The

focus of the research addressed self-disclosure in friendships and the creation of reciprocal trust

using four studies on self disclosure with inter-group anxiety. The findings indicated that direct

and extended contact across cultures had the potential to result in lasting positive effects toward

members of the out-group in the form of friendships.

The area of applicant attraction could benefit from more community awareness among

members of out-groups to increase levels of trust with out-groups. Incorporation into training of

an approach to reduce implicit and explicit inter-group bias and prejudice for attraction,

recruitment, and selection practices may produce good results. The implications of prior

research (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006; R. N. Turner et al., 2007) are salient when considering the

projected changing demographics of the American workforce. Reviewed literature that focused

on in-group and out-group dynamics posited a priori prejudice often associated with racial

38

tensions (Baray et al., 2009; D. W. Campbell et al., 2010; Prestwich et al., 2008). The

assumption of the research with respect to in-group and out-group perceptions is that people are

naturally drawn to people of similar qualities (Akande, 2009). The research study added to the

gap in literature on the perceptions of in-group and out-group with respect to attracting minority

and diversity candidates from the perspective of Navy officer recruiters. The next section

presents a review of attraction with an emphasis on military applications, to include, naval

applications, attraction methods towards the military in general, and leadership applications. The

section closes with a review of attraction through the lens of group theory and unconscious

thought theory.

Naval Application

The United States census data reported “the fastest rate of growth should occur for

Asians, Pacific Islanders, and Hispanic populations” (Overman, 2011, p. 1). The fourth fasted

populations are African Americans. The changing minority representation of the U.S. military

has been recognized by the Department of Defense as an area that must be analyzed and adjusted

to ensure the composition of the force represents society (Armor & Gilroy, 2010). In this

literature, the subject to address is the context of social representation of the armed forces with

respect to all segments of society. Representation reflective of society is a goal of American

national security policies (p. 224). The literature reviewed a historical account of minority

enlistments from 1973–2008 in the Navy. The findings held that minority enlistments were

fairly stable until about 2001 and 2003 when America entered the war with Afghanistan and Iraq.

Wan (2008) wrote an article in the Washington Post that described the school’s flashy

television commercials and graphic novel in a bid to attract more diversity for the Naval

Academy. “A young, diverse, achieving group who want to achieve ultimate destiny” is the new

39

theme for the Naval Academy according to Admiral Fowler, Superintendent (Washington Post,

2008). The goal is to bolster diversity among officer ranks. Candidates who entered the Naval

Academy were 28% minority in 2008 compared to 47% diversity among enlisted ranks. Senior

leaders in the Navy have argued for a comparable number of minority and diverse officers to the

number of enlisted members in the Navy under the leadership of officers (Fuentes, 2007; Parrish,

2010; Wiltrout, 2008). In a more recent article published in January 2011, the Naval Academy

received criticism for the perception that qualified minority students receive priority over

qualified Caucasians, 91% of qualified African Americans and 82% of qualified Hispanics

received offers to enroll in the classes of 2012 to 2014 compared to 55% of qualified Caucasians

(Kelly, 2011).

The Navy found success with attracting minority enlistments between 2004 and 2007.

Senior leaders who specialized in Navy recruitment reported extraordinary success among the

enlisted ranks but could not achieve success in minority and diversity officer candidate

accessions. As a consequence of the disparity in achieving desired levels of officer recruitment,

senior Navy leadership has set a more aggressive tone for the need to increase minority naval

officers in the ranks. Rear Admiral Len Hering spread the word about the Navy’s desire to

increase minority officer representation during an officer’s association conference in California

(Fuentes, 2007). Senior leadership impressed upon active duty naval officers the need to become

mentors to diverse officers upon entering active duty. The Secretary of the Navy gave the same

message to active duty naval officers in Virginia a year later that stressed the need for active duty

naval officers to serve as mentors to minority officers (Winter, 2008). The Washington Post

reported that the Naval Academy launched new recruitment efforts aimed at attracting minority

candidates because of the low rate of roughly 28% as compared to the Navy’s enlisted rate of

40

47% (Wan, 2008). The Navy’s highest level of leadership, the Chief of Naval Operations,

Admiral Roughead, issued a diversity policy that recognized the significant contributions made

by diverse members of the Navy (Blowers, 2008). The policy in part, stated, “As leaders, we

must anticipate and embrace the demographic challenges of tomorrow, and build a Navy that

always reflects our Country’s make up” (p. 1).

Military leadership has shown a continued effort to educate and demonstrate a

commitment to diversity among Navy officers. Barrett (2009), Diversity director for the Chief of

Naval Personnel, whose department has the responsibility for staffing, training, and development

of Navy-wide personnel, presented projected demographics for 2020 that included a 13.4%

projection of African Americans, 17.8% Hispanic, 8.8% Asian, and 60% non-minority

representation of the naval forces. Minority officer representation was at 21% in 2008 as

compared to 79% non-minority officer representation in the Navy during the same year. Figure

2 illustrates the projected demographics of Navy-wide personnel for 2020. Figure 3 illustrates

the projected demographics of Navy-wide officers for 2020.

Figure 2. The projected demographics of Navy-wide personnel for 2020

41

Figure 3. The projected demographics of officers for 2020

The military leadership diversity commission’s report indicated that the challenge of

diversity attraction and recruitment for Navy leadership must take an aggressive direction to

increase diverse leadership. Barrett (2010) conducted a symposium to address naval senior

leadership in diversity as the “Spirit of diversity” as compared to Equal Employment

Opportunity as the “Letter of the Law.” The message was clear that the Navy values a diverse

workforce and identifies with diversity as strength of the naval service (p. 12).

Parrish (2010) reported that the Chair of the Joint Chief of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen

commented to senior military leaders that the armed services “can’t go fast enough to increase

diversity” (p. 1). In 2005, Admiral Mullen focused his diversity goals for the Navy on two areas;

minorities and women. One approach Admiral Mullen took was to look and see who was putting

people in the career path leadership jobs. He discovered these people were Caucasian men.

Admiral Mullen replaced some of the men and put more diversity in and shortly after, diversity

records began to surface. The service academies, which in 2009 graduated the flag officer class

of 2040, do not reflect the diversity of the nation. Less than 50% and in some cases less than

25% was minorities and women.

42

Attraction to the military

Lievens, Van Hoye, & Schruers (2005) revealed that attraction to the military as a

potential employer surrounded four areas; gender, and familiarity with military organizations,

perceptions of job and organizational attributes, and trait inferences. Lievens and the team used

D. M. Cable and Turban (2001) employer knowledge framework as a conceptual model. Cable

and Turban sampled final year students of high schools, which involved 1100 in Belgian high

school surveys of which 576 completed. Though previous research had identified familiarity

with the armed forces as a strong indicator of attraction to the military service (D. M. Cable &

Graham, 2000) the research used a qualitative approach to understand the perceptions from the

applicant’s view. The findings upheld that familiarity with military organizations, and employer

image, were indicators for applicant attractiveness.

Lievens (2007) posited that package brand of how organizations advertise has a

relationship to positive beliefs of potential applicants across different groups. Quantitative

inquiry using 955 individuals (420 potential applicants, 392 applicants, 134 military employees

showed the relationship between instrumental and symbolic brand beliefs across different groups

of people. An emphasis was on applicants who showed an attraction to the military. The

literature presented the relative importance of different aspects of the employee brand across

groups that ranged from the general labor pool to applicants and current employees.

Leadership applications

Alire (2001) focused on racial and ethnic diversity and the role leadership plays for

emerging library leaders of color. Based on the research, Alire found four identifiable

differences between Caucasian and diversity leaders as (1) minorities have to use added energies

to lead and develop other minorities, (2) leaders of color must dispel negative stereotypes, (3)

43

fight the perception of inadequate communication skills, and (4) major stakeholders in higher

positions are predominantly Caucasian (pp. 98-99).

Eagly and Chin (2010) advocated that leadership needs to be more diverse to attract

diversity within organizations. These researchers found that diversity considerations need to

move into theories about leadership. Meta-analysis was done covering statistical findings with

respect to the limited number of diverse leaders. Eagly and J. L. Chin (2010) recommended that

scholars of leadership contemplate how current theories may better address diversity concerns.

Scholars of diversity explore the large multidisciplinary body of knowledge that constitutes

theory and research on leadership to illuminate issues of race, ethnicity, gender, and culture. The

special edition was in response to the 2008 Presidential race.

Ng and Burke (2005) investigated the importance of diversity management in applicants’

job choice decisions. A quantitative approach using 113 masters of business administration

students from a mid-sized university located in southwestern Ontario provided a basis for the

research. The students reviewed offers of employment letters and were asked to assess the

attractiveness of two companies as potential employers based on information in the letters of

which one letter had a diversity message. Women and ethnic minorities found diversity

management to be more important when accepting offers of employment. The findings

suggested a need to place a higher emphasis on diversity management in women and minority

application attractions.

Discussion in the literature on minority and diversity leadership appeared to have themes

of corporate struggles faced by minorities and diverse leaders (Alire, 2001) and group identity

attraction (Armor & Gilroy, 2010; De Rue & Ashford, 2010; Ng & Burke, 2005) that suggested

that minority and diversity leaders can attract more members of the same group to organizations.

44

Additionally, discussions in the literature focused on the necessity to remove barriers faced by

minority and diversity leaders in organizations (Lewis, 2006; McCarty-Kilian et al., 2005;

McDonald, 2006) and about the necessity of minority and diversity leaders who bring cultural

awareness to the people led (Eagly & J. L. Chin, 2010; Fuentes, 2007; K. Barrett, 2010, 2010;

Parrish, 2010). Each of the discussions centered on aspects of social identity theory, which is the

theoretical framework for the research. Social identity theory is understood as the relationship or

lens between individuals and the surrounding social world (Tajfel & J. Turner, 1979). Social

identity theory does not imply the identity of individuals but the identity that emerges out of the

experiences between the person and the situation.

