Stigma and Acceptance of Persons With Disabilities: Understudied Aspects of Workforce Diversity

Although persons with disabilities compose a growing portion of workers, when compared with other aspects of diversity (e.g., race/ethnicity or gender), disability has received relatively little research attention. In a between-subjects experimental design with more than 600 participants, we evaluat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Group & organization management 2004-06, Vol.29 (3), p.302-333
Main Authors: McLaughlin, Mary E., Bell, Myrtle P., Stringer, Donna Y.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acceptance
Americans with Disabilities Act 1990-US
Attitudes
Disability
Employee attitude
Employees
Employment
Equality
Ethnicity
Labour force
Management
Measurement
Multiculturalism & pluralism
People with disabilities
Perceptions
Social impact
Stereotypes
Stigma
Studies
Workers with disabilities
Workplace diversity
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Summary:Although persons with disabilities compose a growing portion of workers, when compared with other aspects of diversity (e.g., race/ethnicity or gender), disability has received relatively little research attention. In a between-subjects experimental design with more than 600 participants, we evaluated the roles of disability type (AIDS, cerebral palsy, and stroke), stigma, and employee characteristics in acceptance of a coworker with a disability. Stigma largely mediated the relationship between disability type and acceptance. Employee characteristics had direct effects on some aspects of acceptance. Exploratory factor analysis of stigma revealed six factors; however, only a “performance impact” factor was consistently related to acceptance, suggesting that perceived implications of the coworker’s disability for job performance are critical.
ISSN:1059-6011
1552-3993
DOI:10.1177/1059601103257410