Mass Media Effects on Recruiting

Agenda

Purpose- Nate Garcia Literature Review- Brandan Schulze Methods- Jon McMillan Results- Natalie Granger Discussion- Victoria Jennings Conclusion- Jason Bortz

Introduction

Army, Marines miss recruiting goals

The Problem:

Recruiting challenges: Recruiting is not an easy task. “So the recruiters are having to work much harder out there right now,” said Gen. M. W. Hagee, Marine Corps Commandant.

Post 9/11 media coverage (NBC & New York Times) reported: Army National Guard missed recruiting goal for first time

in 10 years in 2004. (Moniz, 2004) Army misses in 2005. April 2005, Army misses for 3rd month in a row and

Marines miss for 4th month. (Miklaszewski, 2005)

Purpose of the Study

The Question:

Purpose: What forms of mass media were parents and young adults using that could effect perceptions of the military.

Images of war, death, danger, and war made salient through media. The number of war images doubled after 9/11. (Zelizer, 2004)

Importance to recruiting: Help recruiting commands focus their efforts on most influential forms of mass media

Literature Review

Cultivation

Virtually undisputed that media images and television are related to perceptions of social reality (Shrum, 2001)

Although Gerbner’s cultivation theory is used only in the case of television, using a modified form of the cultivation theory is not unprecedented. (Lubbers & Sheepers, 2000; Van Mierlo & Van den Bulck, 2003; Hawkins & Pingree, 1981; Pfau, Moy, & Kahlor, 1999)

News

Can be portrayed on TV, print, radio, and Internet

Generally show the most dramatic images about the war

News, especially programs containing violence, have a greater influence upon beliefs than fictional media (Geen, 1975; Atkin, 1983).

H1: Those who rely more on the news for information about the military will have negative attitudes about a) the military and about b) serving in the military.

Entertainment

The top 3 military movies in the last year (Annapolis, Stealth, Jarhead) brought in a combined $50 million on the opening weekend alone.

Entertainment media find popular stars to play leads while glamorizing each character as the hero who saves the day.

H2: Those who rely more on entertainment for information about the military will have positive attitudes about a) the military and about b) serving in the military.H3: Compared to parents, young adults manifest more positive attitudes about a) the military and about b) serving in the military.

Advertising

Internet chat rooms and blogs, Internet pop-ups, television and radio, and product placement.

Because youth constantly change messages they are most susceptible to (Goodman & Dretzin, 2001) military must constantly look for new, inventive ways to deliver messages to their target audience.

H4: Those who rely more on advertisements for information about the military will have positive attitudes about joining the military.

Conversations

Can be conversations with friends, classmates/coworkers, or family members.

Dependent upon context, but during war time we expect more conversations about the news, especially between adolescents/parents, and in the classroom/at work.

H5: Those who rely more on conversations for information about the military will have negative attitudes toward a) the military and about b) serving in the military.

H6: Both parents and young adults, who have military experience within the immediate family, will have positive attitudes about a) the military and about b) joining the military.

Parental Influence

Earlier study sponsored by the U.S. Army Research Institute showed parental attitudes were likely to have a strong influence on an adolescent’s decision to join the military. (Legree et al., 2000)

Used survey data from 1987. Deserves another look due to change in the media environment and for data during a time of war.

Parental Influence

H7: Parents who manifest more positive attitudes toward the military will be more likely to support their young adults joining the military.

H8: Young adults who manifest more positive attitudes toward the military will be more likely to express an interest in joining the military.

Methods

Survey

A one-panel telephone survey was conducted by the students in the DoD JCC.

Telephone surveys were conducted from February 18 – 25, 2006.

1014 households in Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma were called with an 11.75% response rate.

N=119.

Demographics

Parents=71, Young Adults=48 Males=64, Females=55 Married=62, Single=57 Race:

- Caucasian: 79% - African-American: 8%- Hispanic: 6.7% - Other: 3.8%- Native American/Pacific Islander: 2.5 %

Income: - Under $25,000: 5% - $25,000 - $34,999: 7.6% - $35,000 - $44,999: 4.2% - $45,000 - $54,999:

6.7% - $55,000 - $74,999: 13.4% - $75,000 – $89,999: 7.6% - Above $90,000: 8.4%

Independent Measures

Media use and attention served as the I/Vs. The context of the I/Vs was the respondents exposure to

media used as a source of information about the military and how much attention the respondents paid to the media that served as a source of information about the military.

Two 10-point scales (1=rarely/no attention, 10=frequently/close attention) were used to measure the independent variables (McLeod & McDonald, 1985).

Media was grouped into: News, entertainment, advertising and conversations.

Dependent Measures

Overall attitudes about the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Army and the U.S. military presence in Iraq served as D/Vs.

Attitudes were assessed using a global attitude measure across media forms adapted from Burgoon, Cohen, Miller and Montgomery (1978). The measure was a six-point bipolar adjective scale.

Alpha levels for all bipolar scales were above .9

Dependent Measures

Thermometer scales (0 to 100) were used to measure the likelihood of young adults serving in the military. (Asher, 1998). (0=not at all, 100=extremely likely)

No alpha levels due to scale being a single-item indicator

An eight-point scale (Horowitz, et. al., 2005) was used to measure parent/young adult discussions about the military. (0=never, 7=a lot)

Results

Results

H 1: Those who rely more on the news for information about the military will have negative attitudes about the military and about serving in it.

