Work as imagined, work as fought: the warrior archetype in military safety

To work safely, the Netherlands Armed Forces (NAF) heavily rely on policy, regulations and procedures that assume and seek to improve prudent behavior of its personnel. Notwithstanding the good intentions, NAF face (major) accidents each year. Accident analysis then regularly points out unwanted behavior as a root cause, without explaining why this behavior existed in the first place. Using a work as imagined vs work as done -lens, this research focuses on the impact of activating the ”warrior archetype” for military personnel. The promotion of this archetype lays at the foundation of military institutions that value principles of togetherness , unstrained action and self-esteem . The current study re-analyzed 30 accident investigation reports, focusing on the impact of the warrior archetype on institutional dynamics related to operational work from which the accidents emerged. After expanding the Warrior Archetype model as introduced by Ouellet (2024) and creating a set of observable indicators that signal activation of the warrior archetype, results show that institutionalized warrior archetype activation was visible in operational work and played a role in the accidents. This contrasts with the fact that recommendations in the reports did not take this effect into account, which arguably reduces the impact they may have on desired change. We conclude that there is untapped potential to enhance the effectiveness of safety management by closer alignment with specific military institutional dynamics.