The research investigated the perspectives of NROTC officer recruiters who engage in

attracting and recruiting minority and diversity officer candidates using two aspects of social

identity, (1) group theory and (2) unconscious thought theory. The hypothesis of the research in

attracting qualified minority and diversity officer candidates is one of the foundational steps

toward achieving increased minority and diversity leadership representation in organizations.

The Navy has not met the established minority and diversity leadership goals that have been set

on a national level even though Navy-wide policy has been established that targets increased

minority and diversity representation (Blowers, 2008). During the last two years 2009 and 2010,

senior Navy leaders have reiterated the need for increased minority and diversity leadership

among the ranks (K. Barrett, 2009, 2010).

In 1998, one research study set out to understand the effectiveness of the Navy’s NROTC

program toward minority officer recruitment that focused on African American high school

students with an emphasis on programs at historically black colleges and universities (Pompey,

1998). Pompey conducted the research by using surveys sent to current and former Navy

45

recruiters, Navy Recruiting Command, and a directorate in the Navy that dealt with diversity,

Pers-61. The diversity initiative in the Navy in 1998 entitled, “Enhanced Opportunities for

Minorities Initiative,” that was a recruiting strategy designed to increase the number of

minorities on active duty and to create a culturally diverse force that reflected the racial

composition of the United States (p. 1).

The study concluded that in 1998, there were generally negative perceptions of the Navy

among many persons in the African American community (Pompey, 1998). The

recommendation was for the Navy to decrease the perception of segregation in the Navy by

increasing exposure of African American officers to the public. The method of increased

exposure of minority officers was suggested as more advertisement that portrayed African

Americans in leadership positions, increased community outreach using African Americans

leaders in the Navy, and encouraging African American Navy officers to become volunteer

recruiters and ambassadors for the Navy (p. 61).

The population surveyed by Pompey, Navy recruiters, Navy Recruiting Command, and

Pers-61, is similar to the population for the current study with the exception that the study only

targeted current Navy NROTC recruiters. The specific Navy recruiters were not identified in

Pompey’s study as NROTC recruiters or Navy recruiters in general. The research added to the

existing body of knowledge on attracting minority and diversity officer candidates from the lived

experiences of the NROTC officer recruiters specifically by narrowing the scope of Navy

recruiting specifically to the NROTC program.

Attraction through the lens of group theory

Brief (2005) explained that realistic group theory and variants of the theory have been

around since the 1970s (Tajfel & J. Turner, 1979). Realistic group theory explains the tensions

46

that may occur between groups identified as realistic group conflict (R. C. T.). The central

theme of RCT is that identifiable conflicts of group interests cause inter-group conflict in the

functional settings between social groups. Baray, Postmes, and Jetten (2009) introduced the

concept of self-defining groups to explain how personal and social aspects of identity relate to

each other.

S. A. Haslam, Jetten, Postmes, and C. Haslam (2009) dealt with group identity as a part

of social identity. Shared identity is the basis for mutual social influences. When people

perceive themselves to share a group membership with other people in a given context,

motivation increases to strive actively to reach agreement with the same group members and to

coordinate behavior in relation to activities relevant to group identity (p. 8). Chen and Li (2009)

found that group identity has a significant effect on distribution of preferences. A quantitative

approach using 562 students from the University of Michigan provided the sample for the

research. A measurement of the effects of group identity on social preferences used a four-stage

experimental design.

The similarities inherent in groups have an effect on the approachability of out-group

members (D. W. Campbell et al., 2010). Implicit and explicit dynamics exists contributing to the

decision-making process, which leads a person to move into action (Baray et al., 2009). When

people are with members of the same group, increased charity is shown putting more weight on

the in-group (S. A. Haslam et al., 2009). The exploration to understand the experiences of naval

officer recruiters who engage in decision-making on approachability toward members of various

groups added to the existing literature.

47

Attraction through the lens of unconscious thought theory

Dijksterhuis and Nordgren (2006) presented a human thought theory named

Unconscious-thought theory (UTT) that was applicable to decision-making. The theory

distinguished between two modes of thought; unconscious and conscious. A meta-analysis of

literature covering thought theories, and preferential basis decision theory provided the empirical

data for the research. Quantitative research designs with four experiments tested the theory.

UTT suggested that people often apply the two modes of thought inappropriately. For example,

people tend to engage in a great deal of conscious thought when dealing with complex problems,

whereas engagement in more unconscious thought was more appropriate (p. 108).

Acker (2008) established that unconscious thought does not necessarily increase

normative decision-making performance in contrast to conscious thought, which was contrary to

the results found in (Dijksterhuis & Nordgren, 2006). A quantitative replication of the original

research study with 98 Australian third year psychology students provided the research data. A

slightly different approach was taken to test UTT in the same year. Payne, Samper, Bettman, &

Luce (2008) found that self-paced conscious thought was similar in effectiveness to unconscious

thought in some conditions and superior in opposite conditions. A quantitative approach

replicating the original research study (Dijksterhuis & Nordgren, 2006) was done with 280

students from a southeastern university. The research suggested that the mechanisms underlying

the conscious/unconscious thought dichotomy may be more complex than the replicated research

study.

Newell et al. (2009) examined the claims of better decision-making using “unconscious

thought” (Dijksterhuis & Nordgren, 2006) and found no evidence to support the superiority of

UTT. A quantitative analysis replicated the original research study with a total of 301

48

undergraduate students from the University of New South Wales. The findings suggested that

there was little evidence for superiority for choices made unconsciously but some evidence

surfaced that supported that conscious deliberation can lead to better choices. The implication

was that decisions should be conscious decisions.

During the same year, Rey et al. (2009) expounded on the work of Dijksterhuis and

Nordgren (2006) by using a similar experimental design with an additional control, the

immediate condition, and found that participants produced as well, and even descriptively better,

decisions in the condition than in the unconscious one, hence challenging the initial

interpretation of the authors. Using a quantitative analysis approach, 96 students from the

University of Bourgogne received exposure to the same material as in the original research study

(Dijksterhuis & Nordgren, 2006). The findings suggested that there was no advantage of the

unconscious condition relative to the control, immediate condition, suggesting that a period of

unconscious thought does not seem to help solve complex decisions.

The current literature on unconscious thought theory has been inconclusive. Some

researchers affirmed that complex decision-making should be done after unconscious thought

has been engaged (Dijksterhuis & Nordgren, 2006; Payne et al., 2008) while other scholars

believed there was no significant difference to engage in unconscious thought prior to complex

decision-making (Thorsteinson & Withrow, 2009, 2009). The specific point at which an

unconscious thought becomes a conscious thought has not been addressed in the literature. The

significance of thought theory to the study is central to the theoretical framework, which

suggests that groups provide insight into a sense of social identity S. A. Haslam et al. (2009), and

that perceptions about various groups have a significant impact on socialization of group

members (p. 7).

49

The focus on at what point the thought of attraction moves into action, whether on a

conscious or unconscious level may offer insight into the rationale for the decision to move

forward or not move forward with attraction practices toward out-group members. The primary

focus with thought theory is not whether or not recruiters use conscious or unconscious thought

to propel them toward engaging in attraction practices, but an understanding of the current

findings on thought theory as a contextual background for the current study. Unconscious or

conscious thought is inherent in decision-making processes (Rey et al., 2009) and engaged when

Navy officer recruiters are in the process of attracting minority and diversity officer candidates.

The research study added to the existing literature on unconcious and conscious thought theory

with respect to attracting minority and diversity candidates from the perspective of Navy officer

recruiters. The research study did not add to the inclusive findings on whether unconscious or

conscious thought in complex decision-making is best.

Conclusion

The literature presented in the chapter focused on the need for diversity in organizations,

attractions, minority representation in the military and recruitment. The literature contained in

the chapter provided a synopsis of findings and recommendations that covered recent insights

since the turn of the century. A consensus emerged of the need to attract minority and diversity

applicants across organizations. The belief was due to the projected demographics in American

organizations would experience an increase in minorities eligible to enter the workforce.

Organizations may benefit from the information gained as a result of this research study,

which will contribute to the limited amount of literature on the effects of implicit and explicit

decision-making (Aberson & Haag, 2007); the effects of conscious and unconscious thought

with respect to engagement in attraction processes (Dijksterhuis & Nordgren, 2006); influence of

50

recruiters on applicants (D. M. Cable & Graham, 2000); and impression management

manipulation by the recruiter. Gaps in the literature were in the area of attracting qualified

minority and diversity officer candidates into the Navy. The literature found on the Navy

indicated that senior leadership recognized a need for the officer corps to reflect the

demographics of the members led; there was a significant void in guidance from the Navy on

how to achieve the goal of increased officer representation by the officer recruiter.

Summary

In chapter 2, the themes discussed are the need for diversity in organizations, attracting

minority and diversity candidates from the organization, candidate, and recruiter perspectives.

The literature ranged from civilian organizations, to military organizations, and specifically the

Navy. Several attraction methods appeared to include applicant perceptions of organizations in

terms of fit (Chapman et al., 2005; Highhouse et al., 2007), manipulation of literature and media

and organizational manipulation of recruiting advertisements. Consideration addressed the

effects of diversity in organizations from a leadership perspective. The literature presented an

opposing view to the positive effects of diversity and minority recruitment (Aberson & Haag,

2007; McKay & Avery, 2005). Inter-group conflict and anxiety as a result of implicit and

explicit attitudes and behaviors identified areas of concern (Bakker & Schaufeli, 2008; Caligiuri

et al., 2010; Caligiuri, Colakoglu, Cerdin, & M. S. Kim, 2010; McKay & Avery, 2005). The

generalization of attraction and selection for minority applicants were applied to the military

(Fuentes, 2007; Lievens et al., 2005; Lievens, 2007; Winter, 2008). Last, a discussion on social

identity as the conceptual framework of the research with a focus on two areas germane to the

research, (1) group theory applications to attraction and (2) unconscious thought theory used in

complex decision-making appeared in the chapter.

