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

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.