Values and Virtues in the Military. Nadine Eggimann Zanetti

culture and have an identifying function with the group and its membership. Overall, core values and core virtues are the stated values and virtues, prioritized by a cultural group of persons, by a nation or by an organization⁵. They help define the culture of the organization, thus giving meaning to all its members (Pathak et al., 2016).

      Britt et al. (2006) stated that it is essential to define a classification of values and virtues within the military organization. Such a classification is defined as a descriptive selection of one or many core values and virtues, indicating the most preferred ones as they apply to an organization (Albert, 1956). As Albert (1956) outlined, a corporate classification of core values and virtues within a military ←33 | 34→organization is conceived as a representation of the cultural organizational consensus, envisaged as a point of reference for the description and reflection of individual differences in values and virtues.

      So far, there has not been a valid classification of core values and virtues reflecting the culture of the Swiss Armed Forces. Each military leader gets the freedom to prioritize his or her own personal values and virtues, independent of a binding corporate classification of core values and virtues. However, the Swiss Report on Military Ethics (Swiss Armed Forces, 2010) makes it an important priority to devote scientific effort to further assess the values and virtues of the Swiss Armed Forces. Such a commitment is in support in defining which values and virtues are to be fostered across the Swiss Armed Forces and conveyed to the Swiss soldiers as part of the military education. The benefit results from providing a common corporate understanding of values and virtues within the Swiss Armed Forces (Annen, 2017). Furthermore, a valid classification allows for a transparent communication within the framework of military education and provides the opportunity to prove the impact of military education and value-based leadership. Specifically, it needs detailed assessment to understand which core values and virtues, e.g., Mutual Respect or Fortitude, are being propagated in order to evaluate the efforts of military education. Clarity on value and virtues provides the condition for military leaders to apply a discipline of self-reflection and interactive dialogue (Eggimann & Annen, 2014).

      In spite of a high regard for the meaning of values and virtues by the military organization, the empirical approach in research has been falling short (Schumm, Gade, & Bell, 2003). However, outside of the military domain, there has been an increasing interest in studies identifying and structuring taxonomies of universal⁶ values and virtues. Specifically, Aavik and Allik (2002) gave preference to the psycholexical approach to develop a comprehensive and culture-sensitive list of universal values. De Raad and Van Oudenhoven (2011) initiated the same approach in classifying and structuring virtues followed by a series of corresponding research. The question of how many universal core values and core virtues⁷ can be distinguished has been investigated through a psycholexical and factor analytic analysis in a variety of different cultures (e.g., Aavik & Allik, 2002; De Raad & Van Oudenhoven, 2008, 2011; Morales-Vives, De Raad, & Vigil-Colet, 2012, 2014; Renner, 2003b).

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      With this theoretical perspective in mind, the thesis represented an initial comprehensive effort to apply the psycholexical approach in assessing the structure of values and virtues in a military organization. As mentioned previously, this research implied the assumption that the military culture differs from the civilian environment. Accordingly, it was of significant interest to capture the uniqueness of the military value and virtue culture of the Swiss Armed Forces. The psycholexical method was described as sensitive to culture-related differences (De Raad & Van Oudenhoven, 2008). Worth mentioning, that in the Swiss Armed Forces there is still no comprehensive description and classification which reflect the cultural-specific aspects of the military organization and the views of the different military subgroups (e.g., including military militia and military professionals). Moreover, there are numerous value- and virtue-descriptive expressions such as responsibility, loyalty, security, and freedom used in the official and inofficial Swiss military documentation (Baumann, 2007), which need further structuring for effective military leadership. It was essential to verify the relations between the expressions at scientific level, to group them according to their meaning and relevance, and to reduce to a manageable number. Finally, the identification and structuring of the essential military value- and virtue-describing terms led to the definition of the core values and virtues reflecting the military culture.

      In summary, there is increasing recognition that values and virtues are positive characteristics of soldiers and important regarding military leadership, training, and education. At the same time, there is limited empirical conclusion as to which values and virtues characterize a military organization (Soeters, Poponete, & Page, 2006). The research within this thesis referred to the Swiss Armed Forces and extended the current general understanding of military values and virtues. The overall scope focused on identifying the relevant expressions of military values and virtues by means of a psycholexical approach and on assessing the structure concerning the military core values and virtues of the Swiss Armed Forces.

      The thesis is divided into a Pre-study and three empirical parts, aiming at (a) the psycholexical-based identification of the Swiss military values and virtues and at establishing a corresponding catalog; (b) assessing the factorial structure of military values and virtues; (c) analyzing the relationship to measures ←35 | 36→of universal values, Big Five personality traits and factors of character strengths (Peterson & Seligman, 2004); and (d) exploring the criterion validity of the identified military value and virtue factors with regards to organizational citizenship behavior (OCB; defined by Organ, 1997, as the willingness to do more than what is normally demanded) and motivation to lead (MTL; defined by Chan & Drasgow, 2001, as the person’s efforts to assume leadership training, roles, and responsibilities).

      Figure 1 provides an overview of the Pre-study and the three empirical studies.

       Fig. 1: Summary of the Pre-study and the three studies within the Swiss Armed Forces

      As overviewed in Fig. 1, the selection of the value and virtue descriptors in the Pre-study was conducted in three stages, i.e., (a) psycholexical search of existing military documentation, (b) consultation of military psychologists, and (c) interviews with high ranking military commanders of the Swiss Armed Forces. This approach delivered a valid and comprehensive list of 25 military value- and 42 virtue-descriptive terms, called the MVVC. The catalog was used to assess military values and virtues in the subsequent three empirical studies.

      In Study I, a sample of Swiss career officers and career NCOs was tested to capture the factor structure of military values. The objective was to make the MVVC and its corresponding items subject to a factor analytic analysis, and to conclude on the core values in the Swiss Armed Forces. Given the fact that a military organization reflects a specific culture, it was of interest to evaluate how the military value factors correlate with universal values and Big Five personality traits. This added verification as to how the outcome of the military value factors compare with the universal factorial structure (De Raad & Van Oudenhoven, 2008, 2011).

      Study II applied a similar approach as Study I, focusing on the structure of military virtues to be assessed in a large group of Swiss officer candidates. Additionally, the aim of Study II was to assess how the military virtues relate to the five factors of character strengths as measured by the VIA-IS (Peterson, Park, & Seligman, 2005).

      As a result of the factor analytic analysis in Study I and II, the number of 25 military values and 42 virtues was reduced to five military value factors and four virtue factors⁸. To sum up, the prime aim of assessing the structure of military values