51

Key areas of chapter 3 elaborate on the purpose statement and the need for the current

research study. The research method is presented along with research design appropriateness. A

discussion on the current research study population, instrumentation, instrumentation reliability,

and research study goals conclude the chapter.

52

Chapter 3: Method

The purpose of the current qualitative, phenomenological research study is to explore the

lived experiences of the attraction process from the perspective of Navy officer recruiters in the

United States. The elements that comprise the study explore what causes recruiters to engage in

attraction practices aimed at qualified minority and diversity officer candidates from the

perspective of conscious and unconscious thought theory and group theory. The study themes

examined the link between attraction to members of the same ethnic or racial group as recruiters

and attraction to members not of the same ethnic or racial groups.

The review of the literature revealed a consensus that minorities and persons of diversity

need to occupy leadership positions (Alire, 2001; Eagly & Chin, 2010; Halibut, 2011; Lewis,

2006; McCarty-Kilian et al., 2005) and several methods to attract minority and diverse

populations surfaced in the literature (D. M. Cable & Yu, 2006; Devendorf & Highhouse, 2008;

Highhouse et al., 2009; Lievens, 2007; Slaughter & Greguras, 2009; Van Iddekinge, McFarland,

& Raymark, 2007). The literature surrounding the Navy identified the goal to increase minority

and diversity representation in the leadership ranks (Fuentes, 2010; Pompey, 1998; Wiltrout,

2008; Winter, 2008) yet the literature review did not yield diversity attraction practices from the

perspective of the recruiters from the perspective of social identity theory.

In chapter 3, discussions include the method and design, research questions, population,

and sampling frame used to explore the lived experiences of officer recruiters who have insight

into how qualified naval officer candidates are attracted and recruited into the Navy. The chapter

displays the informed consent form, questionnaire, and geographic location of the participants as

well as data collection. Techniques used to reduce researcher bias are presented in the area of

53

credibility, transferability, and data analysis. The narrative approach applied is described in the

chapter (Josselson, 2006).

Research Method and Design Appropriateness

The general purposes of qualitative research methods are to examine human behavior in

the social, cultural, and political contexts in which behavior occurs (Salkind, 2003). Qualitative

research methods are exploratory and understanding-oriented, whereas quantitative research

methods are descriptive and explanation-oriented (Neuman, 2003). Research qualitative in

nature relies largely on the interpretive and critical approaches to social science, unlike attempts

to demonstrate a comparison or relationship between variables found in quantitative research

methods (Neuman, 2003). The primary focus to explore the lived experiences of the attraction

and recruitment process from the perspective of officer recruiters was most appropriately

presented interpretatively (Neuman, 2003; Salkind, 2003).

The art of attracting minority and diversity officer candidates is not a static practice and

has the potential to be experienced differently by each recruiter. Because the focus of the

research is to explore the lived experiences process from the perspective of Navy officer

recruiters in the United States, the problem would be qualitative (Neuman, 2003). Inviting

participation through the use of surveys Simon and Francis (2004) and capturing the experience

through open-ended interviewing techniques Polkinghorne (2005) aids in data collection geared

toward qualitative inquiry in contrast to the use of closed-ended data collection methods used in

quantitative inquiry. The phenomenological design is most appropriate to the study because the

focus is to enlarge and deepen an understanding of diversity attraction practices through the lived

experiences of those who engage in the business of recruiting (Huberman & Miles, 2002).

54

Population, Sampling, and Data Collection Procedures and Rationale

Population.

Sample selections for phenomenological studies are purposeful and not random, where

the sample selection is for a specific reason (Magilvy, Thomas, & Kotzer, 2009). The population

was a purposeful sampling focusing on naval officer recruiting experience. The findings cannot

be generalized outside the scope of the theoretical concept using social identity theory. The

population was comprised of 27 NROTC officer recruiters who work for the Naval Recruiting

Districts responsible for all 50 states. The population consists of Navy officer recruiters who

work under the NROTC program with no selective sampling or snowball sampling within the

population (Neuman, 2003).

Sampling Frame.

The Navy recruiting sites were selected because of organizational expertise in Navy

recruiting (Magilvy et al., 2009). The populations of the sites employ recruiters who have the

responsibility for attracting and recruiting future Navy leaders for the armed services of America

("Navy Recruiting Command," n.d.). The selection of the Navy Reserve Officers Training

Corps, NROTC over the Naval Academy officer program happened for two reasons. First, the

NROTC program does not have any elements designed to help students who do not meet the

nationwide criteria, which eliminate any bias toward or preferential treatment of minority or

diverse candidates. The Naval academy does have a program called Naval Academy Preparatory

School (NAPS), which tutors candidates selected but do not meet the established ACT/SAT

scores (Kelly, 2011).

Second, the NROTC active duty recruiters are more accessible than Naval Academy

civilian recruiters. The location of the NROTC recruiters are known and relatively constrained

55

to the 26 Navy Recruiting Districts. The NROTC officer recruiters have uniqueness in that most

of the recruiters are not officers and are attracting potential superiors. The perspective of the

lived experiences of the NROTC officer recruiter population have the potential to offer the

richest level of experience because recruiters are out doing the field work on the multi-level of

serving as an active duty member, possibly becoming a subordinate of the potential officer

candidate, and serving as the first contact of the Navy for the minority and diversity officer

candidates.

Informed Consent.

A copy of the Informed Consent Form appears in Appendix B. The form informed the

volunteer that participation required no personal information, and that no party could buy or

receive the voluntary personal information. The choice to include personal information was at

the discretion of participants. The participants were invited to participate in the research study

through the use of questionnaires. The informed consent was faxed or through an e-mail to the

participants. Once the informed consent forms were returned, the questionnaires were sent to the

participants (Cone & Foster, 2006). Participants indicated an address to obtain additional

feedback about the research results using an Additional Information Form (Appendix A). The

research study was submitted to the University’s Institutional Review Board, formally reviewed,

and approved.

Confidentiality.

Voluntary personal information was held in the strictest of confidence. Participants were

informed how the information shared was kept in the highest confidentiality. Questionnaires and

field notes were stored in a locked cabinet not available to the public. No identifying

information was compiled that identifies the participant responses to the participant. A coding

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system that identified the participant for data analysis was used such as participants were

identified as P1, P2, P3, etc. to represent participant 1, participant 2, and participant 3. The

responses were identified as R1, R2, and R3 to represent response 1, response 2, and response 3.

For example, P1, R2 would indicate participant one responded to question two. The true identity

of a participant will not be made available to the public (Polkinghorne, 2005).

Geographic Location.

Navy officer recruiters who represent each of the 50 states were the population. The sites

were also selected using purposeful sampling with “resident expertise in recruiting” as the

criteria. The sites were Navy Recruiting Districts in the United States. The Navy Recruiting

Command is 26 Navy Recruiting Districts (NRDs) responsible for all recruiting throughout the

Navy. NRDs are on the west coast, mid-west, and east coast of the United States ("Navy

Recruiting Command," n. d.).

Data Collection.

Data collection was done through the use of online questionnaires, using field notes, and

online information such as newsgroup or analyzing data in hard copy files. The unit of analysis

was the experience. Neuman (2003) described the unit of analysis as the unit that a researcher

observes, measures, and analyzes in the study (p. 547). In qualitative inquiry, the essence of

research is not the individual, but the lived experience of the individual, which points to the

experience itself as the object of inquiry (Polkinghorne, 2005; Randolph, 2009). Participants had

the option of returning questionnaires via the Internet, fax, or e-mail. A confidential fax number

was provided with restricted access.

An alternate form of data collection could be the use of historical documentation

(Neuman, 2003). Historical documents provide empirical data with the benefit of easy

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accessibility. The exploration of lived experiences is best for interpretive inquiry of the

participants’ story (Polkinghorne, 2005). A meta-analytical approach was impossible as an

alternate method of data collection because a limited amount of literature exists pertaining to

attraction of minority and diversity naval officer candidates through Navy officer programs.

Last, the use of observation as a method of data collection was not a feasible alternate method of

data collection for the research study due to the mass geographic location of each participant.

Interview Protocol

To ensure that the participants were NROTC officer recruiters, the following interview

protocol was established. A search of Navy Recruiting Districts was conducted using available

internet search engines. The Navy Recruiting Command served as the headquarters that lists all

the recruiting districts. A listing was created that included the available contact information for

each recruiting district. Because of the time zone considerations where each recruiting district

was located, a plan of action was developed with the goal of contacting each recruiting district

between the hours of 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. respective of their geographic locations. A subjectivity

journal was used to record the script that was used to introduce the study to potential

participants. Calls were made to the offices of the NROTC recruiting districts, and the script was

read. NROTC recruiters were introduced to the study, were asked for their participation along

with their email address. The potential participants were asked to verify that they were NROTC

recruiters. Upon receipt of verbal confirmation, the recruiters were asked for a fax number, and

the informed consent forms were faxed to them and a return confidential fax number was

provided for use to return the informed consent forms. The online questionnaires were sent to

the email address provided by the participants, and the results were received via email.

Participants were emailed procedures outlining how to receive the results of the study. The data

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was gathered; analyzed using the Human Scientific Phenomenological protocol by Giorgi

(1997), and the results were presented.

Figure 4. Data collection and analysis process

Instrumentation.

Online questionnaires were the instrument used for data collection. The development of

questionnaires sought to help answer the central research question of “How do naval officer

recruiters experience attraction methods aimed at minority and diversity candidates to the

NROTC program?” Each of the questions was framed to help explore the lived experiences of

attracting minority and diversity officer candidates (Cone & Foster, 2006; Salkind, 2003; Simon,

2006). The questionnaires consisted of 10 questions (Appendix C), five questions addressed

demographic, and two addressed how NROTC recruiters attract minority and diversity

candidates. For example, the question, “What are some of the techniques you use to attract

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minority officer candidates?” seeks to understand what the recruiters’ feel is a way to attract

future minority leaders. Two addressed recruiter selection for recruiting assignments developed

with the goal to understand if recruiters felt forced into the job, which may have an effect on

their attitudes when actually engaged in attracting future leaders. One question addressed the

performance of recruiting for minority and diversity success. These questions were designed to

gain a rich understanding of how recruiters experience attraction practices.

