Military deployment: do core value priorities change? About moral responsibility and the differences between leaders and subordinates following military deployment to Afghanistan

In recent years there is a growing alertness for effects of military deployment on soldiers, since the number of peacekeeping missions grew after the end of the cold war. The present study aimed at investigating, whether deployment has an effect on personal value priorities of the soldiers. In this context we took into consideration moral responsibility as related to group cohesion processes, social identity theory and leadership responsibility. Participants of this study were 70 soldiers from three different platoons, who filled in a 24- item value questionnaire prior and subsequent to the deployment abroad. Factor analysis was used to categorize the 24 items according to Schwartz classification of value types. Seven value types were extracted; four of them were classified as types of Benevolence and the other three as Conformity, Achievement and Universalism. In the following we examined whether Benevolence values, which are concerned with the welfare of one’s in-group, gain greater importance than do the other value types as related to group cohesion and social identity and furthermore if leaders attach more priority to achievement related values than do their subordinates connected with their greater responsibility. Results showed that in general values remained stable across the deployment process and no significant differences could be found with reference to our research questions.