Publications

  • Recruiting Generation Z for the U.S. Army: A Descriptive Qualitative Case Study

    The U.S. Army has been recruiting an all-volunteer force since 1973. The last several years have shown to be a struggle for the United States Army Recruiting Command. The problem addressed in this study was that U.S. Army recruiters do not have a fundamental understanding of how to use Information Technology for talent acquisition effectively. The purpose of this descriptive qualitative case study was to understand how social media and e-recruiting websites can be leveraged to target Generation Z for U.S. Army talent acquisition most effectively. Vargo and Lusch’s Service-Dominant Logic theory provided the opportunity for the target market to create new methods to market and recruit the U.S. Army. This study utilized an in-depth questionnaire that collected qualitative and quantitative responses to answer the qualitative research questions which was distributed online using Qualtrics. Purposive sampling was used to identify participants. This case study collected responses using Qualtrics from 22 participants recruited through Facebook, then organized, coded, and analyzed using a codebook and Qualtrics. Seven themes emerged: call-to-action, information-driven, outdated, point of view, reasoning, external influencers, and authenticity. The Army has to create marketing material and engage with Americans in methods and formats that align more consistently with Generation Z, including total Army involvement in producing videos and social media content that focuses on Soldier's opinions and experiences.This study's findings were consistent with previous research indicating the need to shift to Vargo and Lusch’s Service-Dominant Logic theory and will provide a deeper understanding of how to begin the shift regarding Generation Z as an inbound workforce. Future research should include individuals who actually enlist in order to gain a deeper understanding and better knowledge of why and how social media and e-recruitment can be leveraged to assist in all DoD recruiting efforts.

  • Future publications coming soon