Credibility, Transferability, and Reliability

Credibility.

A subjectivity journal was used, as suggested by (Magilvy et al., 2009) to deal with

researcher bias increasing credibility. The journal allowed constant reflection and analysis of the

ways in which researchers’ self, including personal bias, opinions, beliefs, and values shine

through the process. For example, the journal was used to record notes of the conversations held

with each recruiter as well as the administrative staff that assisted with locating officer recruiters

for each site. By having the ability to review conversations empirically, the reliability of

consistency with interview protocol was enhanced. The script that was used for introductions to

the study was recorded in the journal and read from the journal during each conversation to

ensure that every participant received the exact same information about the study’s purpose, the

expectations of participation, and the availability to receive the results of the study.

Transferability.

The procedures suggested by Wolcott (1990) to increase transferability were used to

include being a listener, to record accurately through the use of detailed notes and electronic

recordings, and the inclusion of primary data in the final report. Data in the final report was

analyzed to ensure that the information is candid, and the information reflected feedback that

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was sought, and that the information achieved a balance between perceived importance and

actual importance written accurately.

Reliability.

Triangulation across identifying outliners across themes was used to ensure reliability.

Data originated from many sources such as peer reviews, interviews, and articles was used

(Barusch, Gringeri, & George, 2011). Through the use of identifying replicated patterns in a

variety of sources, reliability was increased (Yin, 1991); Bowen, 2005). Morse et al. (2002)

argued rigor was an essential element for establishing reliability and validity in qualitative

research. Methodological coherence, sampling sufficiency, developing a dynamic relationship

between sampling, data collection, and analysis, thinking theoretically, and theory development

are steps recommended for all qualitative research. Scholars seem to agree that internal validity

(credibility), external validity (transferability), and reliability are essential when conducting

qualitative research (Magilvy et al., 2009; Malterud, 2001; Neuman, 2003; S. Kim & Curzio,

2005).

Data Analysis

The theme when analyzing data was to present a narrative of the lived experiences of

NROTC recruiters. The data was analyzed from a hermeneutic standpoint aiming to understand

human experience as a form of text construction, much like producing a story (Josselson, 2006).

A hermeneutic data analysis is best when data needs to be interpretive, explanatory, or

illustrative. Hermeneutics emerged from theology and literature according to Strauss and Corbin

(1990) referring to the process through which people interpret classic texts. Over time, the use of

hermeneutics expanded to include many texts, including people as texts.

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Hermeneutics is the most appropriate data analysis method whereby continuous

interpretation of the text takes place to search for the exact meaning in context (Strauss &

Corbin, 1990). During the data analysis process bracketing was used to separate personal

experiences to understand the participant experiences. Atlas.ti© is the qualitative data analysis

software that incorporates a hermeneutic style coding, which was used. The codes and themes

used emerged from the knowledge gained from the recruiters. Data was sorted and organized

through clustering ensuring continuous interpretation of the experiences from the recruiters.

Alas.ti© was useful in data analysis because the program codes for themes using a hermeneutic

framework, which provides hyper linking to text, other files, graphic files, audio files, and

multimedia. Once the data was analyzed, the results were presented in a narrative format and the

participants who expressed a desire to receive research results had results provided through the

postal service.

The exploration of lived experiences was interpreted using a phenomenological approach

aimed at understanding the essence in each experience (Giorgi, 1997). Giorgi expressed a

systematic approach to phenomenological inquiry in a Husserlian sense giving experience a more

precise state called intuition (Giorgi, 1997). The alternative qualitative approaches not the most

appropriate choice for this research study are grounded theory and ethnological approach. The

exploration of the lived experience could be approached from a grounded theory perspective if

the goals were to use the data to support new theories or from an ethnological perspective shared

culture and lived experience of all people involved shared the same lived experiences while the

experience took place (Goulding, 2005). An ethnographic design is appropriate if the focus is on

a shared culture of a group of people (Neuman, 2003). A conclusion that even though personal

experience as a recruiter for several years was accessible, the time frames were different and the

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practices involved in attracting minority and diversity candidates may be different. Grounded

theory and ethnographic designs were not the most appropriate because of the theory-based

questionnaires used and the dispersed geographic locations of the study population.

Summary

A discussion on the key elements contained in chapter 3 focused on the need for research

designed to explore the lived experiences of NROTC officer recruiters responsible for attracting

minority and diversity naval officer candidates. The qualitative research method (Salkind, 2003)

and design appropriateness with respect to population, sampling, data collection, and rationale

appeared in the chapter (Magilvy et al., 2009; Neuman, 2003; Polkinghorne, 2005). The data

collection and analysis process appears below. The process was the same during each initial

contact.

The main focus in chapter 4 included a presentation of the data collected from the

research study. The data appeared in a narrative format with a focus on the lived experiences of

Navy officer recruiters’ minority and diversity attraction and recruitment practices (Josselson,

2006).

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Chapter 4: Results

The purpose of the current qualitative, phenomenological research study is to explore the

lived experiences of the attraction process from the perspective of Navy officer recruiters in the

United States. The practices of 27 Navy officer recruiters responsible for attracting minority and

diversity qualified officer candidates throughout the United States are explored to examine the

link between attractions to members of the same ethnic or racial groups (Giorgi, 1997). Key

areas in chapter 4 present the detailed analysis of 27 questionnaires received from active-duty

naval officer recruiters throughout the United States.

The data was analyzed to develop emerging themes that relate to how minority and

diversity candidates are attracted to the Navy’s NROTC officer scholarship program through the

lens of social identity focusing on group theory and unconscious thought theory. The

presentation and analysis in chapter 4 include an explanation of the data analysis used to

discover common themes, and the results of the provided analysis are related directly to the

research question. The results of the questionnaires revealed that participants believed the most

effective way to attract minority and diversity candidates was by promoting educational benefits

of the NROTC program and not engaging in special attraction techniques aimed specifically at

minority or diversity candidates.

Research Questions

The following central research question guided the research study: “How do naval officer

recruiters experience attraction methods aimed at minority and diversity candidates to the

NROTC program?” The following three sub-questions supported the research question: (1)

“How are officer recruiters selected for recruiting assignments?” (2) “How is recruiting for

minorities and diversity performed to ensure success?” and (3) “What are the demographics of

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the current recruiters?” The responses from the study participants did assist in answering the

central research question and three sub-questions effectively.

Review of Data Collection

Participants.

Participant selection using purposeful sampling began May 20, 2011, and ended on June

17, 2011. NROTC officer recruiters completed the questionnaire (see Appendix C) composed of

three demographic questions and seven open-ended questions supporting the research questions.

A telephone call was made to each of the 27 recruiting districts inviting NROTC officer

recruiters to participate in the research. The opportunity to receive research results (see

Appendix A), a participant informed consent form (see Appendix B), and the questionnaire (see

Appendix C) were e-mailed to 27 participants who are active-duty members located throughout

the United States. One NROTC recruiter disclosed that there were two members on the officer

recruitment team and two questionnaires were completed.

Administrative personnel and recruiters shared the e-mail addresses of the potential

participants. The e-mail also contained an informative notice for participants to return the signed

informed consent form and completed questionnaires as soon as practical. Questionnaires were

returned within 36 hours of delivery from each recruiter electronically via e-mail to the e-mail

address provided in the consent form.

Navy officer recruiters responsible for attracting qualified naval officer candidates are

selected for recruiting duty from the top 10% of the fleet sailors ("Navy Recruiting Command,"

n. d.). The participants for the study are members of more than 6,350 active and reserve officer

and enlisted sailors who perform duties in more than 1,490 recruiting stations and centers

throughout the U. S., Guam, Puerto Rico, and Europe. Navy recruiters are the only visible face

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of the Navy. Approximately, 154 NROTC units are located on U. S. college campuses ("Navy

Recruiting Command," n. d.) where potential officer candidates will learn how to become the

next generation of naval leaders. Table 2 shows a demographic overview of the study

participants.

Table 2

Demographic Data of Participants

Participant Gender Ethnicity Age Group Years recruiting P-01 Male Latino 31 and over 6 mo. – 1 yr. P-02 Male Caucasian 31 and over 1 to 2 yrs. P-03 Male African American 31 and over 1 to 2 yrs. P-04 Male Asian Pacific Islander 31 and over 3 to 4 yrs. P-05 Male African American 31 and over 6 mo. – 1 yr. P-06 Male Caucasian 31 and over 1 to 2 yrs. P-07 Male Caucasian 31 and over Less than 6 mo. P-08 Male Latino 26 to 30 Less than 6 mo. P-09 Male Caucasian 31 and over 6 mo. – 1 yr. P-10 Male Caucasian 31 and over 1 to 2 yrs. P-11 Male Caucasian 26 to 30 Less than 6 mo. P-12 Male Caucasian 26 to 30 1 to 2 yrs. P-13 Female Caucasian 31 and over 1 to 2 yrs. P-14 Male Caucasian 31 and over Less than 6 mo. P-15 Male Caucasian 31 and over 1 to 2 yrs. P-16 Male African American 31 and over 1 to 2 yrs. P-17 Male African American 31 and over 1 to 2 yrs. P-18 Female African American 31 and over Less than 6 mo. P-19 Male Caucasian 31 and over 6 mo. – 1 yr. P-20 Male African American 26 to 30 6 mo. – 1 yr. P-21 Male Caucasian 31 and over 1 to 2 yrs. P-22 Male Caucasian 31 and over Less than 6 mo. P-23 Male Caucasian 31 and over Less than 6 mo. P-24 Male Caucasian 31 and over 6 mo. – 1 yr. P-25 Male Caucasian 26 to 30 1 to 2 yrs. P-26 Male Caucasian 31 and over Less than 6 mo. P-27 Male Caucasian 31 and over 3 to 4 yrs.

