Moral Elevation & Prosocial Benefits in Workplace Disability Inclusion Interventions
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Initiatives involving the inclusion of Individuals with Disabilities (IWD) in workplace settings have received attention as a way to enhance the welfare of IWD and to provide benefits to a business itself. In addition to this, another potential advantage of inclusion programs is their potential to improve the attitudes of coworkers who have contact with IWD.
OBJECTIVE: We examined how an IWD inclusion initiative influenced attitudes of other employees in distribution centers for a national retailer. We predicted that increased workplace contact with IWD would lead to more favorable attitudes toward IWD in general.
METHODS: Participants completed a series of questions regarding their attitudes toward IWD and how their contact with IWD affected their attitudes toward IWD.
RESULTS: We found that increased contact with IWD, both through a larger percentage of IWD in a worker’s team and more contact during breaks, was associated with more favorable attitudes toward IWD in the workplace.
CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that increased contact from IWD inclusion can have beneficial effects on coworkers’ attitudes toward IWD, providing evidence for prosocial benefits of IWD inclusion initiatives.