Re-examining Willingness to Fight for One’s Country: Exploring Nature of Conflict and Citizenship Status Effects in the United States and Canada

Abstract

Individuals’ willingness to fight for their country has garnered significant attention in research; yet, the intricate connection between such willingness with individual identity, conflict type, and personal values remains underexplored. Through deductive exploratory quantitative analysis, this study examines two potentially interrelated factors—social identity and nature of conflict concerns—in the context of two multi-ethnic, immigrant-rich Western democracies in the 21st century. Using cross-sectional national survey data and a social identity framework, a quantitative comparative analysis of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) member nations Canada and the United States reveals a relationship between conflict concerns, immigrant identity, and willingness to fight; generally speaking, immigrants are more willing to fight for their host nations than the native-born individuals.