Religiosity and its Correlation with the Neo-Kohlbergian Moral Development Schemas

When high-ranking U.S. military officers make immoral choices, the ramifications span from embarrassing their branch of service to negatively impacting the influence the U.S. has in international relations. This study addressed the problem that some U.S. Air Force leaders lack an understanding of the fundamental motivations underlying ethical maturation in order to develop an ethically mature generation of future leaders for the long-term viability of the organization and its effectiveness toward national security. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between future U.S. Air Force leaders' self-perception of how intrinsically and extrinsically religious they are and their dominant Neo-Kohlbergian moral development schema. Two hundred and thirty-eight high-potential military leaders were sampled using two survey instruments -- one for moral development and one for religiosity. Using path analysis, a positive relationship was found between intrinsic religiosity and maintaining norms, and a negative relationship was found between intrinsic religiosity and the postconventional schema. No relationship was found between extrinsic religiosity and moral development. These results imply that while intrinsic religiosity may compound the need for officers to rely on norms to make decisions in moral dilemmas, intrinsic religiosity may detract from the development of postconventional moral thinking. The postconventional moral schema enables individuals to make ethical decisions in the face of conflicting personal interest or moral dilemmas, thereby helping them make decisions that help avoid high-visibility scandals; scandals that not only bring shame on the armed forces, but threaten U.S. influence in international affairs. Recommendations include defining an organizational ethical ideal for military officers, which may include integration of postconventional moral thinking, as well as a randomized, farther-reaching sample of current Air Force leaders in addition to those being groomed for future Air Force leadership. Furthermore, more research is necessary regarding what potentially encourages moral development for highly-educated military officers predominately operating in the maintaining norms schema. Another opportunity for analysis is exploration of the compounding effect of intrinsic religiosity and maintaining norms schema upon the next generation of U.S. Air Force leaders.