For the first time, the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) has funded a humanitarian work psychology research project under the SIOP Foundation’s Grants and Awards program this year. The project is led by Mahima Saxena from the Illinois Institute of Technology and John Scott from APTMetrics, and is titled, “I-O Psychology and ILO: Exploring Work Experiences of Informal Workers and Promoting Decent Work for All.

Mallory, Drew

Osicki, Mathian

Rupp, Deborah E.

Saari, Lise

Sall, English

Saxena, Mahima

Scott, John C.

Thompson, Lori Foster

English

The University of Nebraska, Omaha

University of Nebraska at Omaha DigitalCommons@UNO Psychology Faculty Publications Department of Psychology 7-2015 News from the SIOP-United Nations team: Exploring work experiences of informal workers and promoting decent work for all Mahima Saxena English Sall John C. Scott Deborah E. Rupp Lise Saari See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/psychfacpub  Part of the Psychology Commons Authors Mahima Saxena, English Sall, John C. Scott, Deborah E. Rupp, Lise Saari, Lori Foster Thompson, Mathian Osicki, and Drew Mallory Welcome to the online version of The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist.Editor:  Morrie Mullins, mullins@xavier.eduSIOP Publications Manager: Jen Baker, jbaker@siop.orgThe Industrial-Organizational Psychologist (TIP) is an official publication of the Society for Industri-al and Organizational Psychology, Inc. and is pub lished quarterly by the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Inc., 440 East Poe Road, Suite 101, Bowling Green, OH  43402-1355.Opinions expressed are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the official posi tion of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, the American Psychological Association, or the Association for Psychological Sciences, unless so stated.Mission Statement:  The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist (TIP) is an official publication of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Inc., Division 14 of the American Psy-chological Association and an Organizational Affiliate of the American Psychological Society.  The purpose of TIP is to provide news, reports, and noncommercial information related to the funda-mental practice, science, and teaching issues in industrial and organizational psychology.AdvertisingAdvertising PolicyBack issues and Archives  (Please note, SIOP is currently not accepting donations of TIP collections.) BoardHow to contribute to TIPPhotographers Needed for TIP CoverPlease send suggestions and comments via e-mail to Morrie Mullins, TIP editor, or to  Jenny Baker in the SIOP Administrative Office. Copyright © 2015 by the Society for Industrial and Organizational PsychologyEditorial Board:Alexander AlonsoWilliam BeckerNikki BlacksmithJeff CucinaMarcus DicksonAllison GabrielMilt HakelAshley HoffmanMarianna HornSeth KaplanTiffany PoeppelmanMark Poteet Rob SilzerSteven ToaddyRichard TonowskiM. K. WardLynda Zugec172 July 2015, Volume 53, Number 1News From the SIOP-United Nations Team: Exploring Work  Experiences of Informal Workers and Promoting Decent Work for AllSIOP Representatives to the United Nations:Mahima Saxena (Guest Lead Author), Illinois Institute of TechnologyEnglish Sall, North Carolina State University John C. Scott, APTMetricsDeborah E. Rupp, Purdue UniversityLise Saari, New York UniversityLori Foster Thompson, North Carolina State University Mathian Osicki, IBM Drew Mallory, Purdue UniversityFor the first time, the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) has funded a humanitarian work psychology research project under the SIOP Foun-dation’s Grants and Awards program this year. The project is led by Mahima Saxena from the Illinois Institute of Technology and John Scott from APTMetrics, and is titled, “I-O Psychology and ILO: Exploring Work Experiences of Informal Workers and Promoting Decent Work for All.” This is an exciting time for us for many reasons! First, this funding will allow us to pursue research focused squarely within industrial and organizational psychology (I-O) theory and methods while asking questions and seeking answers that are in line with the United Nations (UN) and International Labor Organization’s (ILO) global development agenda, specifically as they relate to the world of work. Second, it shows SIOP’s continued commitment to developing links with the UN and the ILO to leverage skills and competencies that are possessed by its members in order to drive positive social change for the global working poor. Third, by asking questions rooted in I-O science and methods, we hope to provide empirical answers to questions that are fundamental to im-proving psychological experiences for the poorest workers around the world. SIOP has made significant efforts to align itself with the UN. As part of this initiative, SIOP was awarded nongovernmental orga-nization (NGO) special consultative status with the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to create policy recommendations for international eco-nomic and social issues and “drive positive societal change on a global basis” through advocacy, research, and policy develop-ment  (United Nations, 2010; Scott, 2014). The creation of the Global Organization of Humanitarian Work Psychology is in similar spirit of enhancing human welfare and international development by using work psychology (Carr, 2007). Similarly, we are witnessing increased presence of our field in the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the forthcoming Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and activi-ties within the UN Global Compact. This project is in the same spirit and hopes to contribute towards aforesaid initiatives.      173 The Industrial-Organizational PsychologistMotivation for Current ProjectInformal EconomyWork and employment outside govern-ment taxation, regulation, and observation is known as the informal or undeclared economy (World Bank, 2002). Hart (2008, p.145–146) noted that it is “a set of eco-nomic activities that take place outside the framework of bureaucratic public and private sector establishments and do not comply with government regulations.” Ac-cording to the World Bank, over half of the world’s population lives and works within the informal employment sector (World Bank, 2002). Informal work is a pervasive and persistent feature all over the world and is known to be associated with a vari-ety of negative features: poor and unsafe working conditions, low levels of choice for workers, low or irregular income, absence of social and medical benefits, compulso-ry overtime, extra shifts, inequitable pay, ill-health, and high rates of poverty (ILO, 2014; World Bank, 2002). The disorganized nature of work may lead to lack of protec-tion for those operating in this economy, oftentimes further exacerbated by poor infrastructure, exposure to crime