The differential effects of military virtues, military culture, authentic leadership, and extensive training, on job performance in military organisations: direct and mediated models

This paper explores the effects of military virtues, military culture, authentic leadership, and extensive training, on job performance. Military virtues include loyalty, courage, patience, respect, self-discipline, and caring. Military culture emphasises symbolism through parades, display of military weapons and aircraft, and formal dress. Authentic leadership, based on authentic behaviour, may motivate subordinates to self-enhance their skills. Extensive training involves continuous multitasking. Using a sample of 254 members of the Air Force in Sri Lanka (henceforth Sri Lanka Air Force), military virtues and authentic leadership were found to significantly influence job performance, in both the direct and mediated models (with employee engagement as the mediator). Essentially, military virtues and authentic leadership arouse the emotions of military personnel, who become engaged with the task to the extent that they become productive employees (mediated model). Alternatively, military virtues and authentic leadership may directly stimulate productivity, manifested in superior job performance (direct model).