Gender Distribution.

The pie chart depicted in Figure 5 reflects the gender distribution of male to females.

The pie chart shows a significant difference in gender distribution with 92.59% of the

participants as males and only 7.41% females. Literature on attraction models suggest that

recruiters should look like the population being recruited (Avery & McKay, 2006; Bolino et al.,

2008) and the low numbers of female recruiters mirror the current underrepresentation of active-

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duty women. Currently women make up about 15% of the Navy (P. Stewart & Cornwell, 2010)

and were once prohibited by law from participation in ground combat occupations (Quester &

Gilroy, 2002). Women have been approved to serve on submarines to begin in 2011 (P. Stewart

& Cornwell, 2010) and with respect to recruiter representation, the number of women should

increase to mirror attraction goals (D. M. Cable & Yu, 2006).

Figure 5. Gender Distribution.

Ethnicity Distribution.

The graph depicted in Figure 6 reflects ethnicity distribution of the participants. The

participants were diverse in ethnic background and worked all over the United States. The

Caucasian participants consisted of 64.29% of the study. The African American participants

consisted of 25% of the participants. The Latino participants consisted of 7.14% of the

participants. The remaining 3.5% of participants replied as Asian Pacific Islander. None of the

participants identified themselves as Native American or Alaskan American ethnicity. The

ethnicity categories were derived from the same standards used by the Navy’s goal attainment as

discussed in Chapters 2 and 3.

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Figure 6. Ethnicity Distribution.

Age Distribution.

The pie chart depicted in Figure 7 reflects age distribution. The age of the participants

ranged from 26 to over 31 years. The largest percentage of participants ranged from 31 and over

making up 80.77%. The second largest distribution of age included participants 26 to 30 making

up 19.23%. Navy reports disclosed that the average age of the total active-duty workforce is 28

(Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute [DEOMI], 2009), which is significant from a

group attraction perspective that the majority of NROTC recruiters are 31 and over. A review of

literature on group attraction revealed that people are naturally drawn to people of similar

qualities (Akande, 2009) and commercials for the Navy typically show images of much younger

people (Wan, 2008) in contrast to the older group of recruiters that potential candidates actually

meet.

Figure 7. Age Distribution.

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NROTC Officer Recruiter Experience.

The pie chart depicted in Figure 8 reflects the level of recruiter experience. Participants

of the study had to be NROTC officer recruiters currently on active-duty in the Navy. The

majority of participants, 42.86% reported one to two years of recruiting experience. The second

largest recruiting experience of 28.57% was less than six months. The third reported experience

in recruiting was six months to a year, which comprised 21.43% of participants. The least

number of participants reported three to four years of experience, 7.14% with none of the

participants possessing recruiting experience of more than four years.

Figure 8. NROTC Officer Recruiter Experience.

The demographic information was captured in support of research question 4: “What are

the demographics of the current recruiters.” Empirical data on elements of successful

recruitment strategies seem to agree that the demographics of recruiters should mirror

demographics of minorities and diverse target applicants (Avery & McKay, 2006).

Data Analysis Procedures

Bracketing was one of the most useful techniques of Epoche that was used to address

personal beliefs and experiences about the effects of race and gender on the recruiters’ efforts to

attract applicants (Dowling, 2004; Shank, 2006). Epoche involved refraining from previous

knowledge and judgment of the phenomenon by bracketing personal knowledge and remaining

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focused on the experiences of the participants (Bradbury-Jones, Irvine, & Sambrook, 2010).

Epoche allowed the essences of the participants’ experiences in Navy attraction techniques to

emerge.

Data was analyzed using the Human Scientific Phenomenological method (Giorgi, 1997),

which includes five basic steps of (1) collection of data, (2) reading of the data, (3) breaking the

data into some kind of parts, (4) organization and expression of the data from a disciplinary

perspective, and (5) synthesis or summary of the data.

Collection of the data.

Collection of the data was done through questionnaires, which consisted of three

demographic and seven open-ended questions, which sought to gain detailed descriptions of

NROTC recruiters’ experience and attraction methods, as truthful as possible from their

perspective (Giorgi, 1997). The participants were telephoned at the Navy Recruiting Districts

and engaged in a short introduction about the study followed by an invitation to participate.

Informed consent forms were e-mailed to each participant and returned in the same manner.

During each telephone conversation participants were introduced to the purpose of the study. No

questions were asked that pertained to attraction practices or recruitment methods. Participants

were told that the purpose of the research was to gather information, from the people in the field,

on best practices used in Navy recruiting to attract minority and diversity NROTC officer

candidates.

Reading of the data.

To obtain a global sense of the data, reading of the data was approached from a

phenomenological view. Data was read through from beginning to end before beginning any

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analysis (Giorgi, 1997). The data was reread as a second step to ensure the essence of recruiters’

experience was accurately represented.

Dividing the data into parts.

Division of the data was done focusing on the meaning creating meaning units (Giorgi,

1997). The meaning units captured certain meaning, relevant for the study, which were clarified

later. During this phase, no specific attitude was employed, which allowed unexpected meanings

to emerge. An audit trail was compiled using a journal, recording steps taken during the data

collection process from beginning to end (Anfara et al., 2002).

Organization and expression of the data.

Organization and expression of raw data into disciplinary language was undertaken,

meaning units were examined, probed, and re-described so that the disciplinary value of each

unit was made more explicit (Giorgi, 1997). The disciplinary language used was from a

sociological perspective. The meaning units were examined, probed, and re-distributed again to

determine which were essential for the phenomenon of NROTC recruiter attraction practices and

which were not.

Synthesis of the data.

Last, synthesis of the data was done, which included the interpretation of structures.

Structures can be understood as essences and their meanings (Giorgi, 1997). A focus was placed

on the interrelationships among the parts of the structures. The structures represented the

measures of central tendencies. The final stage of synthesis reviewed the raw data to seek

understanding of the clusters of variation contained in the data (Giorgi, 1997) with the ultimate

goal to ensure the scientific analysis captures the essence of minority and diversity attraction

methods as experienced by the recruiters.

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Data Management

Atlas.ti© qualitative analysis software facilitated classification and careful management

of the vast amount of data collected. Atlas.ti© assigns codes, accommodates text, and word

frequency searching, enables querying to ask questions of data, and provides links to connect

data to content. Data collected from the questions on the questionnaire allowed the creation of

emerging themes based on the NROTC recruiter’s perception of minority and diversity attraction

techniques that contribute to successful attraction practices.

Findings

In the current study, certain patterns began emerging in the data collected. The patterns

were analyzed and categorized into major themes that support the research questions and

conceptual framework of social identity that guided the study. Most recruiters reported (1) there

were no special attraction techniques used, (2) promoting education benefits, and (3) giving

NROTC presentations, which are represented by the three major themes that emerged. The

themes provided an understanding of the phenomenon surrounding the Navy’s failure to attract

and train minority and diversity naval officers; only 21% of all Navy officers are minorities (K.

Barrett, 2010) through the lived experience of Navy officer recruiters in the United States.

Emerging themes.

Emergent themes are the themes with the highest frequency (i.e., number of study

participants who stated the theme in the questionnaire) for each question shown in the synapses

of responses coupled with the intensity of inductive recurrences (Onwuegbuzie, 2003). As

shown in Figure 9, the emergent theme resulting from questions six with a frequency of five

(18%) and question seven with a frequency of three (11%) are no special attraction techniques

used a combination of eight (29%). The second emergent theme resulting from question six with

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a frequency of six (22%) is promoting educational benefits with a frequency of six (22%). A

final emergent theme resulting from questions six with a frequency of three (11%) and question

seven with a frequency of three (11%) is NROTC presentations, a combination of six (22%).

The theme of no special attraction techniques used. The theme that emerged as no

special techniques used to attract minority and diversity candidates was as a result of the inquiry

into attraction practice for minority and diversity officer candidates. Many participants felt that

no special attraction techniques were used to attract minority and diversity officer candidates.

For example, participant P6 stated, “No particular techniques are used. I talk to everyone in the

classroom. I do not single anyone out.” Participants P3, P4, P6, P11, P14, P16, P20, P24, P26,

and P27 expressed similar thought patterns. For example, participant P24 stated, “No special

techniques are used.” As discussed in Chapter 1, the intent of the current research study was to

explore the lived experiences of NROTC recruiters responsible for attracting minority and

diversity candidates.

The theme of promoting educational benefits. The theme that emerged of promoting

educational benefits of the NROTC program is consistent with the benefits of the program. The

NROTC program is a scholarship program that offers 150,000.00 in education benefits to

qualified applicants (USN, 2010). Several participants felt that promoting the educational

benefits of the program was an effective attraction method for minority officer candidates. For

example, participant P16 stated, “I discuss the importance of a quality education and how the

Navy can help them to achieve that aspect.” Participant P4 stated, “I focus on minority target

markets that represent diverse and ethnical backgrounds.” Participants P3, P4, P11, and P20

expressed similar thought patterns.

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The theme of conducting NROTC presentation. Many participants felt that visiting

minority schools and giving NROTC presentations was an attraction technique used to attract

minority officer candidates. For example, participant P2 stated, “I visit schools with high

minority numbers.” Participants P3 and P21 expressed similar thought patterns. Participant P25

stated, “We utilize a diversity road show where we take our top minority and diversity schools

and use NROTC coordinators and educational specialists to conduct presentations in the school.”

Participants P2, P3, P9, P17, P21, and P25 expressed similar beliefs and thought patterns. For

example, participant P9 stated, “I conduct NROTC presentations at school, place NROTC

posters in the counselor’s office at school, and attend college fairs at school.” The theme that

emerged of conducting NROTC presentations to students supports the belief that attraction

through the use of literature and media is an effective tool (Devendorf & Highhouse, 2008) as

discussed in Chapter 2.

