Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, Vol 56(5), Oct 2025, 353-362; doi:10.1037/pro0000636
Organizational psychologists working as practitioners frequently navigate ambiguous situations, adapt methods to meet client needs, address inherent conflicts of interest, and contend with challenges that may risk violating legal or ethical standards. Three key areas of ethical vulnerability are focused on. Organizational psychologists (a) often fail to cite relevant empirical evidence to support their statements and applications in practice and (b) generally prioritize the values and goals of business outcomes over the well-being of individuals. Finally, (c) ethical codes for psychologists are focused almost exclusively on the practice of clinical-counseling psychology. As a result, these codes fail to consider the unique ethical challenges organizational psychologists often face. Moreover, most practicing organizational psychologists are unlicensed. Accordingly, the enforcement power of the American Psychological Association and the licensing bodies in regulating the practice of organizational psychology is currently limited. Practical implications for a functional role of the American Psychological Association ethics code in regulating the practice of organizational psychology are explored in the context of the unique challenges and opportunities in this rapidly growing area of applied behavioral science. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)