Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)

Department

School of Business

First Advisor

Dr. Tim Veach

Second Advisor

Dr. Wendy Flint

Third Advisor

Dr. D. Anthony Miles

Abstract

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between return-to-office (RTO) mandate intensity and employee engagement and to determine whether generational cohort moderated this relationship. Grounded in Kahn’s (1990) theory of employee engagement, the study examined total employee engagement as well as the three dimensions of engagement as defined by Shuck et al. (2017): cognitive, emotional, and behavioral. Data were collected through an online SurveyMonkey survey administered to employed adults in the United States, yielding 482 eligible responses. Employee engagement was measured using the Employee Engagement Scale (Shuck et al., 2017), while RTO mandate intensity was operationalized as the number of required in-office workdays per week. Descriptive statistics, reliability analyses, correlations, multiple linear regression, and moderated regression analyses were conducted using Jamovi statistical software. Results indicated that higher RTO mandate intensity was a statistically significant positive predictor of total employee engagement as well as cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement. Generational cohort significantly moderated the relationship between RTO mandate intensity and total employee engagement and demonstrated significant moderation within selected engagement dimensions, indicating that the relationship between RTO requirements and engagement differed across generational groups. These findings contribute to the growing body of literature examining post-pandemic workplace policies and provide practical insights for organizational leaders seeking to balance return-to-office expectations with employee engagement.

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