Figure 9. Emergent themes by frequency and intensity of inductive recurrences.

Sub-themes.

Sub-theme 1: Recruiter selection. All recruiters volunteer for recruiting duty that

resulted in 100% response rate for question that addressed how recruiters are selected. Sub-

theme 2: Minority and diversity success measures. An unanticipated theme appeared resulting in

30% of participants responding that they were not sure how success was measured or did not

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respond to the question. Sub-theme 3: Recruiter demographics. With respect to the social

identity construct focusing on group theory, the research expected to find the ethnic makeup of

recruiters to match the population recruited. The gender distribution was 92.59% male and

7.41% female, the ethnicity distribution was 64.29% Caucasian, 25% African American, 7.14%

Latino, and 3.4% Asian Pacific Islander and the age distribution revealed that 80.77% of

NROTC officer recruiters are 31 and older while 19.23% are between the ages of 26 to 30.

Outliers

An indication of two significant themes emerged opposite to the majority of the

responses (Yin, 1993). In response to question 6: “What are some of the techniques you use to

attract minority officer candidates?” Participant P4 responded, “Excellent training in

leadership.” No other recruiters’ responded toward training in leadership as an attraction method

for minority candidates. In response to question 7: “What are some of the techniques you use to

attract diversity officer candidates?” Participant P3 responded, “By demonstrating a sincere

desire to want their success.” and participant P4 responded “To make naval history by

representing your ethnicity.” as attraction methods for diversity candidates. No other recruiters’

responded toward demonstrating a sincere desire to want diversity candidate’s success and

making naval history by representing ethnicity or as an attraction method for minority candidates

who made this response a theme that may be an indication of a theme opposite the majority

(Barusch et al., 2011).

In response to question 10: “How is recruiting for minorities and diversity performed to

ensure success?” Eight participants, P5, P7, P8, P12, P13, P15, P19, and P23 did not respond.

Participant P20 responded, “Not sure.” The high number of non-responses 8 of 27 (30%) along

with an additional response of “not sure” of how these participants ensure their efforts of

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recruiting for minority and diversity is successful represents an outlier theme contradictory to the

majority participant responses (Sproull, 2004).

Summary

The qualitative phenomenological study used a questionnaire to explore the lived

experiences of the attraction process from the perspective of Navy officer recruiters in the United

States. The exploration of lived experiences of the recruiters revealed promoting educational

benefits of the NROTC program along with no special attraction techniques are what study

participants believe are most effective in attracting minority and diversity candidates. Participant

selection using purposeful sampling began May 20, 2011, and ended on June 17, 2011.

Telephone introductions and invitations to participate in the research study proved to be an

effective tool for motivating participants to complete the questionnaire. Each participant

completed the questionnaire questions 1 through 4 entirely and eight participants partially

completed questions. The e-mailed questionnaire also minimized interviewer bias (Shank,

2006). The data collection process resulted in a 100% response rate. Neuman (2003) asserted

interviews using questionnaires with open-ended questions generate high responses. The

synopses of responses were the result of Giorgio’s method of phenomenological data analysis

(Giorgi, 1997). In addition, Atlas.ti© qualitative research software program was used to identify

common themes and patterns among the study participants’ responses. The results of the

research study were categorized into four major themes, (1) no special attraction technique used,

(2) promote education benefits, (3) give NROTC presentations, and (4) visit minority schools.

The emergent themes are a result of the synopses of responses.

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Conclusion

Major areas found in Chapter 4 included a description of the specific emerged themes and

patterns discovered during the data analysis process. Essential elements in Chapter 5 present the

conclusions and recommendations of the research study. The majority of Chapter 5 shows a

discussion of the emerged themes and how the identified attracting minority and diversity

qualified naval officer candidate’s techniques aid in the improvement to increase minority and

diversity naval officers among Navy leadership.

In Chapter 5, data are summarized, findings are discussed, and conclusions are drawn.

Each major theme described in Chapter 4 is discussed in Chapter 5, comparing each theme to

literature findings and analyzing the similarities and differences, beginning with the most

significant themes with discussion on the themes’ importance of application to leadership. Every

theme has been analyzed and interpreted to discover new knowledge that answers the problem

statement, research question, and theoretical concept of social identity as explained in Chapter 1

that was used to guide this study. The final discussion in chapter 5 concludes with

recommendations for leadership, further research, and the summary.

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Chapter 5: Conclusions and Recommendations  

The purpose of the current qualitative, phenomenological research study is to explore the

lived experiences of 27 Navy officer recruiters in the United States, who engage daily in

attraction practices. The completed questionnaires with the study participants reveals that

promoting the educational benefits of the NROTC program along with using no special attraction

techniques are most effective in attracting minority and diversity candidates. The study was

limited by the honesty of the participants’ responses, and the use of a questionnaire. The e-mail

delivery method for the questionnaires did not allow open dialogue between participants and

researcher. Without the benefit of interviewing participants in person, probing could not be

achieved, which may have resulted in deeper data collection (Giorgi, 1997; Shank, 2006).

In Chapter 1 a focus is on the policies that have been developed by senior naval leaders,

which explicitly states the need to increase minority representation and diversity among the

officer ranks (Halibut, 2011). The specific problem that drove the current research study is the

reality that only 21% of Navy officers are minorities (K. Barrett, 2009, 2010, 2010a). The

findings from the perspectives of navy officer recruiters offer insight for organizations and senior

Navy leadership, to help increase minority and diversity representation.

Discussions found in chapter 5 are interpretations of results, themes, significance of

findings, implications to leadership, and reflections of experience of the study. A further

discussion is presented on recommendations for leadership and further research. The final

discussion in chapter 5 concludes with the summary.

Conclusions

Minorities are estimated to be 44% of the United States population with an estimated

increase to 54% by 2050 (Ortman & Guarneri, 2009). The paradox of increases in the diversity

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of the population, the Navy reports that revealed an inability to increase minorities and diversity

levels among the officer ranks, and scholarly reports of disproportionate levels of diversity

leadership in America (Alire, 2001; Eagly & Chin, 2010), provided the foundational premises for

the research study. The central research question of Q1: “How do naval officer recruiters attract

minority and diversity candidates to the NROTC program?” provided the catalyst to explore the

phenomenon. Scholars who understand attraction and recruiting methods posited that best

practices for success are achieved through the use of impression management (Avery & McKay,

2006; Bolino et al., 2008; Highhouse et al., 2009), through the use of literature and media (D. M.

Cable & Graham, 2000; Devendorf & Highhouse, 2008; Roberson et al., 2005), and through the

use of word-of-mouth practices (Van Hoye & Lievens, 2005, 2007). The attraction practices of

NROTC officer recruiter’s questioned across the nation revealed that attraction methods through

the use of literature and media complimented with impression management are widely practiced.

Interpretation of results

Themes.

The theme of no special attraction techniques used. When asked the questions “What

are some of the techniques you use to attract minority officer candidates?” and “What are some

of the techniques you use to attract diversity officer candidates?” 29% of participants indicated

that there was no need to engage in any special attraction techniques. Several of the participants

expressed practices that involved engaging in dialogue with qualified applicants without regard

to gender or ethnicity. The effectiveness of attraction techniques using the Big Five Personality

trait techniques was not substantiated from the responses of the participants.

Attraction through recruiter behaviors, such as communication between recruiters and

applicants, are an effective tool for organizations (Chapman et al., 2005; D. M. Cable & Yu,

79

2006; Desrumaux et al., 2009). The majority of participants did not disclose any particular

behaviors or communication used when engaging in attraction practices toward minority and

diversity applicants. A determination if attraction was increased through recruiter interaction

with applicants could not be determined with respect to recruiter’s techniques to attract minority

and diversity officer candidates.

The theme of promoting educational benefits. When asked the questions “What are

some of the techniques you use to attract minority officer candidates?” and “What are some of

the techniques you use to attract diversity officer candidates?” 22% of participants indicated

that promoting educational benefits was a method used to attract minority and diversity officer

candidates. Impression management refers to any action purposefully designed and carried out

to influence an audience’s perceptions of an organization (Avery & McKay, 2006; Highhouse et

al., 2009). Attraction is achieved through manipulation of literature and media messages read or

seen by applicants (D. M. Cable & Yu, 2006; Roberson et al., 2005; Ryan & Tippins, 2004).

Most of the participants disclosed that promoting educational benefits was a successful attraction

technique.

Some ways that recruiters expressed promoting the educational benefits of the program

were through hanging posters in counselor offices in some schools, encouraging completion of

the NROTC applications, attendance at college fairs held in high schools, and showing videos of

successful diversity candidates selected. The decision to use literature and media to attract

candidates appeared to be for any qualified candidate and not just minority or diversity qualified

candidates. Support was found from the candidates’ responses for the use of literature and media

as an effective attraction tool.

80

The theme of conducting NROTC presentations. When asked the questions “What are

some of the techniques you use to attract minority officer candidates?” and “What are some of

the techniques you use to attract diversity officer candidates?” 22% of participants indicated

that giving NROTC presentations was a method used to attract minority and diversity officer

candidates. Positive relationships can form between potential candidates and organizations

through word-of-mouth (Van Hoye & Lievens, 2005, 2007). Some participants disclosed that

diversity road shows are used, which have an education specialist and diversity active-duty

officers as members of the team, to go into targeted high schools and give presentations about

NROTC. Other participants believed that visiting schools to speak about the program that had

high minority populations was an effective way to attract minority and diversity candidates.

Most decisions to join an organization rely on very little information about the job (Devendorf &

Highhouse, 2008). Presentations allow potential candidates the opportunity to learn more about

an organization.

Theme rationale.

The themes that emerged from the perspectives of navy officer recruiters’ (1) that no

special attraction techniques were used, (2) that promoting the benefits of the program, and (3)

that conducting NROTC presentations were in support of the central research question of “How

do naval officer recruiters attract minority and diversity candidates to the NROTC program?”

