Mass Media Effects on Recruiting

1. Mass Media Effects on Recruiting

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

3. Introduction

4. 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)

5. 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

6. Literature Review

7. 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)

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. Methods

15. 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.

16. 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%

17. 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.

18. 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

19. 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)

20. Results

21. 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.

22. 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.

23. Results Table 1 Significant Demographic and Gratification Predictors For Supporting the War in Iraq Significance Predictor Beta Dependent Variable ______________________________________________________________________________ Attitude about U.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.

24. 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

25. Results

26. Results

27. 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.

28. 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*

29. Discussion

30. Discussion • Power: The significant power of our research was hampered by a small sample size • We were able to generate several findings

31. 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

32. 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

33. 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

34. 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.

35. 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

36. 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?

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

38. Conclusion

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

40. Mass Media Effects on Recruiting