One of the biggest challenges transitioning veterans face post-service is successful reintegration into the civilian workforce. The rules are different, what people care about is different, the relationships are different, and the goals are different. Achieving goals is one of the defining attributes of military service, and then all of a sudden…you’re in the rat race with everyone else; and the lost feelings of structure, mission and camaraderie can be very difficult for many veterans to overcome. 

Sense of purpose, being motivated by valued life goals to serve a higher life ambition, can help transitioning veterans cope with post-service challenges. Importantly, entrepreneurial activity can also help facilitate veterans’ post service transition by allowing them to leverage valuable skills earned through military service including leadership, discipline, and situational adaptability. Very little is understood about the relationship between veterans’ sense of purpose and their post-service entrepreneurial activity.

Drivers of veterans’ entrepreneurial activity

Because veterans’ post-service outcomes are important, but receive relatively little attention in either the academic or practitioner literatures, our focus in the study “Veteran entrepreneurship and a sense of purpose: Military identity and entrepreneurial activity”, published in the Journal of Business Venturing Insights, is on the relationship between veterans’ sense of purpose and their post-service involvement in entrepreneurial activity. The relationship between veterans’ sense of purpose and their involvement in post-service entrepreneurial activity is important because deepened understanding of what drives veteran’s entrepreneurial activity opens pathways to help service members transition to civilian life. Importantly, we still know very little about what drives these important post-service behaviors, particularly among transitioning veterans. Insight into drivers of entrepreneurial activity represents actionable insight for policy makers and decision makers focused on veterans’ post-service well-being and health.

The role of sense of purpose and military identity

We studied the relationship between veterans’ sense of purpose and their entrepreneurial activity with data collected from a sample of 932 veterans associated with the Military Health and Well-Being Project. We analyzed the data from this large-scale survey using conventional regression techniques and found robust support for our study model.

Based on our findings, we proposed that veterans with a sense of purpose are significantly more likely to be involved in entrepreneurial activity, and that facets of military identity impact this relationship. Consistent with our predictions in the study, veterans with a stronger sense of purpose are statistically (and practically) significantly more likely to be involved in entrepreneurial activity. We also find that this relationship is stronger for idealistic veterans (i.e., a facet of military identity that reflects veterans’ personal obligation to serve, coupled with feelings of pride in contributing to the collective good); while professionalism (a facet of military identity reflecting an instrumental focus on military participation) weakens this relationship.

Why do these findings matter and for whom?

The US military, in collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Labor annually collectively channel more than $13 billion dollars through the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) to help service members transition to civilian life. But evidence of the effectiveness of the TAP is mixed; with critics raising concerns that too much emphasis is placed on higher education and insufficient focus on post-service employment. The US Army’s Global Assessment Tool already includes a measure of Sense of Purpose (e.g., the Spiritual Fitness measure).  The findings from the current study could be leveraged by key gatekeepers to improve the TAP and improve outcomes for transitioning service members.

Actionable takeaways

Service personnel scores on the Spiritual Fitness Measure could be used by personnel associated with the TAP or other veteran support programs to help screen transitioning service members for entrepreneurship training emphasizing financial management, marketing, sales and business operations. This approach could help the programs directly address the employment focus gap, increase ROI, improve transition outcomes and help veterans to find meaningful work that helps them satisfy both service and economic goals.

Who should read the full paper?

The full paper should be read by transitioning service members, veterans and administrators/ officials tasked with helping to clear a path forward toward successful post-service employment opportunities for transitioning veterans. Transitioning service personnel face a substantial hurdle as they move from a life defined by goals and objectives and meaningful work back into the cadence of civilian life.  

Read the full article here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352673425000447

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Authors

• Daniel G. Bachrach (Culverhouse College of Business, University of Alabama)
• Pankaj C. Patel (Villanova School of Business, Villanova University)
• Joseph S. Turberville (Culverhouse College of Business, University of Alabama)
• Younsung Cho (Culverhouse College of Business, University of Alabama)