The themes have high importance to the outcome of the research study by providing data related

to the phenomenon of the Navy’s failure to reach stated minority and diversity officer goals

(Fuentes, 2007; K. Barrett, 2010, 2010a). The Navy has adopted a position that diversity is a

strategic imperative for the United States Navy. Navy leadership has articulated clearly their

commitment to a diverse Navy.

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Improving diversity within the Navy is not only the right thing to do; it is the smart thing

to do. Increasing the number of minority officers and the quality of minority sailors in

the Navy are critical elements for ensuring the productivity, growth, and success of this

institution that we serve. Greater diversity enhances the Navy’s flexibility and expands

our collective problem-solving capabilities. We defend the greatest nation in the world.

The strength of our diversity directly and irrefutably helps us do so. The Navy will stay

committed to improving that strength ("Navy Recruiting Command," n. d., p. 1).

Sub-themes.

Themes that emerged in addition to the major themes supported the remaining four

research questions of Q2: “How are officer recruiters selected for recruiting assignments?” Q3:

“How is recruiting for minorities and diversity performed to ensure success?” Q4: “What are

the demographics of the current recruiters?” The research sub-questions were explored in the

context of impression management. Impression management is significant with respect to how

organizations engage in posturing to present themselves in the best light for potential applicants

(Lievens, 2007).

Sub-theme 1: Recruiter selection. All recruiters volunteer for recruiting duty. When

asked the question, “How did you get selected for recruiting duty?” 100% of participants

responded by volunteering for the special assignment. A follow-up question was asked, “What

are some of the reasons you became a recruiter?” 44% of participants agreed that helping others

gave them a sense of giving back to the community, 18% believed that a chance to relocate

within the boundaries of their hometown was a motivator for becoming a recruiter, and 14% of

the participants expressed a desire for a challenge or a change of job duties motivated them to

become a recruiter. The significance of questioning that focused on recruiter selection may

82

provide insight for Navy leadership when determining a good fit for the organization and the

demands of recruiting duty.

Sub-theme 2: Minority and diversity success measures. The rationale behind exploring

success measures for minority and diversity recruiting stemmed from the goals set by senior

naval leadership. The Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Roughead, set the officer diversity

goal for 2037 to reflect 64% officer diversity (Blowers, 2008). When asked the question “What

did you do to ensure recruiting for diversity was successful (as measured by the Navy diversity

officer goal attainment) defined by your organization?” 18% of participants indicated that

targeting diversity populations was the measure of success while 7% of participants revealed that

showing others their success in the Navy was the measure of success. An additional

unanticipated theme appeared in response to the question, 30% of participants responded that

they were not sure how success was measured or did not respond to the question.

Sub-theme 3: Recruiter demographics. Research indicated that members of in-groups

engage in social preferences to members of the same group at an increased rate over members of

the out-group (D. W. Campbell et al., 2010), and that people who see leaders who possess

similar ethnic backgrounds or similar physical characteristics are drawn to the organization

(Eagly & J. L. Chin, 2010). Shared social identity can be seen as the basis of productive

interaction between people (S. A. Haslam et al., 2009) and served as the foundation for gathering

recruiter demographics.

The gender distribution for the 27 NROTC recruiters is 92.59% male and 7.41% female.

On average, women hold nearly 46% of senior leadership positions in the United States

(Terjesen & Singh, 2008). The ethnicity distribution was 64.29% Caucasian, 25% African

American, 7.14% Latino, and 3.4% Asian Pacific Islander. The ratio of diversity and ethnicity

83

for NROTC recruiters across the nation does not reflect the ratio of diversity and ethnicity that

the Navy wants to achieve. The age distribution revealed that 80.77% of NROTC officer

recruiters are 31 and older while 19.23% are between the ages of 26 to 30. The eligibility age

range for candidates is 17 to 27. Candidates are ineligible to apply for the NROTC program if

they have reached their 27th birthday by the year they are projected to graduate from college

(USN, 2010).

Last, the distribution for NROTC officer recruiter experience was 42.86% had 1-2 years

recruiting, 28.57% had less than six months recruiting, 21.43% had recruited for six months to a

year, and 7.14% had three to four years recruiting experience. The significance of recruiter

experience was revealed with the depth of answers to questions that focused on measuring goal

achievement. Participants who reported having less than one year of recruiting experience

accounted for 62% of the blank answers given.

Implications and Significance of findings

NROTC officer recruiters responsible for attracting minority and diversity officer

candidates found success through the use of literature and media on the benefits of the program.

Impression management literature recommends that organizations engage creating a positive

impression through the use of several techniques, which include manipulation of literature and

media (Avery & McKay, 2006; Bolino et al., 2008). Military attraction can be enhanced through

brand packaging (Lievens, 2007). NROTC officer recruiter have reported engaging in

impression management through conducting presentations targeted toward highlighting what the

Navy’s program can do for potential candidates.

The findings revealed a significant departure from literature that uses the social identity

construct as a basis for group affiliation (Armor & Gilroy, 2010; De Rue & Ashford, 2010; Ng &

84

Burke, 2005). Recruiters lived experiences while engaging in attraction practices did not reveal

an affiliation with group identity positively or negatively. The responses from the participants

were of a sense of duty to perform the job with no respect to group affiliation.

Unconscious thought theory (UTT) was a part of the conceptual framework that guided

the research study. Scholars who have studied UTT proposed that thinking overnight on

thoughts lead to better decision-making (Dijksterhuis & Nordgren, 2006; Waroquier et al., 2010).

Opponents of UTT suggested that unconscious thought does not necessarily result in better

decision-making (Newell et al., 2009). The current research study sought to explore if recruiters

engaged in UTT when deciding which candidates to approach to begin the attraction process.

The participants did not disclose any information that would have substantiated or negated UTT

in practice while engaged in attracting minority and diversity officer candidates.

Implications to Leadership

The changing demographics in the United States have brought attention to the

demographics of leadership in organizations (Buttner, Lowe, & Billings-Harris, 2009; Stevens et

al., 2008). Leaders in organizations may wish to enhance strategies aimed at the available

minority and diversity in the pool of potential workers. The primary method used by NROTC

recruiters was the colorblind approach, which ignores cultural group identities focusing on the

overarching common affiliation goal (Stevens et al., 2008). Treating all people the same was the

approach used by recruiters who engaged in attraction practices. Research has shown the

colorblind approach works well for organizations whose majority group membership is the same

but can be perceived as devaluing racial differences for others (Stevens et al., 2008). The

effectiveness of using the colorblind approach by NROTC officer recruiters could not be

established. The practices involving visits to schools and locations with a concentration of

85

diversity markets were attraction tools that officer recruiters used. Organizational leaders may

consider adopting similar practices to attract minority and diversity markets.

Senior Navy leadership touts that the Navy is recognized for its best practices in diversity

outreach, and stating that with the class of 2014, the Naval Academy reached 35% minority

admissions and the Navy ROTC reached 40% (Watterworth, 2001 p. 2). The efforts of officer

recruiters are making an impact and the current research study may provide insights into how

results happen. The subject of diversity in the Navy has been discussed and documented over

the last 50 years; literature on best practices to increase diversity among the leadership ranks has

been void. The perspectives of 27 NROTC officer recruiters across the nation contributed to the

gap in literature on attraction best practices in the Navy for minority and diversity populations.

Reflection of Experience

The current research study on the lived experiences of NROTC recruiters proved to be a

learning experience in understanding the depth of phenomenological research methods. I gained

a deeper understanding of Phenomenology as a philosophy during the research. A deeper level

of cognitive learning took place when determining phenomenological practices in data collection

and data synthesis. My years of successfully recruiting for diversity and minority officers

through the NROTC program was a bias that Epoche helped to constrain. Selection of social

identity theory along with unconscious thought theory derived from my requisite experience in

Navy ROTC recruiting. As a result of my prior successful recruiting, a paradox was presented

by the Navy’s reported shortfalls in minority and diversity officer goal attainment, especially

during a time when projected demographics held that minority and diversity populations were

increasing.

86

Questionnaires served as a good data collection tool to decrease the effects of researcher

bias that could have influenced participant responses using in person interviews (Huberman &

Miles, 2002; Shank, 2006). Ineffective communication of goals, particularly on the process of

exactly how to recruit for minorities and diversity officer candidates, was a preconception in the

beginning stages of the literature review. A low response rate because of the pressures involved

with recruiting was anticipated. The stages of learning during the research process yielded the

opposite results. With respect to communication of goals, none of the participants disclosed

unawareness of the goals that the Navy has set to increase minority and diversity officer

attainment.

Recruiters with less than one year experience (30%) who reported unawareness to

measure recruiting success or did not respond to understanding how to measure recruiting

success was a surprise as discussed in chapter 4. Drawing from my years of recruiting

experience, I anticipated that every recruiter would know what the goals are in recruiting, to

include the goals to increase minority and diversity future leadership. The efforts of the Navy to

communicate the percentages of projected minority and diversity goals have been well

documented (Fuentes, 2007, 2010; K. Barrett, 2009, 2010, 2010a; Wiltrout, 2008) in both official

Navy publications and Navy news magazines. Navy recruiting is a goal-oriented business that is

built around the philosophy of goal achievement. Communication of population goals for

recruitment is done from the smallest levels within the organization to the highest levels of

international audiences (Sellman, 2000). The unawareness to measure recruiting success was not

anticipated based on the amount of published literature available on Navy recruiting goals.

However, based on my 21 years of Navy experience, I strongly recommend an overhaul of the

rewards systems for goal attainment in Navy. Currently, recruiters who are responsible for

87

attracting future naval officers through the NROTC program are generally not rewarded the same

as recruiters who are responsible for enlisted goals. Second, I would recommend that junior

officers become recruiters for future officers through the NROTC program only. Because

current Navy leaders have the experience of upper management, and because future officer

candidates selected to the NROTC program will share those same lived experiences, the match

of officer recruiters to officer candidates has the potential to produce a better fit. With respect to

the anticipation of a low response rate, 100% success rate was achieved. Telephone calls were

made to all 26 recruiting districts. One of the districts has two officer recruiters who participated

in the study. The recruiters were very friendly and receptive to participation in the research and

no information was disclosed during telephone conversations about recruiting experience.

