Olga Navickienė

Remote warfare is a phenomenon that has been significantly manifested over the course of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. In this new type of modern warfare, military remote systems, such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), are becoming increasingly relevant. One of the key prerequisites for the flawless use of remote systems is trust in them. Despite the rapid development of such systems, there is still a lack of empirical research examining operators' trust in these systems, resulting in limited evidence on this phenomenon. This article presents the key findings of the study aiming at identifying the main factors that shape soldiers’ trust in UAV systems in the Lithuanian Armed Forces (LAF).

Type of the article: Research ArticleAbstractNowadays, the challenge of increasing personnel retention by aligning organizational values with the expectations of active-duty soldiers remains relevant in the Lithuanian Armed Forces. Using the parallel mediation modeling method, this study focuses on the value of interest as a symbolic component of employer attractiveness, reflecting the perception of meaningful, intellectually engaging, and purposeful work. The research hypotheses are tested using a sample of 276 Lithuanian active-duty soldiers. The mediation effects are checked using PROCESS v3.5 and bootstrap 5000. The results show that the value of interest significantly predicts the perception of four main employer attributes: social, economic, developmental, and application values. The validated theoretical framework showed that symbolic perceptions shape several aspects of employer attractiveness. Furthermore, the study shows that developmental value and economic value significantly mediated the relationship between interest value and intention to continue serving, demonstrating that symbolic engagement alone is not sufficient, as soldiers are more likely to remain in service when clear career growth opportunities and adequate financial rewards reinforce such engagement. Conversely, social and applied values did not show a significant mediating effect, suggesting that they are less important in shaping long-term decisions about personnel retention in the military. Overall, the findings offer practical implications for employer branding and human resources strategies, highlighting the need to integrate both symbolic meaning and instrumental benefits to meet the evolving expectations of military personnel.AcknowledgmentWe acknowledge the General Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania for financial support in publishing this article.

Background: The primary objective of this study was to empirically examine the influence of cadets’ resilience on their professional achievement within the unique context of a Military Academy. In doing so, the study sought to delineate the role of self-efficacy as a key mediator in the intricate relationship between the resilience of cadets and their professional achievements. The main focus of this study was to clarify the causal and effect relationships between the psychology and behavior mechanisms of the cadets. This was achieved through rigorous scrutiny of the moderated mediating effect of vocational calling within the multifaceted relationship involving cadets’ resilience, self-efficacy, and professional achievement.Methods: The study’s participant pool consisted of 121 individuals, comprising cadets in their third and fourth years of study, all of whom aspired to attain the rank of officer within the Military Academy. To rigorously investigate the hypotheses presented, a series of causal relationships among the four core variables were evaluated using a robust regression analysis methodology. To facilitate this analysis, the PROCESS macro 3.5v, a Hayes-developed tool, was effectively used.Results: The findings of this study revealed several critical insights. First, vocational calling emerged as a potent moderating factor in shaping the relationship between cadets’ resilience and self-efficacy. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that vocational calling exerted a conditional influence on the impact of cadets’ resilience on their professional achievement, with self-efficacy serving as a crucial mediating mechanism in this relationship. In particular, the study affirmed that self-efficacy functioned as a comprehensive mediator, elucidating the pathway through which the resilience of the cadets ultimately influenced their professional achievements.Conclusion: The results of this research contribute significantly to enhancing our understanding of the intricate connection between the resilience levels exhibited by cadets and their corresponding professional achievements. Furthermore, these findings have valuable implications for the ongoing refinement of military education and training programs. They offer insights that could inform the development of more effective testing and selection protocols for military personnel, ultimately benefiting the armed forces in their pursuit of excellence.

In order to develop broader scientific discussions, the authors analyze a contemporary social phenomenon in the field of sustainability—the modernisation of the country in order to preserve the ecosystem, emphasizing one of the most important aspects of modernisation—the context of economic environmental sustainability. Underscoring the importance of this study, the research problem was identified by answering the questions of how the modernisation of the country manifests itself in the context of economic environmental sustainability and what are the consequences for the society. This article examines the factors behind the country’s modernisation through the lens of its citizens. The purpose is to analyze the development of modernisation in Lithuania from the perspective of a sustainable economic environment and to form a complex system of indicators for the formation of an effective governance of a modern country. The paper is based on a quantitative empirical study to support the structural perspective of modernisation of the country, to justify an integrated system of indicators for the formation of a modern country following an analysis of the country’s modernisation trends in terms of the economic environment. The scientific value of the study: the presents paper investigates the main determinants of economic environmental sustainability of the country (effectiveness of digitalisation, infrastructure, environment, and interoperability of natural resources); behavior in line with environmental trends of the EU and subjective factors (interest in opportunities and benefits of renewable energy) was investigated; provides a methodological framework for the methods used (descriptive statistics, factor analysis (FA) and path analysis (PA). A representative cross-sectional survey of 1015 respondents are selected as main research tool. Lithuania (Case Study) served as an empirical basis for the research.