In this response to Guzzo, Fink, King, Tonidandel, and Landis (2015), we suggest industrial–organizational (I-O) psychologists join business analysts, data scientists, statisticians, mathematicians, and economists in creating the vanguard of expertise as we acclimate to the reality of analytics in the world of big data. We enthusiastically accept their invitation to share our perspective that extends the discussion in three key areas of the focal article—that is, big data sources, logistic and analytic challenges, and data privacy and informed consent on a global scale. In the subsequent sections, we share our thoughts on these critical elements for advancing I-O psychology's role in leveraging and adding value from big data.
We want to start our response to Byrne et al.'s (2014) focal article by commending the authors for challenging the status quo that exists today for the training and development of graduate students in industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology. As applied psychologists working internal to large corporations and former interns in various internal and external organizations, we agree with the need for I-O psychology to (a) evaluate its value proposition relative to other fields with which I-O psychologists compete for jobs, (b) think more holistically about how we are training and developing students, and (c) enable students to be more relevant upon starting applied or academic positions.In reviewing the next steps proposed by Byrne et al. to address current gaps, however, we question whether or not the
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