Date of Award

2018

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Psychology

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Bowen, Cheih-Chen

Subject Headings

Psychology

Abstract

Organizations are consistently, and increasingly, dealing with the changing of generations in the workplace with the introduction of Generation Y, the upcoming decline of Generation X, and the retirement of Baby Boomers. Due to the changing workforce, the purpose of this current research was to observe how debt, work values, specifically intrinsic (helping others, being able to be creative) versus extrinsic (money, status), and job satisfaction are changing among the employees as well. However, there are few to no studies that have looked at how the inclusion of debt (mortgage loans, car loans, credit card debt, school loans) is influencing said factors of work values and job satisfaction. The current research examined 123 participants on their generational status, debt status, work values, and job satisfaction. The results suggested that there were generational differences among present debt status, rating of work values (extrinsic vs. intrinsic), and subscales of job satisfaction (i.e. pay, promotion, benefits). While the current research did not find a relationship among debt and work related variables, these results are relevant and give implications for the present workforce and directions for future research on this topic. These findings suggested that generational differences did exist in the workforce and promote the importance of future research observing this topic amongst a larger variety of variables. The results of the current research aide in better understanding the changing human resource management process of recruiting, training, and rewarding employees.

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