Employing Individuals with Disabilities and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: The Role of Employer Openness and Employee Attitudes

When employers hire people with disabilities, collective behavioral change occurs in organizations. Specifically, attitudes toward people with disabilities improve through professional interventions and encourage organizational citizenship behavior. Previous studies have demonstrated the economic and client-focused effect of hiring people with disabilities, resulting in a tested model of competitive, integrated employment. In this study, we find that a performance-based behavioral change occurs in non-disabled employees when organizations employ best practices in relation to people with disabilities in the workplace. We use intergroup contact theory and social exchange theory to develop a model and a corresponding survey instrument that measures how several factors influence co-worker attitudes toward people with disabilities. Most importantly, this research approach allows us to assess behavioral changes from these attitudes. The results show that workplace contact has a positive effect on attitudes toward employees with disabilities. In addition, employer openness moderates workplace contact regarding attitudes; the effect of contact on attitudes was positive and significant. In addition, positive attitudes toward employees with disabilities correspondingly have a positive direct effect on organizational citizenship behavior. Finally, job satisfaction and personality moderated employees' attitudes positively and significantly. Overall, this study demonstrates that employers can benefit from hiring people with disabilities, but they must attend to the importance of employee attitudes on outcomes when designing structured interventions.