Moral Judgement within the Armed Forces

Abstract

This article presents the findings of a study into the moral judgement of Dutch officers, officer-candidates and university students. The study was based on the Moral Judgement Test developed by Lind, which aims to analyze the moral skills of respondents in judging ethical dilemmas. In this quantitative study among military (wo)men, four dilemma's were used: two standard ethical dilemmas that were formulated by Lind, and two specific military dilemmas based on experiences from military practice, developed by the authors. All four dilemmas proved to be reliable in statistical terms. The results show that the military respondents in general produce high scores on the test, which indicates that their moral awareness is quite elaborated. The study also revealed a number of factors – e.g., gender, religion and previous experience with moral dilemmas – explaining differences in moral judgement between respondents. Although the results have shown to be unequivocal, some critical remarks can be made with regard to the test as such. Given the fact that the structure of the test leaves many moral considerations undisclosed, it is recommended to use the test in combination with a qualitative research methodology. This would shed more light on moral sensitivity, empathy and moral character in the face of pressure.