Job Characteristics, Day-to-Day Experiences, and Military Career Adaptation: Moderating Role by Person-Job-Fit

Abstract

Nigerian military war against terrorism, banditry, insurgents, and internal security challenges seem to be in anguish and perceived to be defective because of awful organizational leadership, operational incompetence and answerability, questionable procurement practices, and recruitment system. Our study investigated job characteristics, day-to-day experiences, and military career adaptation: the moderating role of person-job-fit based on the theory of purposive behavior career and person-job-fit. Participants for our study comprised (200) military personnel drawn through convenient and heterogeneous purposive sampling methods from six army divisions. The Job Characteristics Scale, Day-to-Day Experiences Scale, Person-Job-Fit Scale, and Career Adaptability Questionnaire were used for data collection. We employed multiple regression and Hayes PROCESS Macro for data analysis. The result of our study showed that job characteristics did not significantly predict military career adaptation; person-job-fit and day-to-day experiences significantly predicted military career adaptation. Our study deepened the existing body of knowledge on military career adaptation by integrating person-job-fit, day-to-day experiences, and job characteristics of Nigerian military personnel with work psychology. Alleviating career adaptation of Nigerian military personnel should involve improved defense organization altered job characteristics, workplace support, emotional labor, benevolence with revenge motivation, and recruitment process. To provide better opportunities that will aid Nigerian military personnel person-job-fit and day-to-day experiences. This study promises to unlock new-fangled investigative opportunities in this area.