and vio-lence, physical and psychological exploita-tion, and unfair treatment. Although the largest proportions of informal workers tend to work as laborers in agriculture, nonagricultural work that includes excep-tional forms of craftsmanship such as in weaving, pottery, goldsmithery, as well as manufacturing and construction are other examples of work conducted in this sector. Women are more likely to be self-em-ployed in the informal economic sec-tor. Charmes (2012) found that women outnumber men in sub-Saharan Africa in the informal sector by 51.1%;  64.2% of the workforce in MENA (Middle East and North Africa) countries and 88.6% in sub-Saharan South Africa are composed of female workers. Not surprisingly, most research and ap-plied work in this area has been conducted by economists and labor statisticians. Yet, empirical research exploring these issues within the context of I-O psychology is fair-ly limited. Despite the centrality of work within various international mandates, there is no research that falls squarely within the theoretical purview and empiri-cal methods of industrial and organization-al psychology. Indeed, we were surprised by how scantily this discourse is inhabited by scholarly work conducted by I-O psy-chologists. Our Research Questions and Anticipated OutcomesVarious aspects of this project are salient to understanding and improving the condi-tions of work in the informal economy and deserve special attention. The main aspect is the unique juxtaposition of highly skilled work within the context of the disorga-nized sector in informal economies. This influenced the questions we are asking. Mahima and John are curious about the very nature of such work and will examine it as such in its natural social–ecological context. 174 July 2015, Volume 53, Number 1It is important to understand the nature of work and working in the informal econo-my in order to promote decent work and well-being. Because the nature of work is fundamentally different in the occupations and contexts highlighted above, we will explore the subjective experience of work-ing in the informal sector (Weiss & Rupp, 2012). Next we will evaluate the meaning of work, hindrances, and evaluations of subjective well-being as they relate to work and overall health for workers in the informal economy. The project will make use of a mixed-method approach to data collection, employing a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques. With regard to the latter, we are excited that this study will utilize the ecological momentary assessment (EMA), also known as experience sampling method (ESM), to get at the immediate felt experience of informal workers as their reality unfolds in real time, within their natural context. This will ensure that data collection is free from retrospective biases and the nature of participants’ experiences is captured as it occurs! And Finally….This study will mark a key entry for our field into a domain so far dominated by econo-mists, yet ripe for us to provide important contributions to SIOP’s UN initiatives and the subdisciplines of humanitarian work psychology. In the time to come, we hope that our empirically driven scholarly pur-suits will lead to practical outcomes that can feed into broader policy statements governing decent work mandates.Our hope and distal goal is that practi-tioners who are involved in the promo-tion of social justice and decent work at organizations such as the UN and ILO will benefit from this project. Findings will provide suggestions for targeted interven-tions grounded in scientific research for international toolkits and highlight the role of I-O psychology in global social welfare and policy issues. By contributing to the UN’s mandate for improving work and the employment context and by enhancing our understanding of work experiences across heretofore unexplored domains, this study hopes to contribute to both academic as well as practitioner-oriented I-O psycholo-gy. The recent devastating earthquakes in South Asia have presented multiple chal-lenges, but we are hopeful that the project and the situation there will soon be on the road to recovery. This is an important milestone! Watch this space in the months to come for more on this!  ReferencesCarr, S. C. (2007, July). I-O psychology and poverty reduction: Past, present, and fu-ture? The Industrial-Organizational Psycholo-gist, 45(1), 43–50.Charmes, J. (2012). The informal economy worldwide: Trends and characteristics. Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research, 6, 103–32.Hart, K. (2008). Informal economy. In S. N. Durlauf and L. E. Blume (Eds.), The new Pal-grave dictionary of economics (pp. 845–846). New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. International Labor Organization (2014). Infor-mal Economy. Retrieved from http://ilo.org/     175 The Industrial-Organizational Psychologistglobal/topics/employment-promotion/infor-mal-economy/lang--en/index.htmScott, J. C. (2014). SIOP granted NGO consulta-tive status with the United Nations. Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Retrieved from http://www.siop.org/tip/oct11/19un.aspxUnited Nations. (2010). Economic and Social Council. Retrieved from http://esango.un.org/irene/index.html?page=viewCon-tent&nr=121&type=13&section=13&in-dex=0.Weiss, H. M., & Rupp, D. E. (2011). Experienc-ing work: An essay on a person-centric work psychology. Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, 4, 83–97. World Bank. (2002). WDR’s—World develop-ment report. Retrieved from http://go.world-bank.org/JX5Z4AZ0A0The SIOP Organizational Frontiers SeriesLaunched in 1983 to make scientific contributions to the field, this series publishes books on cutting edge theory and research derived from practice in industrial and organizational psychology, and related organizational science disciplines. The goal of the series is to inform and stimulate research for SIOP members (students, practitioners and researchers) and people in related disciplines in-cluding other subdisciplines of psychology, organizational behavior, human resource management, and labor and industrial relations.The newest volume in this series isFacing the Challenges of a Multi-Age Workforce, which examines the shifting economic, cultural, and technological trends in the modern work-place that are taking place as a result of the aging global workforce. Taking an international per-spective, contributors address workforce aging issues around the world, allowing for productive cross-cultural comparisons.Get your copy today from the SIOP Store!

News from the SIOP-United Nations team: Exploring work experiences of informal workers and promoting decent work for all

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News from the SIOP-United Nations team: Exploring work experiences of informal workers and promoting decent work for all

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