The Transfer of Military Culture to Private Sector Organizations: A Sense of Duty Emerges

ABSTRACTAs a government institution, the United States (US) Department of Defense (DOD) wields powerful influence on private sector organizations in the defense industry beyond the implications of public policy. In our conceptual research, we study the DOD as a key customer stakeholder in these organizations and investigate the influence of its military culture on these private sector organizations. By analyzing the culture of the DOD, we uncover a new dimension, sense of duty, not previously studied in mainstream organization literature. We propose that this dimension transfers from the DOD to its private sector suppliers in the defense industry via interorganizational relationships, characterized by type, strength and tenure. Finally, we review the implications of culture transference for both entities and discuss generalizability of findings beyond the setting of this study.INTRODUCTION"We Never Forget Who We Are Working For(TM)."Lockheed Martin Company motto (2012)The literature suggests that organizational culture differs between industries (e.g. Gordon, 1985; Hofstede, Neuijen, Ohayv, & Sanders, 1990) as well as professions and occupational communities (e.g., Barley, 1986; Bloor & Dawson, 1994; van Maanen & Barley, 1984). Some research suggests that the cultures of organizations may differ because institutions are open-systems that interact with the external environment beyond their immediate communities, an environment that includes key stakeholders in their organizations (Katz & Kahn, 1966; Schein, 2004). As such, it is likely that some stakeholders can have an effect on the development and transformation of organizations and their cultures; especially those influential stakeholders that have unique, strong, and lasting relationships with organizations outside their immediate institutional boundaries. Interestingly, despite the rich and abundant research in organizational culture, there is a large gap in the research arena on the evolution and transfer of culture, particularly as a result of stakeholder influence.A stakeholder represents an individual or group that can affect or is affected by the actions, decisions, policies, or goals of an organization (Caroll & Buchholz, 2008). As a key stakeholder to organizations in the private sector, the United States (US) government can influence all practices, actions, policies and decisions of these organizations via the public policy process (e.g., Buchholz & Rosenthal, 2004). It develops, implements, and enforces the laws and regulations that frame how private sector organizations conduct business. Yet, it is likely that the government can impact some organizations far beyond the reach of laws and regulations, spreading into the more "personal" characteristics of the firm, such as its organizational culture. Specifically, we argue that the Department of Defense (DOD), as an integral part of the US government, represents a highly influential stakeholder that can affect the culture of private sector organizations in the defense industry. With its unique and deeply embedded military culture, it influences and shapes the culture of these organizations through culture transference. This transference and the resulting implications for both the DOD and organizations in the defense industry are particularly important in today's business climate where the boundaries between government and the private sector have begun to blur (e.g., Grimshaw et al., 2005). We propose that the main avenue in which culture transference occurs is via the intensely interconnected relationships between the two entities.Past research on interorganizational relationships suggests that these relationships develop because a key stakeholder may perceive it has similar values to an organization in which it desires to interact (Voss et al, 2000) and that some organizations view themselves as deeply interconnected with others through dyadic bonds, subsequently leading to shared norms and values (e. …