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Employing Individuals With Disabilities And Organizational Citizenship Behavior: The Role Of Employer Openness And Employee Attitudes, Claude B. Kershner Iv, George M. Marakas

Engaged Management ReView

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 …