Be Careful What You Wish For: An Insider's Perspective on Licensure of I-O Psychologists

Abstract

At first blush, licensing industrial and organizational (I-O) psychologists seems like a worthy pursuit. The work we do is important, can affect many lives for better or worse, and (we believe) requires a high level of education, training, and competence. Given a deeper look, however, we believe that the Licensure of Consulting and I-O Psychologists (LCIOP) Joint Task Force (2017) review overestimated the benefits of licensure, which are substantially outweighed by the practical challenges associated with a licensure program. Our response to the LCIOP represents two perspectives that can inform the feasibility of such an undertaking: a view from the inside of a federation of regulatory boards and a view from the world of certification as an alternative approach for ensuring quality in a diverse, complex profession.