Culture Shock and Intention to Quit Among Recruits at Basic Army Training Centre in Port Dickson, Malaysia

Culture shock and intention to quit both indicate the main variable to the problem face by Malaysia Army (MA) during the Basic Military Training (BMT) conducted. About 10% to 20% of the recruits didn’t complete the training. MA now are facing a tremendously high dropped out rates of recruits during the training and will make the Army HR Branch in difficult situation to fulfil the vacuum and to maintain its annual end strength requirements. Thus, it is very important to conduct a study the impact of culture shock towards intention to quit. A total of 15 participants participate in this study which consist of 5 dropped out recruits, 5 recruits that passed the initial training/test and 5 instructors. This research was conducted through open-ended questionnaires and face to face interview. The questionnaires and interview questions were developed based on literature review and there were validated by an academician and military expert. The finding of the study revealed the cause this phenomenon happen and the themes that emerged show that culture shock, stress, frustration, fatigue and disorientation has been identified as the main reason of intention to quit among recruits. Due to its small sample size, caution should be made that generalization to the larger population should not be formed from the results of this study. A greater sample would be required to exemplify the general population.