Editorial

South African Journal of Industrial Psychology: Annual editorial review 2016

Melinde Coetzee

Copyright: © 2016. The Author(s). Licensee: AOSIS.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Introduction

The 2016 edition, volume 42, issue 1, of the South African Journal of Industrial Psychology (SAJIP) highlights a number of important contributions to the science and practice of industrial and organisational (I/O) psychology. I/O psychology denotes the appropriate and realistic use of scientifically grounded research methods (quantitative, qualitative, blended or multiple) in the critical inquiry of psychosocial behavioural phenomena that influence organisational success and performance; leader, employee and group effectiveness and adaptability; and the well-being of people in the organisation. Manuscript contributions are therefore screened and reviewed in terms of their scholarly standard and new knowledge production through the rigorous application of appropriate scientific research methods. If the latter are lacking, submissions are often declined because manuscripts do not comply with these SAJIP requirements. In 2016, the SAJIP witnessed 37 desk rejections and reviewed manuscript submission declines.

Maintaining a high publication standard is essential to retain the SAJIP’s indexing status in reputable international research repositories such as Gale, Cengage Learning, Elsevier’s Scopus, ProQuest, Google Scholar, SciELO SA, SA ePublications Sabinet, Directory of Open Access Journals, EBSCO Host and AOSIS Open Journals Harvester. Currently, the SAJIP is also indexed at Thomas Reuters in the Emerging Sources Citation (Web of Science) Index as a candidate journal for potential listing in the flagship Thomas Reuters Web of Science core collection. Candidate journals must annually pass in-depth editorial review, peer review, timely publishing, novel content, international diversity and citation impact, among other criteria. Since 2012, the SAJIP witnessed a steady increase from no citations (2012) to 477 (2015/2016) citations, and an increase in downloads from 91 850 (2012) to 901 720 (2015/2016). Visitors of the SAJIP website have increased from 92 566 in 2015 to 386 647 in 2016, with first-time visitors from Africa being the most (36 007: Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Ghana) relative to visitors from South Africa (27 378), Asia (23 597), Europe (15 016), Americas (13 718) and Oceania (4259). Days to publication during 2016 averaged 180 days with an average of 63 days to review. Attracting manuscripts that reflect international diversity seems to be one of the main challenges for the SAJIP with manuscript publications still reflecting mostly contributions from South Africa.

Industrial and organisational psychology research as critical inquiry

Critical inquiry in scholarly manuscripts submitted to the SAJIP should advance new knowledge and theory, and stimulate further research in the field. The literature review section of manuscripts is essential in providing a summary of primary research in the relevant subject matter and is a means for keeping abreast of organisational phenomena and problems that need further research (critical inquiry) in a particular context. The research method (either quantitative, qualitative, blended or multiple) is a process that assists positivistic-realistic critical inquiry; the appropriateness of a specific method is empirically determined via sensitivity to the subject matter under investigation (Maree, 2015; Petocz, 2011). As an applied science, I/O psychology research should inform practice, that is, bring new impetus to our understanding of the complexities embedded in psychosocial behaviour and problematic organisational phenomena in the contemporary and emerging future workplace. Ideally, critical inquiry by scholars should produce new knowledge and understanding of contextualised individual perceptions and behaviour across diverse groups and the dynamics of behaviour as they play out in organisations across multiple levels of analysis (Staw, 2016). As corroborated by the views of Staw (2016), most local (excellent) research in the field generally tends to test fundamental organisational psychological theory and/or extend that theory to the South African workplace context. Although this approach is important, there is a dire need for research efforts that generate new theory specific to organisational phenomena and problems relevant to the South African (and Africanised) multiculturally diverse workplace and the social context in which its people work. This approach suggests moving from only applying classical and modern I/O psychology and measures to the local context to also constructing an authentic I/O psychology of the South African (and Africanised) organisation. Such a psychology should inter alia consider how the influence of technology and an information-driven knowledge society and economy is changing work; careers; employment; and employee, team and organisational well-being and performance. Utilising scholarly scientific research endeavours and I/O psychological theory to understand, adapt to and manage new and emerging developments while contributing solutions for maximising the positive consequences (and minimising the negative effects) for leaders, employees and organisations may be stimulating and ongoing challenges for the field of I/O psychology (Cascio & Montealegre, 2016). The SAJIP hopes to attract high-quality scholarly manuscripts that will help address these challenges.

