Colleagues’ Work Attitudes towards Employees with Disability

Abstract

Background: The present study investigates the significance of work inclusion in people with a disability and then aims to examine colleagues’ attitudes. Considering Stone and Colella’s model, we analyzed the colleagues’ attitudes and variables related to the disability, such as type of disability and type of presentation of colleagues with disability, and colleague’s characteristics, such as gender, educational level, and experience in work with people with disability. Method: We randomly assigned two hundred eighty-six employees to a standard condition (hypothetical colleagues with a disability presented by the impairments labels) or favorable condition (hypothetical colleagues with a disability presented by their past work experiences). Results: The type of disability and its presentation influence colleagues’ attitudes. Besides employees’ gender, educational level and experience in work with people with a disability influences the attitudes toward them. Conclusions: Implications for practice were discussed.

Keywords

• disability
• employee attitudes
• work inclusion
• colleagues