Exploring the Causal Relationship between Factors Affecting US Army Recruitment
Date
2021
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Proceedings of the Annual General Donald R. Keith Memorial Conference
Abstract
Every year, United States Army Recruiting Command (USAREC) dedicates considerable resources to recruiting and accessing soldiers. As the largest branch of the United States Armed Forces, the Army must meet a high recruiting quota while competing in the free-labor market for quality recruits. Over the past two decades, the Army’s success in recruiting ebbed and flowed within the broader context of society and global events. While numerous studies have examined the statistical relationship between factors associated with recruitment, these studies are observational and definitively ascribing causality in retrospect is difficult. With this in mind, we apply fuzzy cognitive mapping (FCM), a graphical method of representing uncertainty in a dynamic system, to model and explore the complex causal relationships between factors. We conclude our paper with implications for USAREC’s efforts, as well as our model’s limitations and opportunities for future work.
Description
item.page.type
Conference presentations, papers, posters
item.page.format
Keywords
United States Army Recruiting Command (USAREC), Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping (FCM), Recruiting
Citation
Graham Ungrady and Matthew Dabkowski, 2021. "Exploring the Causal Relationship between Factors Affecting US Army Recruitment". Proceedings of the Annual General Donald R. Keith Memorial Conference.