A QUALITATIVE STUDY TO IDENTIFY CORPORATE RECRUITERS’ COMPETENCIES IN WORKING WITH INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES IN THE UNITED STATES
Open Access
- Author:
- Su, Nai-fen
- Graduate Program:
- Workforce Education and Development
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- May 05, 2016
- Committee Members:
- Williams Rothwell, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
- Keywords:
- Competencies
Disability
Recruiters
Qualiative
Human Resources
Disability employment
Diversity recruitment
Talent development - Abstract:
- Although it has been nearly 25 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law and 40 years since the Rehabilitation Act became the first civil rights law in the United States to guarantee equal opportunity for people with disabilities, there remains a wide employment gap between people with disabilities and those without (Barrington, Bruyère & Waelder, 2014). On August 27, 2013, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) released final regulations outlining changes to Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Section 503 requires federal contractors and subcontractors to engage in affirmative action practices regarding recruitment, hiring, promotion, and retention of protected individuals with disabilities. The most effective ways to recruit, hire, and retain talented employees with disabilities has become a critical issue in the human resources management field. In this study, ten disability inclusion experts from three different occupational areas (e.g., recruiters, professionals in the disability employment field, and support employment specialists) participated in semi-structured interviews based on the behavioral event interview technique to identify corporate recruiters’ competencies in working with people with disabilities in the United States. The Kappa test showed good agreement between the researcher’s and the second coders’ coding. Study results revealed 26 corporate recruiter competencies when working with individuals with disabilities, including six knowledge competencies, 14 skill competencies, and six attitudes competencies. Both a categorical and a holistic description of corporate recruiters’ competencies in working with individuals with disabilities were presented. Based on the results, corporate recruiters’ competencies were proposed in a three-layer model, with attitudes competencies as the foundation, knowledge competencies as the second layer, and skill competencies as the top layer of competencies. In addition, it is suggested that corporate recruiters’ competencies in working with individuals with disabilities also be included in human resources management and professional development practices, as well as when developing and implementing strategies and interventions used in fostering corporate recruiters’, hiring managers’, or human resources practitioners’ competencies in working with people with disabilities.