The Effectiveness of Economic Incentives for Career Commitment of Peacekeepers in the Sinai

Abstract

This paper has two objectives. The first objective is to estimate the extent of financial gains or losses of Active Component (AC) and Reserve Component (RC) soldiers who volunteered for the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) peacekeeping mission in the Sinai. The second objective is to estimate the effect of this gain/loss on the soldiers' intention to remain in their respective component until retirement. Data for a population of approximately 500 volunteers were collected during their predeployment training and Sinai deployment phases. Results of these data revealed that, overall, soldiers experienced financial gains during the deployment phase. The average financial gain exceeded the average loss. Financial gains were especially high for the RC. Regression results for the deployment phase data revealed that the volunteers were more likely to say that they intend to stay in their respective component until retirement if they made financial gains during deployment and if they were satisfied with Army life. Results of the Chow Test for equality of regression parameters showed that the coefficients in separate equations for the AC and RC were not significantly different during the more critical deployment phase. Implications of these results are discussed.