Partially supported. Radio news did predict attitude about the military and about

serving in it. Newspaper and national television news use were not

predictors. H 2: Those who rely more on entertainment for

information about the military will have positive attitudes about the military and about serving in it.

Partially supported. 7-point Likert-type attitudinal scale measures did not predict. Single item thermometer scale was a significant predictor.

Results

Additionally, we were interested in predictors about people’s attitude about the military presence in Iraq. Significant predictors: income, newspaper, television

entertainment, movies depicting the military Young adults and parents reading newspaper or

watching television entertainment shows had negative attitudes about the war in Iraq.

Results

Table 1Significant Demographic and Gratification Predictors For Supporting the War in Iraq

Significance Predictor

BetaDependent Variable______________________________________________________________________________ Attitude aboutU.S. military .050 Income .27 presence in Iraq

.001 Paper Use -.52

.017 TV Entertainment -.43

.026 Military Movies .54

______________________________________________________________________________Note: Overall attitude was assessed using a global attitude measure adapted from Burgoon, Cohen,

Miller, and Montgomery (1978). The measure is a 7-interval bipolar adjective scale. Multiple item indicators were used to include; unacceptable/acceptable, foolish/wise, unfavorable/favorable, negative/positive, bad/good, and wrong/right.

Results

H 7: Parents with positive attitudes toward the military will be more likely to support their young adults joining the military.

H 8: Young adults with positive attitudes toward the military will be more likely to express an interest in joining the military

Supported.* Correlation matrix computed. Parents with a positive view of military were more likely to

support child joining the military.r = .38 to .86

Young adult with a positive view of military was more likely to join.r = .38 to .77

Results

Table 2 Correlation Matrix for Young Adults Attitude about the Military and Likelihood of Joining the Military

Interest in Joining

Attitude

Likelihood of Joining Marine Corps

Likelihood of Joining Army

Single Item Indicator of Enlisting

Attitude toward Marine Corps

.67** .41** .30*

Attitude Toward the Army

.24 .58** .24#

n =48 #p<.10 *p<.05 ** p < .01

Results

Table 3 Correlation Matrix for Parents Attitude about the Military and Likelihood of Encouraging Young Adults to Join the Military

Support for Joining Likelihood of

Joining Marine Corps

Likelihood of Joining Army

Single Item Indicator Enlistment

Attitude toward Marine Corps

.76** .63** .51**

Attitude Toward the Army

.70** .77** .38**

n =71 #p<.10 *p<.05 ** p < .01

Results

H 3: Compared to parents, young adults manifest more positive attitudes about the military and about serving in the it.

Partially supported. *One-way MANCOVA- Parents and young adults did not differ on attitudes or

support for joining the military.- However, according to pattern of means, parents were

more supportive of youth joining the Army or Marines than young adults.

- Gender showed significant differences on joining the Army.

Results

H 4: Those who rely more on advertisements for information about the military will have positive attitudes about joining the military.

H 5: Those who rely more on conversations for information about the military will have negative attitudes toward the military and about serving in it.

H6: Both parents and young adults, who have military experience within the immediate family, will have positive attitudes about the military and about joining it.

Not supported.

*Lacking power in sample*

Discussion

Discussion

Power: The significant power of our research was hampered by a small sample size

We were able to generate several findings

Discussion

Results found that radio news was greatest predictor of attitude about the military and serving in it

Use of radio news= less positive attitude about both services

Also found ethnicity, newspaper use, entertainment television and movies depicting military were significant predictors determining likelihood of serving

Discussion

News may undermine, but entertainment may enhance recruitment efforts.

Single item thermometer measures, in contrast with 7 pt. likert attitudinal scales provide support Greater use of newspapers and entertainment TV reduce

chances of joining Greater use of movies depicting military enhanced chances

of joining Media use predicted attitudes about the war in Iraq

Greater use of newspapers and entertainment TV undermine support

Greater use of movies depicting military enhance support

Discussion

Higher income + talk radio use= increased likelihood of USMC support

Higher income = increased likelihood of Army support

Income a significant predictor in likelihood of joining both services

Discussion

Adolescents and parents who have a positive attitude about the military are more likely to support the idea of joining the military.

Supports Legree et al. (2000) study’s suggestion that parental reports of positive attitudes are associated with adolescent enlistment behavior.

Discussion

There was a difference between adult and adolescent attitudes regarding the Marine Corps and Army

Likelihood of joining either service did not differ between groups Gender did affect likelihood of joining the Army

Discussion

Not supported: use of advertisements as a source of military information = positive attitudes about the military

Not supported: Military experience in the immediate family = positive attitude about the military and serving in the military

Why?

Limitations

Location – expand to nationwide Age – should be 17 – 29 for youth Time – more time = larger sample Size* - need at least 200

Conclusion

Conclusion

Recruiting will always be a challenge Evolving technologies Wealth of media options Future research could help military

Mass Media Effects on Recruiting