Effects of person–occupation political orientation misfit on occupational identification: An experimental study

Abstract

AbstractResearchers and practitioners have become increasingly interested in the role of political orientation in the workplace. Importantly, people do not always agree with other members of their profession when it comes to politics. However, the effects of such person–occupation political orientation misfit on people's work‐related attitudes remain unclear. According to the social identity perspective, person–occupation political orientation misfit is likely to lead to the experience of identity threat, which in turn should negatively impact people's occupational identification. To address this idea empirically, the goal of this study was to examine the influence of different political depictions of the field of industrial and organizational (I–O) psychology (i.e. as generally neoliberal, left‐wing, pluralistic, or neutral) on I–O psychologists' occupational identification, depending on their personal political orientation (i.e. more or less liberal vs. conservative). Specifically, we hypothesized that experiencing person–occupation political orientation misfit would reduce occupational identification. Results of an experiment (n = 800 I–O psychology academics and practitioners) provided some support for this hypothesis, suggesting specifically that person–occupation political orientation misfit might alienate people with a more conservative political orientation from their occupation.