Adaye, Yonas (PhD)Zikarge, Berhane2018-11-162024-10-112018-11-162024-10-112016-06https://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/14348There is a significant perception gap between the public and the Ethiopian Defence Force itself with respect to the attractiveness, prestige and legitimacy of the military institution. This research mainly focused on the views of selected senior preparatory students, their parents, veterans and military personnel. The survey results are analyzed to answer three questions: How do the students, parents and veterans perceive the F.D.R.E. Defence Force and the military profession? How do the Defence and the military personnel view themselves with regard to the image, prestige or attractiveness of the institution and the military profession? What is the perception gap? And what implications does it have for recruitment and retention? The study uses prestige and legitimacy as a conceptual framework of analysis to examine a range of possible factors affecting the perception gap between the students, parents, veterans and the Defence institution. The findings show that low salary, and poor quality of life of military personnel; and lack of support and recognition for the veterans partly explain the declining prestige of the Defence. The overall image which emerges from this very limited case study is that the military profession is not attractive. Moreover, this study also revealed that there is a widely held perception that the Defence Force is not free from partisanship and there is a prevailing perception that the Defence is not representative enough at its officer corps level, which in turn does seem to affect its legitimacy. Mounting evidence was also found that these deficiencies have profound implications for personnel recruitment and retention. However, the Defence institution does not seem to share these perceptions, differing on the depth, and implications of these shortcomings, claiming that the institution still attracts enough recruits, it maintains high standing as regards prestige, and it enjoys solid legitimacy. Finally, the study concludes that there is a wide perception gap between the public and the Defence with regard to the core issues under consideration, except, the apparent consensus on the perception of Defence capabiliten-USPerception Gap, Prestige, Legitimacy, Ethnic Composition, Recruitment, RetentionThesis