Human Capital Resilience and Military Organizational Behavior Strengthen Defense Readiness

FORMOSA NEWS

Defense readiness is significantly influenced by the resilience of military personnel and the way military organizations coordinate, maintain discipline, and adapt to changing conditions, according to a 2026 study by Ferdinand Hasudungan Siagian, Nefra Firdaus, and Harri Dolli Hutabarat from Universitas Pertahanan RI and Politeknik Angkatan Darat. Published in the International Journal of Integrative Research (IJIR), the study analyzed 250 military personnel and found that human capital resilience and organizational military behavior together explained 68.4% of the variation in defense readiness.

The findings highlight an important shift in how defense readiness can be understood. Military preparedness is not determined solely by weapons, equipment, or other material resources. The resilience of personnel and the ability of military organizations to operate in a disciplined, coordinated, cohesive, and adaptive manner are also important components of readiness.

Why Human Capital Matters for Defense Readiness

The global security environment has become increasingly complex due to geopolitical conflicts, advances in military technology, cyber threats, and rapidly changing operational requirements. The study notes that global military expenditure reached approximately US$2.718 trillion in 2024, representing a 9.4% increase from the previous year. In Indonesia, military expenditure was around 0.8% of gross domestic product, reinforcing the importance of using defense resources effectively.

Against this backdrop, human capital resilience becomes a strategic resource. The researchers define it through personnel's ability to withstand pressure, adapt to change, recover from difficult situations, maintain effectiveness, and learn from experience.

For defense organizations, resilient personnel can help maintain operational performance when circumstances become uncertain or demanding. Previous research cited by Siagian and colleagues has also linked military readiness with resilience, while studies in broader organizational settings have found that supportive human resource practices can strengthen employee and organizational resilience.

However, individual resilience alone is not enough. Military personnel must operate within an organizational system capable of translating individual capabilities into collective action.

Discipline and Adaptability Work Together

The second major factor examined in the study is organizational military behavior. The concept encompasses discipline, coordination, cohesion, adherence to organizational structures, mission orientation, engagement, and adaptability.

Military organizations require clear structures and procedures, but they also need the capacity to adjust when operational circumstances change. Discipline helps ensure consistency, while coordination and cohesion allow personnel to work effectively toward shared missions. Adaptability enables organizations to respond when established approaches are no longer sufficient.

The researchers therefore view organizational military behavior as a mechanism that converts individual capabilities into collective defense readiness.

How the Researchers Conducted the Study

Siagian, Firdaus, and Hutabarat used an explanatory quantitative survey to examine relationships between human capital resilience, organizational military behavior, and defense readiness.

The study involved 250 military personnel, selected using stratified random sampling. Respondents completed a structured questionnaire covering three major areas: human capital resilience, organizational military behavior, and defense readiness. All 250 completed responses were included in the final analysis.

The questionnaire contained 16 indicators. Five measured human capital resilience, six assessed organizational military behavior, and five measured defense readiness. The researchers analyzed the data using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 4.1.1.8. Statistical testing examined the strength and significance of the relationships between the variables.

Organizational Behavior Shows the Stronger Relationship

The results produced significant findings for both factors.

Human capital resilience had a positive and significant relationship with defense readiness, with a path coefficient of β = 0.421, a t-statistic of 6.912, and p < 0.001. Its 95% confidence interval ranged from 0.303 to 0.537.

Organizational military behavior also had a positive and significant relationship with defense readiness, recording a path coefficient of β = 0.487, a t-statistic of 8.226, and p < 0.001. Its 95% confidence interval ranged from 0.374 to 0.594.

The organizational behavior coefficient was higher than the human capital resilience coefficient. This indicates that, within the study's model, organizational military behavior had a relatively stronger direct relationship with defense readiness.

Most notably, the two factors together produced an R² value of 0.684, meaning they accounted for approximately 68.4% of the variation in defense readiness. The remaining 31.6% was associated with factors outside the model.

The measurement results also indicated that the study's indicators met the required reliability and validity criteria, supporting the researchers' analysis of the three constructs.

What the Findings Mean for Defense Organizations

The results suggest that strengthening defense readiness requires more than increasing personnel numbers or improving technical skills. Defense organizations can also benefit from programs that develop resilience, adaptability, leadership, coordination, and unit cohesion.

The researchers recommend integrating personnel resilience development with stronger organizational military behavior in defense management policies. Training can address not only technical competence but also adaptability, resilience under pressure, coordination, leadership, cohesion, and preparedness for changes in the strategic environment.

Ferdinand Hasudungan Siagian and colleagues from Universitas Pertahanan RI, together with Nefra Firdaus from Politeknik Angkatan Darat, emphasize that defense readiness emerges from the interaction between capable personnel and effective organizational mechanisms. Their findings show that individual resilience becomes more valuable when it is supported by discipline, coordination, cohesion, mission orientation, and organizational adaptability.

At the same time, the authors caution that the 68.4% figure should not be interpreted as meaning these are the only determinants of defense readiness. The study identifies readiness as multidimensional, with other factors such as physical, cognitive, emotional, training, group, and equipment-related dimensions also potentially contributing.

Implications for Future Research

The researchers acknowledge several limitations. The cross-sectional design captures relationships at one point in time and cannot show how resilience or readiness changes following training, assignments, or organizational changes. The study also relied on questionnaire responses from the same personnel, which may introduce subjectivity.

Future research could use longitudinal designs and combine personnel responses with assessments from leaders or organizational readiness indicators. Testing the model across different military units, ranks, and task environments could also determine whether the relationships remain consistent.

Author Profiles

Ferdinand Hasudungan Siagian is affiliated with Universitas Pertahanan RI and served as the corresponding author. His research in this article focuses on human capital resilience, organizational military behavior, strategic management, and defense readiness.

Nefra Firdaus is affiliated with Politeknik Angkatan Darat and contributed to research examining organizational behavior and defense readiness.

Harri Dolli Hutabarat is affiliated with Universitas Pertahanan RI and contributed to the study of human capital resilience, military organizational behavior, and defense readiness.

The available article text does not provide the authors' academic degrees or more detailed individual fields of expertise, so those details are not added here.

Source

Article Title: Human Capital Resilience and Organizational Military Behaviour in Strengthening Defense Readiness
Journal: International Journal of Integrative Research (IJIR)
Publication: Volume 4, No. 8, 2026, pp. 603–620
Authors: Siagian FH, Nefra Firdaus, Harri Dolli Hutabarat
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59890/ijir.v4i8.235
Official Journal: https://mrymultitechpublisher.my.id/index.php/ijir