Leadership as Related to Moral Injury in a Military Context: A Systematic Scoping Literature Review

The dominating emphasis of psychological research into moral injury has focused on clinical assessment, diagnosis, and treatment. This article focuses on the particular case of the role of the leader/leadership in moral injury in a military context. To address this objective, a systematic scoping literature review was conducted with the aim of investigating the scope of existing research to identify gaps and encourage future research and interventions. Thematic analysis was used to structure the data in an explorative inductive manner and an attempt was made to integrate the themes identified to gain a more holistic understanding of the subject matter. The results show that a significant portion of the literature views leadership failure or leader betrayal as a potentially morally injurious event (PMIE), a primary cause (predictor) of moral injury. However, a significant number also view leadership as a key factor in the prevention and mitigation of moral injury. Consequently, the lack of empirical evidence focusing on the role of leadership in moral injury must be regarded as problematic and should be given greater emphasis to advance understanding and guide the development of effective, evidence-based interventions.