Date of Award

Spring 5-2017

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Human Capital Development

School

Interdisciplinary Studies and Professional Development

Committee Chair

Quincy Brown

Committee Chair Department

Human Capital Development

Committee Member 2

Heather M. Annulis

Committee Member 2 Department

Human Capital Development

Committee Member 3

Cyndi H. Gaudet

Committee Member 3 Department

Human Capital Development

Committee Member 4

Dale L. Lunsford

Committee Member 4 Department

Human Capital Development

Abstract

Sexual assault, sexual harassment, and unprofessional relationships are inconsistent with U.S. Air Force vision to foster a culture that promotes dignity and respect. These problems reduce military readiness and retention of talented personnel while increasing costs to taxpayers. To combat these problems, the U.S. Air Force revised its sexual assault prevention and reporting curriculum to employ affective engagement techniques at four technical training campuses. Curriculum developers employed plausible vignettes, storytelling, and classroom debate to create an emotional connection to the sexual assault prevention and reporting lessons. The objective of the revised curriculum was to change the organizational culture to one of dignity and respect. The purpose of this research is to answer the following questions: Does increasing the affective engagement of SAPR curriculum influence organizational culture on Air Force technical training campuses? The research relies on secondary analysis of two student surveys developed by the Air Force to measure changes in organizational culture. This study analyzes end-of-course survey data collected from 363 students receiving the original curriculum and 338 students receiving the revised curriculum in independent groups. Training-climate survey data is analyzed as a time-series, illustrating perceptions of 3,378 students where the curriculum did not change and 6,698 students surveyed at locations where the curriculum did change. The research measures changes in organizational culture by evaluating trends in student perceptions of organizational tolerance of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and unprofessional relationships. Additionally, end-of-course survey data compares beliefs about consequences, perceived norms, and control factor behaviors. The time-series data showed no significant improvement in the experimental groups over the control groups that coincided with the change in curriculum. To the contrary, organizational tolerance of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and unprofessional relationships improved in the control groups over the time-period of the study. However, experimental groups did not show any discernable improvement. Revising only the curriculum, as done in this study, did not correspond to a change in the organizational culture within the technical training environment. Future research should consider changing the delivery timing and venue of training to complement the curriculum.

ORCID ID

0000-0003-4728-703X

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