Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Military spouses holding volunteer leadership positions in military unit family readiness groups, provide a link between commanders and families of service members. They act within military organizations as the only official voice of spouses, a stakeholder group recognized as influential in retention rates and force readiness. Despite their importance, military spouses are often portrayed in research as passive members, taking on roles to meet the expectations of their peers and military organizations. That contradicts historical evidence of military spouses as active organizational members who have socialized other spouses, and as family advocates who have challenged military organizational practices and policies. Using Kramer’s (2011b) communication model for the socialization of voluntary members and uncertainty management theory (UMT), narratives of military spouses who have held a unit family readiness leader or senior advisor position since 2009 underwent thematic analysis using a grounded theory approach. This study shows that military spouses in volunteer leader positions undergo a non-linear socialization influenced by their prior socialization as a military family member, external memberships, social relationships and information seeking, as well as the organization. Further, they are adaptive, shaping their role expression to meet stakeholder needs, military unit and installation conditions, and to match their own values and vision of organizational support to families.

Year manuscript completed

2026

Year degree awarded

2026

Author's Keywords

volunteer development, leadership, socialization, uncertainty management, military spouses, communication

Degree Awarded

Master of Arts

Department

Organizational Communication

College/School

Arthur J. Bauernfeind College of Business

Thesis Advisor

Frances Smith

Committee Member

Geoffrey Luurs

Committee Member

Jenilee Williams

Document Type

Thesis

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