Organizational-professional conflict of I/O psychologists, job satisfaction and work engagement

Abstract

organizational-professional conflict occurs among employees in situations when organizational expectations and demands are opposed to the professional principles and standards. The results of studies have shown that this conflict negatively affects employees' attitude towards the job and affective-motivational state of fulfilment with work role. The purpose of this research was to examine exposure to organizational-professional conflict among I/O psychologists in Serbia, to find out whether there is a correlation between the exposure to organizational-professional conflict, job satisfaction and work engagement, and to determine the main factors of exposure to organizational-professional conflict. Our sample consisted of 96 I/O psychologists. Results have shown that there was significant high negative correlation between the exposure to organizational-professional conflict and job satisfaction, as well as significant moderate negative correlation between the exposure to organizational-professional conflict and work engagement. The highest correlations were with social dimensions of job satisfaction. The exposure to organizational-professional conflict was lower among I/O psychologists with longer work experience and those at higher positions in organizational hierarchy. The exposure to organizational-professional conflict was higher among I/O psychologists who were working in privately owned companies and among those who were fixed-term employees. There was no significant correlation between the exposure to organizational-professional conflict and the size of the organization or business field. Our study showed that organizational-professional conflict should be considered as an important theoretical and research topic, as well as a relevant professional and career issue.

Keywords

• organizational-professional conflict
• I/O psychology
• job satisfaction
• work engagement