Identifying the positive and negative traits acquired during military service is an essential aspect of studying the success of veterans in entrepreneurship and creating leadership training programs for them. In addition, understanding these traits can contribute to leadership styles and traits of managers who have no military experience. Thus, the topic of the transition of military veterans to business is broad and varied and therefore requires careful study. Various researchers consider this issue from different angles, highlighting specific features and their impact on business. However, the research that defined military leadership trait migration into the business is rare and not common, which emphasizes the need to study this issue. Consequently, this paper will conduct a literature review of scholarly sources to highlight useful ideas and concepts and identify gaps to create the study on military leadership trait migration into business.
In general, there are many scientific works that consider one or another side of military leadership and its application in entrepreneurship. Some of them look at the impact of veteran traits on certain aspects of management, while others look at factors that facilitate or hinder the transition from military to business. However, these studies do not provide a complete picture of the key military leadership traits. For this reason, a consistent analyzing these works, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages, is a necessity for creating a background of the research. This paper will review five sources that are useful for research, as well as relevant and reliable for this study.
All studied papers use reviews of other literature to validate their hypotheses and ideas and to substantiate the meaning of their researches and their questions. Thus, the literature review is the primary way to build the theoretical base of the studies. In addition, the authors of scholarly articles conduct their own research to find the answer to the research question and use qualitative methods for collecting and analyzing data. The most common data collection option is a qualitative interview, which is most appropriate for a given research topic. For example, De La Torre (2018), in his study of the process of transition from military service to entrepreneurship and the factors influencing them, used semi-structured interviews applying Schlossberg’s theory of transition. For the current study, this research method also is the most suitable as it leaves the considerable leeway, but at the same time does not allow too broad or vague interpretation of the questions (Gagnon, 2010). However, this example is only one way that employs studies to justify and complete the researches.
The authors of the article and books also use other research methods primary and secondary data for their studies. McDermott and Jackson (2020) used a short open-end interview to determine the satisfaction of veterans about owning a franchise. The quantitative method was also used in the study by Heinz et al. (2017), since the definition of the demographic characteristics of veteran entrepreneurs does not require a qualitative analysis. Thus, these differences demonstrate that authors accurately evaluate their research needs and choose the most appropriate tools and methods for collecting and analyzing data. At the same time, books by Hicks, Weiss, and Coll (2016) and Griswold (2017) use both the authors’ personal experiences and secondary data from national, global, and private researches to validate their ideas and give some examples. All scientific papers also have a list of sources used and citations, which confirms the reliability of the data. Therefore, these sources are relevant and reliable for this study.
These sources have useful data and structure that will be applied in the study. First, each of these sources suggests one or several aspects or trait of military leadership that affects a military veteran’s transition to business. Heinz et al. (2017) note demographic and psychological characteristics that influence entrepreneurial success. For example, higher education, high levels of openness, commitment, and altruism, and lack of lifelong trauma are traits of veteran entrepreneurs. At the same time, a branch of forces or past military experience has no impact on the success and desire for entrepreneurship (Heinz et al., 2017). Hicks et al. (2016) also highlight the characteristics of veteran entrepreneurs, such aa family background, as well as experience and skills gained in the service; for example, risk acceptance, innovation, and desire for autonomy. These data will be used to highlight the main features and form the interview questions.
Other articles and books also have some specific facts useful for the theoretical part of the study. McDermott and Jackson (2020) take a different approach and measure the satisfaction of veteran franchise owners, including skills gained in the military service, which they highlight as useful. Griswold (2017) pays attention not only to personal character traits but also to the social experience of the veterans by exploring its benefits. For example, the author singles out an extensive and powerful network of military connections, the brand of the American military, but at the same time does not forget about discipline, dedication, work ethic, and other traits occurred by veterans due to their service experience (Griswold, 2017). All the data presented can be the basis for checking the research results for data interpretation, which is one of the main steps in studying the issue, especially if the data demonstrate ambiguity (Gagnon, 2010). Consequently, information from the studied sources is the background for creating interview questions, justifying the relevance of the study, and identifying the main features for the study.
In addition, some of the sources have methods of data collection and analysis that are relevant for research. McDermott and Jackson (2020) have another central research question; however, some of the interview questions, as well as the sequence of analysis, can be appropriate for the research. For example, the first steps of analysis, such as classification, reduction, and element elimination also facilitate the analysis of the collected data, since both studies use qualitative interviews to collect data (McDermott & Jackson, 2020). Consequently, features of the research determined in the reviewed sources can also be applied to the study but with some adjustments.
In conclusion, a literature review demonstrates that military leadership trait migration into business has been explored from different perspectives; however, research that summarizes this topic does not exist. The reviewed articles, books, and the dissertation have a variety of relevant and useful facts for research, as well as a structure that can benefit the study. For this reason, these scientific papers will be used to write the background, justify the significance, and verify the interpretations of the research results. This approach helps to integrate various aspects of the transition of military veterans into the field of entrepreneurship and will reveal the main research question. Thus, the studied sources are relevant and useful for the theoretical and practical part of the study.
References
De La Torre, M. (2018). Transition from military service to entrepreneurship: A phenomenological study of the lived experiences of Hispanic veterans (Publication No. 10831244) [Doctoral dissertation, Brandman University]. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.
Gagnon, Y.-C.. (2010). The case study as research method: A practical handbook. EBook Academic Collection.
Griswold, J. (2017). Mission entrepreneur: Applying lessons from military life to create success in business startups. Mango Media.
Heinz, A., Freeman, M., Harpaz-Rotem, I., & Pietrzak, R. (2017) American military veteran entrepreneurs: A comprehensive profile of demographic, service history, and psychosocial characteristics. Military Psychology, 29(6), 513-523.
Hicks, L., Weiss, E. L., & Coll, J. E. (2016). The civilian lives of U.S. veterans: issues and identities. ABC-CLIO.
McDermott, M., & Jackson, J. (2020). A qualitative study: Military veterans and franchise ownership. The Qualitative Report 2020, 25(3), 769-784.