Identifying and validating the drivers of elite recruitment and selection in Armed Forces universities

The purpose of this study was to identify the drivers of recruitment and selection of elites in the first step, and in the next step, its validation in the Armed Forces universities based on a mixed research and descriptive-exploratory method. First, based on the grounded theory method, the model-forming impulses are identified by open-coding, and then, using the axial and selective coding, the model is presented. Also, the model is validated among the study population by structural equation modeling. The statistical population included experts and for validation of the model, included duty elites introduced by the National Elite Foundation to Armed Forces universities in 1399-1400. . The statistical sample of experts up to the theoretical saturation stage is 14 people in a purposeful judgment method and for the model validation stage, 175 people based on the sample size rules in the structural equation method has been selected. Data collection tools included semi-structured interviews for the modeling stage and a questionnaire with a five-point Likert scale for the validation stage. The results of the qualitative part led to the identification of the drivers of maximum elite recruitment and selection in the form of a research model, and in the end, a theory based on 15 theorems was created. The findings of the quantitative section also confirmed the validity of the structural model of the research and the research hypotheses (except for Hypotheses 5, 8, 9, 10, and 14).