An Epistemological View of Industrial/Organizational Psychology: Some Perspectives and Implications for Future Knowledge Development

Abstract

The epistemological nature of science and industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology is considered against the backdrop of scientific divergence and fragmentation, and the consequent need for theory development and knowledge integration. Two basic epistemologies, related to traditions of thought in western science, are identified, namely, the analytic and synthetic modes of knowledge. With the aid of a number of sensitizing concepts such as scope of knowledge, process of knowledge development and time-perspective of knowledge, the epistemological characteristics and preferences encountered in I/O psychology are discussed in some detail. The major conclusion is that the discipline is clearly operating within the classic (analytic or positivist) mode of scientific endeavour. The most important implication for future knowledge development is co-equivalence of both analytic (differentiative) and synthetic (integrative) modes of knowledge and related methods, which should be regarded in a dialectical manner. This is postulated as necessary in order to escape the threat of becoming a technological fragment of a science, tied to a one-sided epistemology.