Brain Drain, Invader, Virus, Traveler: On the Evolution of Industrial–Organizational Psychology

Abstract

Aguinis, Bradley, and Brodersen (2014) write of the apparent migration of industrial–organizational (I–O) psychologists to business schools and raise questions about the value and consequences of such migration. As a scholar in a school of business I found this article to be provocative, stimulating, and even surprising (my own eye opener). For example, it caused me to consider the important, and often underevaluated, distinctions between disciplines and departmental loci, fundamental differences (and similarities) between psychology and business, and the growth, decline, and general evolution of disciplines. Although I have spent more than 40 years as a faculty member in the Wisconsin School of Business, I see myself as similar in many ways to scholars in I–O psychology departments. I have published in psychology journals such as Psychological Bulletin, Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, and Industrial and Organizational Psychology; have served for many years on the editorial review board of the Journal of Applied Psychology; and have presented at Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) and Association for Psychological Science (APS) meetings. I have regularly taught courses and seminars on I–O psychology and related organizational behavior (OB) topics for decades.