Investigating the Causes of Desertion: A Qualitative Study

Introduction: Serving in military service is associated with opportunities and challenges. One of the most important concerns of families and their commanders is preventing any serious harm and maintaining the physical and mental health of soldiers. Objective: The present study aimed to investigate the causes of escape from military service. Materials and Methods: The present study is a qualitative study of the Grand Theory whose research community includes all soldiers with a history of escaping from military service. Based on purposive sampling, 53 soldiers were interviewed until theoretical data saturation. The data collection tool was semi-structured interviews. Other sources included printed and electronic library resources with data from valid and available scientific databases. Results: Based on the answers provided by the interviewees, 101 concepts were extracted from the interviews in the open coding stage. After analyzing and categorizing the concepts, 20 central codes and finally three selected codes including “personality causes”, “external organizational causes” and “internal organizational causes,” were obtained. Discussion and Conclusion: By identifying the compound causes of desertion, policymakers can put reforms in training, support, and administration on the agenda to reduce the trend of high-risk behaviors such as escaping.