Relationship of personality to virtual communications efficacy within a military combat environment

Military forces worldwide are increasing utilization of computer-mediated-communications (CMC) systems and processes during combat operations. Interestingly, studies of CMC utilization in industry virtual team settings reveal cultural, personal, and cognitive dynamics influencing virtual team efficacy, not examined in military settings. Examination of the behavior types associated with military combat decision makers in a virtual environment is an important step in determining the potential of CMC systems, particularly with the ongoing development of the Future Combat Systems program of the U.S. Army. The study utilizes the Insights-Discovery model to assess personalities of participating Army and Marine Corps combat leaders who operated in CMC environments during the Bosnian, Desert Storm, Afghani, and Iraqi conflicts. The study associates the personality data with information on the participants' perceived efficacy in communications skills using information transmitted via virtual means. The study determined that evidence exists indicating that personality, trust, and expectation violation influence combat decision making when utilizing virtual systems. The study concludes recommending that the U.S. Army should take to ascertain the degree of influence of personality, trust, and expectation violation in CMC decision making to develop mitigating procedures.