Promoting ethical, relevant, and rigorous research in industrial-organizational psychology

At the first Alliance for Organizational Psychology (AOP) Small Group Meeting held in Zurich, Switzerland earlier this year, Ron Landis, Nambury S. Raju Professor of Psychology, and 23 other researchers from institutions across the globe, came together to discuss how researchers and institutions can foster ethical, rigorous, and relevant research in the field of industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology.

Representing three different I-O psychology organizations—the Division 1 of the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP), the European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology (EAWOP), and the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP)—the group developed a memorandum of understanding that identified the most pressing problems that impede the conduct of ethical, rigorous, and relevant research in I-O psychology specifically and also in psychology and possibly other sciences broadly.  The group also identified some effective solutions to these issues and created smaller task forces to develop guidelines and disseminate their ideas throughout the field.

The memorandum of understanding was published in the European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology. “There is hope for better science”.