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Leave no one behind? Transitioning from the military to civilian life in New Zealand

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2021

Andrew Cardow Open the ORCID record for Andrew Cardow [Opens in a new window] ,
Jean-Sebastien Imbeau ,
Bill Willie Apiata  and
Jenny Martin
Andrew Cardow*
Affiliation:
School of Management Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
Jean-Sebastien Imbeau
Affiliation:
School of Management Massey University Palmerston North, Auckland, New Zealand
Bill Willie Apiata
Affiliation:
Post Transition Limited, Auckland, New Zealand
Jenny Martin
Affiliation:
Post Transition Limited, Auckland, New Zealand
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: a.cardow@massey.ac.nz
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Abstract

Transition from the military environment into a civilian environment is a topic that has seen increasing attention within the last two decades. There is, in the literature, a clearly articulated issue that transition from the military to the civilian world is somewhat different to transitioning from school to work, or from career to career, or from work to retirement. Many, but not all, of the extant examples regarding military transition are case studies, focus groups or small-scale qualitative surveys. The following article details a large-scale survey that took place in New Zealand in 2019. From just over 1400 responses, a wide range of information was gathered. The aim of the survey was to uncover the experiences of military who had undergone transition within New Zealand. In this respect, the survey was exploratory. We report here the qualitative results that expand the existing body of knowledge of military transition. Our results are in line with international results and demonstrate that a large majority of respondents had a less than desirable transition experience. The contribution made therefore is a reinforcement that current practice in this area is needing a great deal of attention. The following outlines the experiences our New Zealand-based respondents had and how this mirrors the extant international literature. As this was the first survey of its kind to attract large numbers of respondents within New Zealand, the results and discussion that follow present aspects of transition that the Ministry of Defence and the New Zealand Defence Force may wish to consider when planning future transition programmes.

Keywords

Defencemanagement decisionsmilitary transitionNew Zealand
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , First View , pp. 1 - 18
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2021

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