Cultural Variation in Hiring People with Disabilities

The socio-cultural context influence the disability inclusion climate of organizations through manager’s value orientations and their perception of the legitimacy of legislation regarding PWD

Bakgrunn:
The vast majority of research regarding employment of people with disabilities has focused on supply side factors that involve characteristics of the people with disabilities. In contrast, this research focuses on the less researched demand side issue of the socio-cultural context. In addition, it responds to the “limited systematic research examining and comparing how country related factors shape the treatment of persons with disability”.
In this study, we explore the extent to which the socio-cultural context influences hiring of PWD through its effect on the disability inclusion climate of organizations.
Metode:
To test the model, we conducted a cross sectional study across four countries with very different socio-cultural contexts. Data were gathered from 266 managers with hiring responsibilities in Canada, China, Norway and France. Participants responded to an online survey that measured the effect of societal based variables on the disability inclusion climate of organizations.
Resultater:
Results indicated support for the theoretical model, which proposed that the socio-cultural context influenced the disability inclusion climate of organizations through two distinct but related paths; manager’s value orientations and their perception of the legitimacy of legislation regarding people with disabilities.
Konklusjoner:
Our theory proposes and we show support for two channels for the influence of the socio-cultural context – the legitimacy of legislation regarding PWD and the culturally related values of managers. We also suggest how future research could expand the model to include both supply side and other demand side characteristics in order to build a more comprehensive picture of the influence of socio-cultural context.

Hovedbudskap/implikasjoner for forebygging:
From a practical perspective, organizations can benefit from understanding the link between the societal context and the climate in their organization. Organizations can influence the extent to which the work environment they create is enabling or disabling relevant to disability in a society.
At the societal level, it is important to recognize the intermediate factors that influence the effect of legislation regarding the treatment of PWD has on actual practice in organizations. Organizations can respond to legislation in many ways ranging from active implementation of related practices to superficial or ceremonial acquiesce to requirements. Furthermore, by modeling best practices with regard to PWD organizations can be active agents for change in society as opposed to passive participants.