The 2016 manuscript contributions to the SAJIP demonstrate the use of predominantly quantitative research methods in the critical inquiry of I/O psychology themes such as psychometrics, intrinsic motivation and reward, job satisfaction, job design and job crafting, burnout, engagement, psychological well-being, positive emotional experiences, employability (careers), work–family conflict, sex-role identity, consumer psychology, gender and ethnicity differences, I/O psychology student personal growth and development, positive organisational psychology, leadership and trust, organisational citizenship behaviour and the impact of information and communication technology. The qualitative research contributions in this edition of the SAJIP focus on themes such as the perceptions and experiences of women as leaders, the careers of professional women, executive leader development, organisational transformation, professional identity issues pertaining to the I/O psychologist, intrinsic reward preferences and employee well-being.

As noted by O’Neil and Koekemoer (this edition) in their analysis of two decades of qualitative research in South African–based journals, the predominant trend of SAJIP publications seems to be focused on quantitative research methods. This trend could be attributed to the subject field’s focus on psychological assessment and psychometrics as an important activity of critical inquiry in the industrial psychologist’s scope of practice which entails the measurement of individual differences in attraction, selection, placement, development, and retention decisions, and intervention design for well-being and performance optimisation. The psychometric contributions in the SAJIP 2016 edition focus on testing the reliability and validity of internationally developed scales for the South African workplace context in measuring constructs affecting the well-being, satisfaction and engagement of employees. Noteworthy is also the contribution of new scales developed in the South African context which contribute new theory and measures. The contributions on psychometrics are valuable for I/O psychology science and practice because the findings contribute to the psychological assessment and organisational behaviour theory and research as applied in the South African workplace context. The South African employment equity legislation requires rigorous testing of psychological scales for their equivalence for different ethnic, culture and gender groups in order to ensure the reliability, validity and bias-free properties of measurement scales. In this regard, the SAJIP manuscripts that utilised a quantitative research method reflect scientific rigour in the quantitative research design approaches. However, as duly noted by O’Neil and Koekemoer (this edition), the manuscripts that utilised a qualitative research approach provide insights that are generally difficult to produce with quantitative research methods. Qualitative research contributions are important in building authentic contextualised I/O psychology theory – the research informs about the subjective life within organisations and the multiple realities that are socially constructed, and as such, helps to explore the richness and complexities of human experience in the multiculturally diverse South African workplace.

Conclusion

We trust that the 2016 edition of the SAJIP will continue to shape subsequent research, and new knowledge and theory generation in the field that inform the fast-evolving needs of I/O psychology and human resource practice in the contemporary and future technologically advanced multiculturally diverse knowledge society that the South African workplace reflects. Prospective authors are encouraged to submit well-conducted impactful research (quantitative, qualitative, mixed, or multiple methods) that extends current I/O psychology theory and helps build an authentic I/O psychology theory for the South African (and Africanised) workplace. The editorial team of the SAJIP is committed to continue to ensure that the journal’s review and publication practices comply with the high standards set for well-conducted research that adds value to theory and practice.

In conclusion, the editors would like to express their sincere gratitude towards the section editors and reviewers who unselfishly dedicate their time and expertise to the manuscript review process and help ensure the publication of quality manuscripts. The editors are also grateful for the highly efficient and professional support of the AOSIS team who streamlines the review and publication process of the SAJIP manuscript submissions. The meaningful and efficient synchronisation of the efforts of the publisher (AOSIS), editors, section editors, editorial board and reviewers is essential for ensuring that the SAJIP stays true to its focus and scope, and retains its reputation as a scientific publication with international merit of scientific excellence.

References