With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, national and alliance defense has once again taken center stage in German security and defense policy. For Germany, this results in a significant need to expand the Bundeswehr’s personnel. Researchers at Hochschule RheinMain – University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSRM) now aim to supplement the current discussion on voluntary military service with robust empirical evidence and demonstrate how the findings can be used to identify concrete ways to design attractive military service programs.
According to current plans, the Bundeswehr’s personnel strength is set to grow to approximately 260,000 active-duty service members and 200,000 reservists. In a study, professors Dr. Jochen Eckert and Dr. Rainer Wedde from the Wiesbaden Business School at HSRM analyze the influence of specific characteristics of voluntary military service on the preferences of potential recruits. The Wiesbaden study takes a deliberately application-oriented approach. “We examined how alternative program configurations affect recruitment potential—that is, which specific offerings actually increase interest in voluntary military service. This information is important if policymakers wish to develop a voluntary military service program that is attractive to young people while also meeting the Bundeswehr’s personnel needs,” said Prof. Dr. Eckert.
Higher Recruitment Potential Through Tailored Military Service Offers
For the study, a survey of German citizens born between 2001 and 2008 was combined with a choice-based conjoint experiment, and based on this, calibrations and simulations of alternative military service programs were conducted. The results show that 49.7 percent of respondents do not categorically rule out voluntary military service. This willingness varies, among other factors, by gender, educational attainment, immigrant background, and religious affiliation. In addition to pay, the attractiveness of specific military service options is influenced by the duration of the reservist commitment, the distance to the training facility, the length of military service, and the potential deployment profile. Educational and training opportunities, housing during basic training, and preferential treatment for places at university also influence preferences. “At the same time, the simulations show that different combinations of these characteristics can significantly increase recruitment potential compared to the current reference offer,” explains Prof. Dr. Eckert.
“The results suggest that a recruitment target of approximately 20,000 annual enlistments appears fundamentally achievable,” adds Prof. Dr. Wedde. Admittedly, the available survey data did not allow for a forecast due to the expected discrepancy between stated intent and actual behavior. However, the data and modeling showed that the target would already be met if approximately 12.7 percent of those who express an intention to perform military service were to actually enlist. “In conjunction with military, organizational, and financial requirements, the empirical results can support an optimization process to systematically develop, simulate, test, and evaluate military service programs,” says Prof. Dr. Wedde.
Empirically-Based Design of Attractive Military Service Programs
The study aims to help broaden the discussion from the question of fundamental willingness to perform military service to the empirically based design of attractive military service programs. “The results suggest that the design of voluntary military service should be understood as an empirically supported development process,” says Prof. Dr. Eckert. The preference model used makes it possible to compare alternative program configurations prior to their introduction in terms of their expected appeal and relative recruitment potential.