Framing Supervisor Intentions and Actions for Hiring Candidates with a Disability

Abstract

With considerable consequences, persons with a disability are less frequently hired than persons without a disability. In this study, semi-structured interviews elicit the beliefs and intentions that precede supervisor actions to select or bypass candidates with disabilities. Supervisor responses were mapped to the Reasoned Action Approach as an organizing and explanatory framework. The results show that supervisors had a wide array of antecedent beliefs and were generally positively intentioned toward hiring candidates with a disability. However, most supervisors did not actually select a candidate with disability and their rationalized non-hiring of such candidates to external factors rather than personal beliefs.