Navy Recruiter Incentives and Motivation: A Survey of Enlisted Recruiters

This thesis analyzes factors affecting Navy recruiter motivation to meet mission requirements. Commander, Navy Recruiting Command publishes an annual awards instruction that highlights many awards which recruiters can work toward. Current motivational theory identifies two basic sources of worker motivation, extrinsic and intrinsic rewards. Additionally, civilian sales forces tend to employ tangible benefits, such as cash bonuses and other forms of compensation, to reward productive sales representatives. The question is which of these sources and which of these kinds of awards motivate the Navys sales force, their recruiters. An online survey solicited the current enlisted recruiting force to determine their attitudes toward incentives. Survey results determined the following recruiters rank intangible incentives higher than tangibles, a proposed goal sabbatical and proposed cash awards rank highest of all tangible incentives studied, and recruiter attitudes toward incentives vary according to their status paygrade, whether or not they volunteered for recruiting duty, and if they belong to the Career Recruiting Force. A positive command climate is determined to be the number one factor in motivating recruiters to meet mission requirements.