Richard N. Landers, Ph.D.
Associate Professor in Industrial/Organizational Psychology
Primary Investigator of TNTLab
Old Dominion University
rnlanders@odu.edu

A Quantitative Examination of Research Trends in I/O Psychology 2001 - 2005

Using PsycINFO, I extracted all articles in the top 10 journals in I/O psychology according to Zickar and Highhouse (1994). Then, using the TREND software, I extracted the 500 articles most cited by that literature. Three independent raters then judged each of the top 250 citations as primarily industrial psychological, primarily organizational psychological, equally industrial and organizational psychological, methodological and statistical, or other/unknown. These were summarized into five top 20 lists, the first two of which appear below. Moderate inter-rater agreement is indicated with a Fleiss' kappa of 0.49. The full dataset of counts (top 500) is also available for download here.

The following tables are excerpted from my 2009 article in The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist. You can download the full article in PDF form here.

Table 1. Top 20 most highly cited industrial psychological articles from 2001 to 2005

 

Citation

# Cites

1

Barrick, M. R., & Mount, M. K. (1991). The Big Five personality dimensions and job performance: A meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology, 44, 1-26.

294

2

Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (1998). The validity and utility of selection methods in personnel psychology: Practical and theoretical implications of 85 years of research findings. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 262-274.

149

2

Schneider, B. (1987). The people make the place. Personnel Psychology, 40, 437-453.

149

4

Hunter, J. E., & Hunter, R. F. (1984). Validity and utility of alternate predictors of job performance. Psychological Bulletin, 96, 72-98.

132

5

Tett, R. P., Jackson, D. N., & Rothstein, M. (1991). Personality measures as predictors of job performance: A meta-analytic review. Personnel Psychology, 44, 703-742.

108

6

Salgado, J. F. (1997). The five factor model of personality and job performance in the European Community. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82, 30-43.

91

7

Kluger, A. N., & DeNisi, A. (1996). The effects of feedback interventions on performance: Historical review, a meta-analysis and a preliminary feedback intervention theory. Psychological Bulletin, 119, 254-284.

90

8

Borman, W. C., Hanson, M., & Hedge, J. W. (1997). Personnel selection. Annual Review of Psychology, 48, 299-337.

82

9

Goldberg, L. R. (1992). The development of markers for the big five factor structure. Psychological Assessment, 4, 26-42.

80

10

Gilliland, S. W. (1993). The perceived fairness of selection systems: An organizational justice perspective. Academy of Management Review, 18, 694-734.

79

10

Smither, J. W., Reilly, R. R., Millsap, R. E., Pearlman, K., & Stoffey, R. W. (1993). Applicant reactions to selection procedures. Personnel Psychology, 46, 49-76.

79

12

Viswesvaran, C., Ones, D. S., & Schmidt, F. L. (1996). Comparative analysis of the reliability of job performance ratings. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, 557-560.

76

13

Barrick, M. R., Stewart, G. L., & Piotrowski, M. (2002). Personality and job performance: Test of the mediating effects of motivation among sales representatives. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 43-51.

68

13

Gilliland, S. W. (1994). Effects of procedural and distributive justice on reactions to a selection system. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79, 691-701.

68

13

Huselid, M. A. (1995). The impact of human resource management practices on turnover, productivity, and corporate financial performance. Academy of Management Journal, 38, 635-672.

68

15

Hough, L. M. (1992). The "Big Five" personality variables-construct confusion: Description versus prediction. Human Performance, 5, 139-155.

66

15

Hough, L. M., Dunnette, M. D., Eaton, N. K., & Kamp, J. D. (1990). Criterion-related validities of personality constructs and the effect of response distortions on those validities. Journal of Applied Psychology, 75, 581-595.

66

18

McDaniel, M. A., Whetzel, D. L., Schmidt, F. L., & Maurer, S. (1994). The validity of employment interviews: A comprehensive review and meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79, 599-616.

63

19

Harris, M. M., & Schaubroeck, J. (1988). A meta-analysis of self-supervisor, self-peer, and peer-supervisor ratings. Personnel Psychology, 41, 43-62.

57

19

McHenry, J. J., Hough, L. M., Toquam, J. L., Hanson, M. A., & Ashworth, S. (1990). Project A validity results: The relationship between predictor and criterion domains. Personnel Psychology, 43, 335-354.

57

Note. Ties indicated with identical ranks. Order within ranks is alphabetical.

 

Table 2. Top 20 most highly cited organizational psychological articles from 2001 to 2005

 

Citation

# Cites

1

Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social-cognitive view. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

203

2

Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman.

159

2

Blau, P. (1964). Exchange and power in social life. New York: Wiley.

159

4

Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations. New York: Free Press.

155

5

Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (1990). A theory of goal setting and task performance. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

150

6

Eisenberger, R., Huntington, R., Hutchison, S., & Sowa, D. (1986). Perceived organizational support. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71, 500-507.

138

7

Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture's consequences: International differences in work-related values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

126

8

Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G. R. (1980). Work redesign. Readings, MA: Addison-Wesley.

124

9

Lind, E. A., & Tyler, T. R. (1988). The social psychology of procedural justice. New York: Plenum.

123

10

Organ, D. W. (1988). Organizational citizenship behavior: The good soldier syndrome. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.

122

11

Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: the PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063-1070.

120

12

March, J. G., & Simon, H. A. (1958). Organizations. New York: Wiley.

119

13

Van Vianen, A. E. M. (2000). Person-organization fit: The match between newcomers' and recruiters' preferences for organizational cultures. Personnel Psychology, 53, 113-149.

118

14

Vroom, V. H. (1964). Work and motivation. New York: Wiley.

116

15

Gist, M. E., & Mitchell, T. N. (1992). Self-efficacy: A theoretical analysis of its determinants and malleability. Academy of Management Review, 17, 183-211.

112

15

Katz, D., & Kahn, R. L. (1978). The social psychology of organizations (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley.

112

17

Mowday, R., Steers, R., & Porter, L. (1979). The measurement of organization commitment. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 14, 224-247.

111

18

Smith, C. A., Organ, D. P., & Near, J. P. (1983). Organizational citizenship behavior: Its nature and antecedents. Journal of Applied Psychology, 68, 653-663.

110

19

Thompson, J. D. (1967). Organizations in action. New York: McGraw-Hill.

106

20

Moorman, R. H. (1991). Relationship between organizational justice and organizational citizenship behaviors: Do fairness perceptions influence employee citizenship? Journal of Applied Psychology, 76, 845-855.

105
Note. Ties indicated with identical ranks. Order within ranks is alphabetical.