Relationship of workplace inclusion with personal dispositional factors and job satisfaction : a study of persons with disabilities in India

Abstract

With a diverse workforce, organizations are examining processes that lead to positive outcomes of diversity (van Knippenberg, De Dreu, & Homan, 2004). Inclusion is an important factor in diversity management. Past studies have studied the role of interpersonal and organizational factors on inclusion (Shore et al., 2011), but the role of personal dispositional factors is relatively underexplored. The current study attempts to look at the role of personal factors (self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, internal locus of control, neuroticism and extraversion) on inclusion and job satisfaction and how inclusion mediates the relationship of these personal factors with job satisfaction. As every demographic group has specific inclusion requirements (Daya & April, 2014), we focused on a particular demographic group, persons with disabilities (Colella & Bruyère, 2011). Through a survey, we collected data from 441 employees with disabilities working with more than 120 organizations in India. The survey used standard scales on the five personal factors, inclusion and job satisfaction. Data were then analyzed using multiple linear regressions. Post hoc analyses such as commonality analysis and dominance analysis were also conducted to study the differential effect of personal factors. The result shows that self-esteem, internal locus of control and extraversion are positively related to inclusion. Self-esteem is the only significant predictor for job satisfaction. Inclusion works as a partial mediator in case of self-esteem and full mediator in case internal locus of control in their relationship with job satisfaction. Extraversion is only indirectly related to job satisfaction mediated through inclusion. Generalized self-efficacy have a negative relationship with job satisfaction pointing toward the issue of underemployment of employees with disabilities. The study also found a difference in the level of inclusion between people working in the public sector and the private sector. The study contributes to management literature on persons with disabilities with its focus on personal factors as antecedents and job satisfaction as an outcome of inclusion. The study also points to some difference in the relationship of personal factors with job satisfaction in persons with disabilities compared to past research on other demographic groups. The study also has some managerial implications such as training or job characteristics for organizations who are hiring persons with disabilities.