Date of Conferral
2017
Degree
Ph.D.
School
Public Policy and Administration
Advisor
Christopher Jones
Abstract
For decades, the Department of Defense has been plagued by persistent cost, schedule, and performance problems in defense acquisition programs. Recent changes in Department of Defense acquisition policy were intended to improve efficiency and are demonstrating some improvement in terms of overall cost improvements, yet little is understood about whether training efforts related to the new policies are producing policy-compliant behavior on the job. Using Edgar Schein's 'Onion Model' of organizational change as the theoretical construct, the purpose of this study was to examine through an ex post facto, cross-sectional longitudinal study whether there is a significant relationship between learning achieved from Defense Acquisition University (DAU) training in acquisition policy and application of learned policy-compliant behavior, as represented by the variables learning achieved and applied training. Data were obtained from DAU that spanned 19 months and over 334,000 training events separated into 40 course-type subgroups. These data were analyzed through hierarchical regression analysis to test whether concepts learned in policy training predicted policy compliance. The findings confirmed that the independent variable of 'learning achieved' is predictive of policy compliance.
Recommended Citation
Bensch, Therese C., "A Quantitative Study Examining How Training Enhances Policy Compliance" (2017). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 3430.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/3430
