Dealing with austerity measures within armed forces: The Dutch case

Igor Petrovic*, Jacquelien van Stekelenburg, Bert Klandermans

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

This article studies how Dutch military personnel respond to austerity-related discontent. Based on the online survey (N = 579) conducted among military personnel we investigate 4 response strategies to austerity measures applied in the Dutch armed forces: voice (collective protest), exit (leaving the organization), silence (deliberately deciding not to protest), and neglect (engaging in anti-organizational behavior). We focus on how personnel combine these strategies and apply cluster analysis to identify 6 typical response patterns that we label as protesters, escapers, quiescents, conformers, obstructionists and combaters. We investigate how personal characteristics and perception of unique military environment influence the response of military personnel. We conclude that clusters we described are not only distinct in their behavior—their personal characteristics and perceptions differ as well.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)321-334
Number of pages14
JournalMilitary Psychology
Volume30
Issue number4
Early online date30 Jul 2018
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018

Funding

This research was supported in part by a grant provided by military trade unions ACOM, AFMP and MARVER.

FundersFunder number
AFMP
MARVER

    Keywords

    • Austerity
    • discontent
    • protest
    • voice
    • exit
    • silence
    • neglect
    • Netherlands

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