Industrial and Organisation Research on Self‐Regulation: From Constructs to Applications

L’autoregulation rencontre actuellement du succes en psychologie industrielle et organisationnelle. Les travaux theoriques et empiriques englobent des processus allant de l’entree dans l’organisation a la sortie et a la reembauche. Les interventions et les concepts cles de l’autoregulation dans le monde du travail sont recenses en insistant sur la validite interne et de construction. Quelques concepts comme l’efficacite personnelle et l’implication ont beneficie d’un grand interet de la part des psychometriciens et semblent constituer des cibles de premier ordre lors des interventions. Neanmoins, ces concepts restent entaches d’hypotheses dont la validite n’est pas garantie. D’autres concepts, en particulier la retroaction et la divergence, souffrent de significations sensiblement differentes dans la litterature sur l’autoregulation, ce qui nuit a la comprehension et a la communication entre les universitaires et les praticiens. On a lance des interventions relevant des principes de l’autoregulation; celles-ei ont ensuite eteevaluees avec serieux: il est apparu qu’elles avaient un impact sur un ensemble de variables pertinentes du point de vue organisationnel comme l’amelioration des performances et la reduction de l’absenteisme. Malheureusement, les interventions sont rarement etudiees de facon detaullee et systematique, ce qui ne permet pas de tirer des conclusions sur les aspects de l’intervention qui sont pertinents du point de vue de la causalite. La discussion insiste sur les lacunes dans la connaissance et l’apprehension des processus de l’autoregulation dans les contextes organisationnels, ainsi que sur la facon dont la discipline pourrait tenter de combler ces lacunes. The self-regulation perspective is currently well received in the industrial and organisational psychology literature. Theoretical and empirical work span processes ranging from organisation entry to exit and reentry. Key self-regulation constructs and interventions in work contexts are reviewed with a focus on construct and internal validity. Some constructs, such as self-efficacy and goal commitment, have received substantial psychometric attention and seem important targets for interventions. Nonetheless, potentially unwarranted assumptions remain regarding these constructs. Other constructs, particularly feedback and discrepancy, have acquired substantially different meanings within the self-regulation literature that inhibit understanding and communication among scholars and practitioners. Interventions based on self-regulatory principles have been developed, and rigorous tests of these interventions have been conducted. These interventions were found to influence a range of organisationally relevant outcomes such as increasing performance and reducing absenteeism. Unfortunately, studies of comprehensive interventions are rare and often lacked controls, making it difficult to draw conclusions regarding what aspects of the interventions are causally relevant. Discussion focuses on the gaps in the field's knowledge and understanding regarding self-regulatory processes in organisational settings and how the field might attempt to fill those gaps.