The phenomenological approach used in the current research study demanded reflexivity

during each phase from planning research questions, to selecting the conceptual framework,

planning the most appropriate data collection instrumentation and method, data analysis, and

presentation of results. An increased level of understanding on the rigor involved in qualitative

research ensued. A deeper level of consideration was achieved for leadership in organizations

who have the responsibility to increase diversity in the workplace.

Recommendations

McCarty-Kilian et al. (2005) posit that there is a need for increased levels of diversity in

senior leadership positions. Diversity is a necessary element to move organizations forward in a

global business environment. Benefits of diversity in senior leadership have been reported to

exist on group levels (Fairhurst & Grant, 2010), dyad levels (Livi, Kenny, Albright, & Pierro,

2008) and individual levels. Group and dyad levels are the recommended focus for future

inquiry on minority and diversity attraction methods. More scholarly research on the diversity

88

construct, with respect to offering a more congruent definition of what diversity may look like in

the 21st century, would prove helpful in offering ways to incorporate a new and emerging

constructs to the changing demographics in America.

For Higher Education.

The case has been made for diversity in higher education with respect to faculty

representation ethnically and with regard to gender (Dey, 2008; Johnson, 2011). Scholars are

expected to emerge from institutions of higher learning and more awareness is necessary with

regard to the changing demographics in America, and the increased importance of diversity

leadership. Conversations that center on what diversity is and is not should be more prevalent in

courses held at the graduate level. Drawing from over 13 years of post-secondary education that

I have been involved with, there has been a lack of courses that address minority and diversity

leadership. Higher education may benefit from the results of this study by tapping into the

attraction methods expressed by the voices of the participants in developing models of attraction

methods aimed at increasing minority and diversity leadership in the faculty that seems to be a

concern (Johnson, 2011).

Leadership.

Little consistency was found on the definition of diversity in a leadership context

(Stevens et al., 2008) and diversity must be defined to plan for measuring successful attainment

(Lim, Cho, & Curry, 2008). A plethora of literature exists on the need for diversity (Armor &

Gilroy, 2010; Christie, 2009; Kelly, 2011; Office of the Assistance Secretary of the Navy for

Manpower and Reserve Affairs, 2011; Blowers, 2008; Ryan & Tippins, 2004; Stauffer, 2008)

that suggests that leadership needs more research guidance on how to increase minority and

diversity representation in both civilian and military organizations. Research that focuses on an

89

attraction best practices from recruiter experiences may be most helpful to leadership by

providing key information in diversity management (Mujtaba & Sungkhawan, 2009).

Further research.

The current research study sought to explore the lived experiences of recruiters who

engage in attraction practices with a focus on minority and diversity officer candidates. The

phenomenological approach was taken to explore perceptions surrounding the Navy’s failure to

reach projected officer targets. Research focusing on the lived experiences of graduates of the

NROTC program may produce insight into the attraction practices that led to recruitment.

Graduates of the program are serving in Navy leadership roles and have the potential to provide

the best source of information.

Replication of the current research study is suggested with a different qualitative method

such as grounded theory approach. Literature suggests that understanding diversity leadership

demands a diversity science (Plaut, 2010). Grounded theory has the potential to add to diversity

science by allowing the experiences of the people involved in attraction practices to dictate a

new emerging theory. Replication of the current research study in the Army, Air Force, and

Marines exploring attraction practices of officer recruiters in each branch may offer a cross-

sectional analysis of minority and diversity representation.

Summary

A discussion on themes found in chapter 4 serves as an introduction to the discussions

found in chapter 5 on the top three attraction techniques used by NROTC recruiters, 1) engaging

in dynamic dialogue with qualified candidates regardless of gender or ethnicity, 2) promoting the

benefits of the program, and 3) conducting NROTC presentations. The significance of findings

revealed that social identity and group identity were not strong motivators for recruiter attraction

90

methods. Specifically, the assumption that unconscious thought theory played a significant role

in the decision to approach potential candidates was not supported from the research study. The

recruiter insights have the potential to help leaders gain a greater understanding about attracting

candidates through the use of impression management. Reflections of experience revealed

knowledge gained on the complexity of the phenomenological research method.

Recommendations for leadership and further research supported replication of the study as

viewed from a different population. As the United States becomes more diverse, attention to

diversity should be of concern to all aspects of business, academia, public policy, and research

(Alire, 2001; Diversity, 2011; Eagly & J. L. Chin, 2010; J. L. Chin & Sanchez-Hucles, 2007;

McCarty-Kilian et al., 2005; Plaut, 2010).

91

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Appendix A: Additional Information Form

Participant ID: ___________

PURPOSE

The purpose of the research study is to explore the lived experiences of the attraction and

recruitment process from the perspective of Navy officer recruiters in the United States. Thank

you for your participation in the research study. The research may help organizations to improve

minority and diversity attraction and recruitment practices for officer candidates.

FORWARDING INFORMATION FOR RESEARCH RESULTS

Please complete the following (optional) information only if you wish questionnaire results

mailed to you.

Today’s Date: _________________

Your name: _______________________________________

Your mailing address: ___________________________________________

___________________________________________

___________________________________________

Would you be willing to participate in future research? ____ Yes ____ No

Comments

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

113

Appendix B: Informed Consent Form  

UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX

INFORMED CONSENT: PARTICIPANTS 18 YEARS OF AGE AND OLDER

Dear NROTC Recruiter,

My name is Scena Webb and I am a student at the University of Phoenix working on a doctoral

degree. I am conducting a research study entitled “Attracting qualified minority and diversity

naval officer candidates: A phenomenological study”. The purpose of the research study is to

explore the lived experiences of the attraction process from the perspective of Navy officer

recruiters in the United States. The study will explore what causes recruiters to engage in

attraction practices aimed at qualified minority and diversity officer candidates from the

perspective of conscious and unconscious thought theory and group theory. The study will

examine the link between attraction to members of the same ethnic or racial group as recruiters

and attraction to members not of the same ethnic or racial groups.

Your participation will involve answering a short questionnaire that has 10 questions which

should take about 10 minutes. Your participation in this study is voluntary. If you choose not to

participate or to withdraw from the study at any time, you can do so without penalty or loss of

benefit to yourself. The results of the research study may be published but your identity will

remain confidential and your name will not be disclosed to any outside party.

In this research, there are no foreseeable risks to you except: Time constraints of participating in

the questionnaire. To lessen time constraints, the questionnaire will be delivered directly to your

email address for your convenience.

Although there may be no direct benefit to you, a possible benefit of your participation is your

insights could provide organizations interested in increasing minority and diversity leadership

with relevant information they may use to attract more minority future leaders. For the Navy

114

specifically, the results may assist senior leadership in their efforts to increase minority and

diversity officer representation to higher levels.

If you have any questions concerning the research study, please call me at 1-800-618-9736 or by

email at scena.webb@gmail.com.

As a participant in this study, you should understand the following:

You may decline to participate or withdraw from participation at any time without consequences.

Your identity will be kept confidential.

Scena Webb, the researcher, has thoroughly explained the parameters of the research study and

all of your questions and concerns have been addressed.

In the event interviewing becomes a part of the data collection method, all interviews will be

recorded; you must grant permission for the researcher, Scena Webb, to digitally record the

interview. You understand that the information from the recorded interviews may be

transcribed. The researcher will structure a coding process to assure that anonymity of your

name is protected.

Data will be stored in a secure and locked area on the researcher’s home premises. The data will

be held for a period of three years, and then destroyed.

The research results will be used for publication.

“By signing this form you acknowledge that you understand the nature of the study, the potential

risks to you as a participant, and the means by which your identity will be kept confidential.

Your signature on this form also indicates that you are 18 years old or older and that you give

your permission to voluntarily serve as a participant in the study described.”

Signature of the interviewee _____________________________ Date _____________

Signature of the researcher ______________________________ Date _____________

115

Appendix C: Questionnaire

Purpose of the questionnaire is to explore the lived experiences of NROTC officer recruiters in two ways. (1) To understand how minority and diversity candidates are attracted, and (2) To understand how officer recruiters are selected. Ultimately, your insights may offer the best avenue to explore minority and diversity naval officer attraction practices for my dissertation research.

It is very important to hear from you because you are often times the first contact that potential NROTC candidates will have to the Navy. I may be contacted at any time by using the contact information provided. An Additional Information Form is attached to use if you would like to receive the results of this research.

What is your gender? Male ____ Female ____

Please indicate your ethnicity or the ethnicity you most closely belong to:

African American _____

Asian/Pacific Islander _____

Latino _____

Native American _____

Alaskan Native _____

Caucasian _____

Please indicate your age range. 18 to 20 years of age _____; 21 to 25 years of age _____;

26 to 30 years of age _____; 31 and over _____.

How long have you been a NROTC recruiter? Less than 6 months _____; 6 month to 1 year _____

1 to 2 years _____; 3 to 4 years ____; Over 4 years _____

What department do you work in? Officer Programs (OPO) ______ or Enlisted Programs (EPO) _____

What are some of the techniques you use to attract minority officer candidates?

What are some of the techniques you use to attract diversity officer candidates?

What are some of the reasons you became a recruiter?

How did you get selected for recruiting duty?

What did you do to ensure recruiting for diversity was successful (as measured by the Navy diversity officer goal

attainment) defined by your organization?

PROCEDURE TO WITHDRAW FROM THE STUDY:

You may withdraw from the study at any time, you can do so without penalty or loss of benefit to yourself by

selecting this withdrawal option on this form: _______ (an X in this block indicates withdrawal).

Thank you again for your participation