Enlistment Supply, Recruiter Objectives, and the All-Volunteer Army

James N. Dertouzos

ResearchPublished 1984

In an empirical study of Army recruiting data, RAND concluded that demand factors such as recruiter quotas and incentives to achieve and exceed them play a critical role in the determination of enlistments. Recruiters who achieve high-quality quotas are less likely to be induced by existing incentives to increase their productivity than are those who do not achieve high-quality quotas. Thus, resource expenditures meant to induce an increase in potential supply may not result in actual high-quality enlistments because recruiters do not have incentives to secure them. Two major research and policy implications emerge: (1) Future attempts to project enlistments or to analyze the role of supply factors must consider demand factors explicitly; and (2) the effectiveness of resource expenditures can be enhanced dramatically if appropriate incentives exist for recruiters.

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Document Details

  • Copyright: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Web-Only
  • Year: 1984
  • Pages: 29
  • Document Number: P-7022

Citation

RAND Style Manual
Dertouzos, James N., Enlistment Supply, Recruiter Objectives, and the All-Volunteer Army, RAND Corporation, P-7022, 1984. As of September 11, 2024: https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P7022.html
Chicago Manual of Style
Dertouzos, James N., Enlistment Supply, Recruiter Objectives, and the All-Volunteer Army. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1984. https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P7022.html.
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