Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-2025

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Industrial Engineering

Major Professor

James L Simonton

Committee Members

James L Simonton, Andrew J Yu, Tony Shi, Trevor M Moeller

Abstract

The United States Department of Defense (DOD) is facing ongoing workforce challenges as the Baby Boomer population (age 65-81) retire and younger generational cohorts are left to step into critical leadership roles. Building on Gilliam’s 2010 findings, this research studies job satisfaction, work engagement and work factor importance among the Department of Defense civilian scientist and engineers from 2010 to present time.

In addition to Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials, this study also includes Generation Z, who were excluded from the 2010 study because they were not a part of the workforce due to age.

This quantitative, comparative study uses three validated instruments (Job Satisfaction Survey, Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, Work Factor Importance Questionnaire) to close multiple important research gaps. Surveys from 240 Department of Defense civilian scientists and engineers were analyzed using ANOVA and Tukey HSD post-hoc tests to detect statistically significant differences among the 2025 workforce generations and between the 2010 and 2025 datasets.

The results indicated statistically significant differences in job satisfaction, work engagement and job factor importance. Generation Z emerged as the most distinct generational cohort, indicating higher emphasis on work/life balance, reporting difficulties detaching from work and lower satisfaction with compensation and their relationship with supervisors. Generation Y datasets revealed an overall decline in job satisfaction and work engagement since 2010. Generation X remained stable with a small increase in mental resilience responses. Baby boomers showed minimal changes from 2010 to the present, as they are phasing out of their roles and nearing retirement.

Overall, findings show that the DOD civilian scientist and engineering workforce has moved towards desiring more flexibility, fairness, strong supervisory relationship and fairness over traditional workforce recognition.

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