The Swedish armed forces are currently experiencing difficulties with the recruitment and further maintaining of women and their competences within the organization. This due to a lack of traceability and understanding of women's motivation within an military organization. This paper investigates female first-year cadets' motivation to study to become an officer in order to gain wider understanding of women's choice to engage in a military organization on a higher level. This study is performed with a thematic analysis with support from Fabrizio Battistellis theory about motivation, which then applies to the material from interviews with four female first-year cadets at the Swedish Defense University, which were held during the spring of 2024. The study examines how the female cadets' described motivation can be explained with Battistellis theory and thematic analysis.  The results of this study indicates that the female first-year cadets are mostly motivated by Battistellis postmodern category and second the paleomodern. Aside from the theory another category was formed by the female cadets' descriptions which were social, this category appeared by thematic analysis and was constructed by the themes fellowship and social connection.

This thesis provides a comprehensive examination of the impact of Sweden's NATO membership on the personnel strategies of the Swedish Armed Forces and the professional roles of its officers. By focusing on motivational factors that encourage or discourage Swedish officers from accepting overseas assignments, the study sheds light on the complex dynamics of military career development in an international context. The findings reveal important strategic and operational considerations for successful integration into the global security architecture. In particular, the research indicates that only 20 percent of the officers surveyed are highly motivated to serve abroad, which highlights difficulties in balancing national and international commitments. This indicates an urgent need for the Swedish Armed Forces to respond to these motivational challenges to balance its responsibilities. This research contributes valuable insights into the professional drivers and essential changes required as Swedish officers assume new roles in the global security context.

Flera av de funktioner som vi i allmänhet anser vara nödvändiga för att ha ett fungerandesamhälle lider idag av rekryteringsproblem. I media rapporteras det om underskott av såvällärare som sjukvårdspersonal men även Försvarsmakten har problem med att fyllakrigsorganisation. Det är därför intressant att undersöka om det finns ett intresse blandungdomar att söka sig till det som vi kallar “Kallyrken” och vilka motiv och attityder somungdomar har till dessa. Vår undersökning fokuserar på värnplikten och syftar till attidentifiera vilka drivkrafter ungdomar har för att genomföra eller avstå från den.Vårt teoretiska ramverk utgår från Fabrizio Battistellis motivationstypologi som beskriverdrivkrafter som endera paleomoderna, moderna eller postmoderna. Han menar att strömningari samhället påverkar våra motiv och att vi i dagens postmoderna samhälle snarare drivs avviljan att finna sig själv och söka äventyr än av patriotism och ekonomiska fördelar. Vi hardärutöver utvecklat vårt ramverk med delar ur careershipsteorin i syfte förstå vilkabakgrundsfaktorer som kan ha påverkat ungdomars motiv.Våra data har samlats in genom att intervjua tio ungdomar, fem som genomför sin värnpliktoch fem som går sista året på gymnasiet. I vår undersökning har vi kommit fram till att deundersökta ungdomarna i huvudsak har en positiv inställning till värnplikten och att de serfördelar med att genomföra den. Postmoderna drivkrafter är i huvudsak dominerade men vinoterar även en något högre frekvens av paleomoderna drivkrafter, såsom skyddet avnationen, jämfört med Battistellis tidigare forskning. En av de faktorer som de undersöktaungdomarna lyfter fram som mest betydelsefullt inför mönstring och värnplikt är tillgångentill trovärdig information. Den bild som förmedlas på sociala medier bidrar till ett ökatintresse, men den behöver kompletteras med information som ökar förståelsen för varför detär viktigt att alla är med och bidrar. Samtliga undersökta rekryter meddelar att värnplikten harvarit en positiv upplevelse och kan tänka sig en framtid i Försvarsmakten på något sätt.Studenter är inte heller främmande för ett engagemang i Försvarsmakten utan ser det som enframtida möjlighet. / Many of the social and governmental institutions, such as schools and hospitals, that wegenerally consider a necessity in a functioning society suffer from recruitment problems. TheSwedish Armed Forces are not exempted from this and also have problems manning theirorganisation. The purpose of this study is to determine the underlying motives today's youthexpress towards the newly reinstated compulsory service in the Armed Forces.Our theoretical framework derives from Fabrizio Battistellis motivation trichotomy in whichhe explains that a person's motivation can be either paleomodern, modern or postmodern. Hisconclusion is that today's youth are more motivated by the desire for adventure thanpatriotism and economic benefits. In addition we have used the careership theory in order tounderstand the underlying circumstances that may have influenced a person's motivation.Our data has been collected by interviewing ten young people, five who are in the midst ofcarrying out their military service and five who are attending their last year in high school.We can, in our study, determine, among today’s youth the postmodern motives and values arestill the main driving force, but we have also observed an increase in paleomodern motivesand values compared to Battistelli's previous research.

The Swedish Armed Forces aim to reflect Swedish society, including its ethnical composition. Despite these ambitions and the fact that non-native Swedes are overrepresented among unemployed Swedes, recruitment is over all slow. Perhaps the Swedish Armed Forces know too little about what motivates this potential group of recruits? And perhaps the recruitment process is discriminating against non-native Swedes? This essay aims to answer what attracts foreign born citizens to join the military and what makes them stay in the service. The research methodology includes interviews and surveys of immigrants. The results of these interviews and surveys are subsequently analysed and viewed through the perspective of military sociologist Fabrizio Battistellis’ theory about soldiers' incentives. According to Battistelli, three types of incentives exist: the paleomodern, the modern and the postmodern. His own study, Peacekeeping and the Postmodern Soldier, determined Italian solders primarily enlisted for postmodern incentives. Swedish scholars has found that the same pattern applies to Swedish military personnel. But how about the non-native Swedes? This study shows that predominantly modern incentives attract non-native Swedes to join the military, and mainly paleomodern incentives make them stay within it.  However, while Swedish soldiers seem to be driven by postmodern incentives, immigrants are not influenced by these in any noticeable way. Instead the study’s results indicate that there are further categories of motives affecting the non-native Swedes, namely contextual and cultural incentives.