Views on an officer career - the relationship between personality, leadership expectations and perceived qualities

The Swedish Armed Forces (SAF) have had difficulties in recruiting a sufficient amount of cadets to the officer program during the period with an all-volunteer force.

Data were collected from different officer programs. 318 respondents fostered in the all-volunteer force (AVF) system completed the questionnaire and a cross-sectional design was used where cadets received a questionnaire at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of their training.

The results show that the informants perceived a clear distinction between leadership challenges in the short and long term. The cadets rate their practical knowledge/experience and gaining trust as most challenging in the short term, and personnel supply and reorganization in the long term. Younger cadets rate leadership challenges higher than older cadets do, which is in line with maturing as a human being and gaining more experience. Results based on personality were consistent with previous studies. Two of the future challenges for cadets, short-term leadership and knowledge challenges, showed associations with extraversion and neuroticism.

The results illustrate important topics to be stressed during the three year long officer program, in order to prepare cadets both with knowledge and skills but also with confidence and trust. This is of particular importance as the need to increase the number of cadets graduating from the academic officer program is growing. It implies that more and more cadets will be recruited directly from the basic military training, i.e., being young with relatively low military and leadership experience.