According to multiple studies commissioned by the U.S. Small Business Administration and others, military veterans are twice more likely than non-veterans to pursue business ownership after leaving service, and the five-year success rate of ventures owned by veterans is significantly higher than the national average.

Research studies focused on both military personnel and veterans indicate that the military service experience engenders a strong propensity toward an inherent trust and faith in co-workers, and also a strong propensity toward trust in organizational leadership. In turn, the academic literature broadly supports the finding that organizations where trust between co-workers–and between employees and leadership–is strong, organizational performance is enhanced.

Several studies focused on skills transfer have highlighted that military service members and veterans are particularly skilled in this ability. Research has attributed this finding to the fact that military training most often includes contingency and
scenario-based pedagogy, and as a result service members and veterans develop cognitive heuristics that readily facilitate
knowledge/skills transfer between disparate tasks and situations.

Military experience, on average, exposes individuals to
highly advanced technology and technology training at a rate that is accelerated relative to non-military, age group peers.
Research validates the suggestion that this accelerated exposure to high-technology contributes to an enhanced ability to link technology-based solutions to organizational challenges, and also the transfer of technological skills to disparate work-tasks.

Cognitive and decision-making research has demonstrated that the military experience is positively correlated to the ability to accurately evaluate a dynamic decision environment, and subsequently act in the face of uncertainty. Several studies highlight that this ability is further enhanced and developed in individuals whose military experience has included service in a combat environment.

Multiple studies have found that military veterans exhibit high levels of resilient behavior; that is, as a consequence of the military experience veterans (generally) develop an enhanced ability to bounce back from failed professional and/or personal experiences more quickly and more completely, as compared to those who have not served. 

Several studies have compared military service-members and veterans to non-veterans in the context, of team-building skills and efficacy. Findings from that research illustrate that (as compared to those that have not served in the military) veterans are more adept with regard to 1) organizing and defining team goals and mission, 2) defining team member roles and responsibilities, and 3) developing a plan for action. Further, research also suggests that those with prior military service have a high level of efficacy for team-related activities; that is, veterans exhibit an inherent and enduring belief that they can efficiently and effective integrate and contribute to a new or existing team. Taken together, the academic research supports the notion that veterans will enable high-performing teams in an organizational setting

Socialization tactics can have profound implications for the
identity of organizational members, facilitating identity change so that one’s conception of self becomes informed and intertwined with the identity of the organization. Military institutions are particularly adept at institutional socialization,
and as a result the military experience engenders a strong linkage between the individual and the organization.
Research has demonstrated that military veterans bring this strong sense of organizational commitment and loyalty to
the civilian workplace. For the organization, this strong sense of organizational commitment can contribute to reduced
attrition/turnover, and will also be reflected in the employee’s work product.

The nature of military service today necessarily dictates
that veterans must be skilled at operating across cultures and international boundaries. Multiple studies consistently
highlight that those individuals with military backgrounds 1) have more international experience, 2) speak more languages/
more fluently, and 3) have a higher level of cultural sensitivity as compared to age-group peers that have not served in the
military. The cross-cultural experiences characteristic of veterans represent a competitive advantage for the firm, given the increasing globalization of the business environment.

While the military has been publicly criticized for a lack
of diversity on several important dimensions, research has consistently highlighted the fact that the all-volunteer military
actually represents a very heterogeneous workforce across a myriad of dimensions including educational background,
ethnicity, culture, values, and the goals/aspirations of organizational members. As a consequence, multiple studies have found that those with military experience are (on average) highly accepting of individual differences in a work-setting, and exhibit a high-level of cultural sensitivity with regard to such differences in the context of workplace interpersonal relationships.