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Uniqueness and Generalization in Organizational Psychology: Research as a Relational Practice
Giuseppe Scaratti1, Silvia Ivaldi2
1Department of Psychology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milano, Italy.
Frontiers in Psychology
|February 22, 2021
Summary
This study explores Work and Organizational Psychology as an applied science, emphasizing practical rationality and relational practices. It highlights the challenges of generating context-specific knowledge in real-world organizational settings.
Area of Science:
- Work and Organizational Psychology
- Social Science Research
- Applied Research Methodologies
Background:
- The conceptualization of Work and Organizational Psychology (WOP) as an idiographic, situated, and transformative social science.
- The ongoing debate in organization studies regarding the balance between uniqueness and generalization in applied approaches.
- The need to examine the underlying epistemological and theoretical assumptions in WOP research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the ontological, gnoseological, and methodological implications of WOP as an applied science.
- To explore the use of practical rationality over scientific rationality through a hermeneutic lens.
- To characterize applied research as a relational practice embedded in concrete social contexts.
Main Methods:
- A hermeneutic lens to analyze practical rationality.
- Conceptual analysis of epistemological and theoretical assumptions.
- Case study of a field research project in organizational settings.
Main Results:
- Applied research in WOP is configured as a relational practice.
- Knowledge generation is embedded within specific social contexts and objects.
- The adoption of an epistemology of practice shapes research characteristics.
Conclusions:
- The enactment of research processes is a social accomplishment with inherent challenges.
- Understanding WOP requires acknowledging its situated and transformative nature.
- Bridging the gap between theory and practice necessitates an epistemology of practice.
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