MARINE CORPS MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY (MOS) ASSIGNMENTS: CAREER IMPACTS OF MATCH QUALITY

As the Marine Corps confronts a battlefield of increasing scale, complexity, and fluidity, it must leverage every opportunity to optimize performance and lethality. To this end, General David H. Bergerm, Commandant of the Marine Corps, has prioritized the improvement of talent management practices. However, one concept within talent management, match quality, remains largely overlooked and unexplored. This research explores whether the same economic and social benefits of match quality suggested in the literature also apply in the Marine Corps. As such, this thesis uses regression analysis to determine the statistical relationship between MOS preference received on career outcomes among Marine Corps officers. It also determines factors not currently considered within the Marine Corps’ MOS assignment process that may be used to improve Marine Corps officer’s occupational specialty match quality. The results of this study indicate a modest, but statistically significant, relationship between MOS preference received and performance. However, MOS preference is not found to be a positive, statistically significant predictor of length of service. Still, these findings support the establishment of a system that efficiently exchanges information about the individuals and occupations in the market, reveals their true preferences, and improves match quality. This study identifies several realistic and feasible methods to improve match quality within the Marine Corps.Outstanding ThesisMajor, United States Marine CorpsApproved for public release. distribution is unlimite