Impact of reasonable accommodation perceptions on managers’ attitudes tpwards hiring people with disabilities.

Type of content
Theses / Dissertations
Publisher's DOI/URI
Thesis discipline
Psychology
Degree name
Master of Science
Publisher
University of Canterbury
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Language
English
Date
2021
Authors
D Souza, Oliver Nelson
Abstract

The low employment rate of people with disabilities (PWD) relative to the non-disabled workforce in New Zealand has persevered despite several legislative and policy reforms. Implementation of effective reasonable accommodation has been empirically shown to improve performance of PWD, leading to higher rates of recruitment and retention. The aim of the current study is to assess the impact of managers’ perception of reasonable accommodation available in an organization, and the extent to which implementation of reasonable accommodation is easy, on their attitudes towards hiring PWD. An online survey was conducted among 162 full-time employees in a managerial role at a large healthcare organization in New Zealand. Moderated hierarchical multiple regression was conducted to test the hypotheses formulated. The results revealed that managers’ attitudes towards hiring PWD is significantly and positively associated with managers’ perception of the extent to which implementing reasonable accommodation is easy, though not with managers’ perception of reasonable accommodation available in an organization. Furthermore, the results also indicated that managerial perceptions of the extent to which implementing accommodations that awarded employees with job flexibility was the strongest predictor of their attitudes towards hiring PWD. These results encourage organizations to review their reasonable accommodation policies and procedures, as ease of implementation improves managers’ capability to support PWD, and increases their willingness to consider candidates in that group when making hiring decisions. Mere availability of reasonable accommodation from an organization is an insufficient predictor.

Description
Citation
Keywords
reasonable accommodation, disability, people with disabilities, attitudes towards hiring PWD
Ngā upoko tukutuku/Māori subject headings
ANZSRC fields of research
Rights
All Rights Reserved