This dissertation explores the diffusion and adoption decisions of synthetic training among US partners and allies. The adoption of synthetic training—in particular live, virtual, and constructive training and a multi-domain synthetic training environment—among US partners and allies is puzzling as it runs counter to diffusion theories, such as adoption capacity theory. If the size of the defense budget and organizational agility does not cause adoption, what does? To assess the drivers of synthetic training diffusion and adoption, this dissertation systematically tests five alternative hypotheses from the diffusion literature: 1) the presence of geostrategic competition, 2) the propensity for organizational reform within the defense bureaucracy, 3) the existence of bureaucratic civilian and military champions, 4) military-to-military contact, and 5) cultural similarity. Two sets of comparative country case studies are used to test the alternative hypotheses, representing a high and low adopter of synthetic training—Australia & Japan and Israel & Canada. By systematically testing the five alternative hypotheses against the two comparative case studies, this dissertation serves four purposes. First, it represents the first in-depth study of synthetic training within Political Science scholarship, opening the aperture for future investigation and analysis. Second, it is one of the few studies of in-process diffusion within the field, thereby helping to expand literature which has to date suffered from a pro-innovation bias. Third, it bolsters the diffusion scholarship in two ways: by demonstrating that state perceptions of their geostrategic threat environment play an outsized role in adoption decisions and that diffusion studies would benefit from a deeper assessment of the diffusion differences between hardware and software. Finally, it demonstrates that state adoption decisions can be idiosyncratic, and, as a result, a level of intellectual humility must be employed when applying theory to policy, like in the case of synthetic training.
Before the Crucible: The Diffusion and Adoption of Select Synthetic Training Applications among US Partners and Allies
McArdle, J. (Author). 1 May 2023
Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Philosophy