Motivation att försvara sitt land

Sammanfattning: The Swedish Armed Forces has undergone a number of changes during the 2000s and is today facing a period of growth with significant needs for recruitment. After 8 years of employed defence, the organization has moved to a high degree of conscription. Previous studies have tried to map what motivates soldiers to stay in the military organization as well as what motivates civilians to apply for a job within a military organization. However, few studies have been conducted with conscripts as a recruitment basis for an organization with employed personnel. This study deals with the motivation among Swedish conscripts to seek continued involvement in the Armed Forces and how this motivation differs based on various contextual factors such as unit, generation and type of platoon. The results show that there are a number of differences between the groups studied. The study highlights the importance of the motivational factors Fellowship, Meaningfulness, Contribution to the security of others and Personal development, which provides support for previous studies. Meanwhile Wages and Working conditions have a negative impact. The study also highlights perspectives that can be used for targeted recruitment, such as how different command characteristics correlate to applicants for different types of positions and how the significance of certain motivational factors varies depending on the platoon type or unit.