The Social Utility of Research in Work and Organizational Psychology: Current Debates in the French Scientific Community

This article discusses topics raised in a debate organized in June 2024 on the social utility of research in work and organizational psychology (WOP) by the French Network of WOP Research Units. The article attempts to give an account of the diverse positions expressed during the discussion, highlighting both consensus and differences in opinion. The debate raised thorny questions, as the mere fact of debating the social utility of the discipline can seem to cast the latter in doubt, even if the aim is to strengthen it. The article summarizes the various topics French researchers mentioned regarding the question of the social utility of WOP research: linking the aim of gathering data and the aim of transformation; interactions with the socioeconomic sphere and its diverse stakeholders who often have conflicting interests; the axiological and teleological directions taken by researchers in a more or less conscious and deliberate way; micro (e.g., analysis of a specific mission) and macro (e.g., analysis of economic structures) approaches to social utility; the beneficiaries of research and the roles attributed to stakeholders; etc. While WOP researchers are frequently called upon to take sides, this raises important questions regarding the instrumentalization and credibility of their scientific research. The article seeks to highlight the conditions that need to be met for socially useful WOP research, as currently perceived by those working in the field in the scientific community in France, although it should be noted that these reflections are dynamic and evolving and should not be considered as fixed.