Unit Morale: From a Theoretical Puzzle to an Empirical Illustration—An Israeli Example1

The concept of morale, within its military context, was explored in the present work from both its theoretical and practical aspects. Following a review of the concept's definitional and historical background, the data from a pre-war morale survey administered in May of 1981 to a large sample of Israeli combat troops were analyzed (by means of intercorrelations and factor analysis) as an illustration of the multifaceted structure of morale. While the intercorrelations revealed several major variables related strongly to morale, the factor analysis yielded eight factors, morale being just one of them. These eight factors were: (1) confidence in senior commanders; (2) confidence in one's self, team, and weapons; (3) unit cohesion and morale; (4) familiarity with missions and frontage; (5) confidence in immediate commanders; (6) enemy evaluation; (7) legitimacy of war; (8) worries and concerns. The present analysis may suggest the existence of a higher order concept—perhaps “unit climate”— of which all of the found factors, including morale, are the comprising components.