Are SIOP Members Satisfied?
Results From the 2006 Member Survey
Mary Doherty
Valtera Corporation
Every 2 years, SIOP surveys the membership to understand industrial and organizational psychologists’ thoughts about SIOP and the issues facing the Society. Results from this survey are used to guide planning and strategy set by the SIOP Committee Chairs and the Executive Committee.
One purpose of the Member Survey is to discover how satisfied the membership is with various aspects of SIOP. This article will present information on the membership’s satisfaction with SIOP’s leadership, communications and services, the 2005 conference, and the membership’s overall level of satisfaction.
Survey Participants
Questar conducted the survey via the Internet from January 30 through February 17.
E-mail invitations were sent to 5,701 individuals and 1,881 people completed the survey (33% response rate).
Tables 1, 2, and 3 provide information on the respondents’ membership status, employment setting, and years since they received their doctoral degree. Most of the respondents were members or students from a university or consulting setting. Note: Seventy-four percent of the respondents who left the Years Since Doctoral Degree question unanswered were either Student Affiliates or Associate Members and probably didn’t have their degree yet.
The charts within this article present the percentage of people who reported they were satisfied with the issue in the survey question, the percent who reported they were neutral, and the percent who reported they were dissatisfied.
Satisfaction With Society Leadership
As Chart 1 indicates, most respondents reported being satisfied with Society leadership keeping the membership informed of changes (83%). However, few people responded favorably to SIOP’s effectiveness in promoting I-O to businesses (36%) and other areas of psychology (47%), and in fact, many respondents reported being either neutral or dissatisfied with these aspects of SIOP.
Satisfaction With Society Communication and Services
As Chart 2 indicates, most respondents responded favorably to society communication and services. TIP and the Membership Directory received the highest satisfaction ratings on the survey.
Satisfaction With 2005 SIOP Conference
Most respondents also responded they were satisfied with the 2005 SIOP conference. In fact, 73% of respondents reported that SIOP was their top choice for a conference to attend. Other people cited Academy of Management, American Psychological Association, or Division 13 as their preferred conference to attend.1
1 The responses to the open-ended questions were coded by graduate students under Daniel A. Sachau’s supervision at Minnesota State University. The students were J. R. Rowenhorst, Adam Roybal, and Yun-Mi Choi.
Overall Satisfaction With SIOP
Chart 4 indicates that most respondents reported they were satisfied with the value of their SIOP membership (86%) and with SIOP as a professional organization (86%).
Note: The question about SIOP Membership Benefits asked respondents to rate their satisfaction with the benefits in comparison to those given by other similar professional organizations.
Conclusion
The 2006 Member Survey included questions about a number of additional areas of concern to SIOP members, such as strategic planning, license issues, ethnic and minority affairs, the Consultant Locator, international affairs, and the awards nomination process. Additional reports and information can be found on the SIOP Web site that provide a great deal of interesting data.
For more information about the SIOP Member Survey results, visit http://www.siop.org/reportsandminutes/survey_results06.aspx.