O psicólogo em gestão de pessoas: explorando a identidade profissional nas organizações privadas

Abstract

The professional identity of organizational and work psychologists has been a concern for some scholars. In a context of rapid changes, where the blurring of professional boundaries is one of the trends in the world of work, the identity of psychologists working in People Management is discussed. The professional practice in this field is characterized by increasingly indistinct roles compared to other professionals. In this light, this dissertation aimed to investigate psychologists' perceptions of their sense of belonging to the professional group of Psychology within People Management, using Social Identity Theory (SIT). This investigation was structured as a series of three studies. Study 01, qualitative and exploratory, sought to understand how psychologists perceive their role in People Management and their distinctive characteristics in professional practice. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 18 psychologists working in private organizations in the Southeast and South regions of Brazil and analyzed using the Interface de R pour les Analyses Multidimensionnelles de Textes et de Questionnaires (IRaMuTeQ) software, employing Descending Hierarchical Classification (DHC). The analyzed textual corpus had 847 text segments (86.16%) categorized into four classes: challenges of psychologists' practice (286 text segments, 33.77%); psychologists' differential (263 text segments, 31.05%); career and professional perspectives (127 text segments, 14.99%); and recruitment and selection (171 text segments, 20.19%). Each class reflected professionals' perceptions on issues such as academic training, distinctive competencies, future perspectives, and activities performed in people management. Study 02, quantitative and cross-sectional, aimed to adapt and examine the structure of the Professional Identity Scale for Psychologists (PISP), empirically distinguishing the cognitive, affective, and evaluative components of the construct. The sample consisted of 160 psychologists working in People Management in private organizations. Data were collected through an online platform and analyzed using JASP software. Exploratory factor analysis confirmed the three-dimensional structure, which demonstrated adequate internal consistency. The final scale structure comprised twelve items distributed across the affective (α=0.88; ω=0.89; CR=0.89), cognitive (α=0.81; ω=0.82; CR=0.85), and evaluative (α=0.76; ω=0.76; CR=0.72) dimensions, explaining 66.10% of the variance of the phenomenon. Semi-confirmatory factor analysis verified the model's adequacy through fit indices (SMRM = 0.025; TLI = 0.927; CFI = 0.964). The PISP demonstrated appropriate psychometric properties, emerging as a valid and reliable measure to assess psychologists' professional identity in people management. Study 03, also quantitative and cross-sectional, sought to identify the relationships between professional identity and intention to remain in the People Management field and to assess whether the length of professional experience has a moderating effect on the relationship between the variables. A questionnaire was administered to 160 psychologists working in private companies. Data analysis revealed that many aspects remain stable over time regarding psychologists' characterization. Results indicate a solid professional identity (mean of 3.76) and an intention to remain (mean of 3.5) in the People Management field, with mean scores above the central point of the scale. There is a significant correlation between professional identity and intention to remain (rho = 0.572; p < 0.001), with the affective factor emerging as a predictive variable in the regression model (B = 0.818; p < 0.001). The cognitive and evaluative factors did not show relevance in the equation (p > 0.05). This highlights the expressive influence of the affective component on the relationship between the variables. Variations between groups in professional identity scores and intention to remain should be interpreted with caution. The length of professional experience did not have a moderating effect on the relationship between the variables (p > 0.05). From the three studies, it is possible to affirm that deficiencies in training limit the performance of organizational and work psychologists. In this regard, the importance of revising the curricula of educational institutions stands out to better prepare them for the challenges in People Management and ensure their employability in a constantly evolving world.