Navigating serial inequities: the unmet support needs of disabled entrepreneurs

Employers’ negative attitudes and unfounded concerns about hiring disabled workers are contributing factors to high unemployment rates among the disabled population. Employers view disabled workers are unproductive and consider as liabilities to their companies. The negative perceptions among employers explain why those persons with disabilities (PWDs) are likely not hired by companies in Malaysia although they have sufficient qualifications for the jobs offered. In particular, hiring PWDs is a missing dimension in the employment context in Malaysia. Employers are viewed to practice discrimination in developing their employment policy for those PWDs even those PWDs are significant to their companies’ performance. Hence, employers’ unwillingness to hire PWDs contributes to the untapped pool of labor, leading to high unemployment rates among PWDs. Within a modified theory of planned behavior (TPB) framework, this paper is aimed at validating the claim that employer attitudes towards persons with disabilities (PWDs) are significantly relevant as they can either positively or negatively influence intention to hire the Malaysians with disabilities. The TPB provides the theoretical foundation for the current study. Data were obtained using a survey which garnered the participation of 200 employers in East Malaysia. The modified TPB model was examined using partial least squares (PLS) method. The PLS is chosen because of two main reasons. Firstly, the PLS requires minimal demand on the residual distribution, measurement scales and sample size. Secondly, the PLS is easily conducted using two stages, namely, measurement model and structural analysis. Using PLS, the current study finds that all constructs’ items are valid, reliable and suitable in the current context. At the structural level, this study discovers significant effects of subjective norm and perceived behavioral control on attitudes. Attitudes, in turn, influence intention to hire. Our results suggest that the TPB constructs are adequate to explain the hiring Malaysians with disabilities in the context of Malaysia. Notably, attitudes mediate the relationships between the independent variables (i.e., subjective norm and perceived behavioral control) and the dependent variable (i.e., intention to hire). Considering attitudes as a mediator in the current context provides further refinement to the TPB. In all, the results indicate that all the hypothesized relationship in the core model was confirmed. The results provide valuable insights, which may help, increase PWDs’ employment by addressing negative managerial attitudes towards PWDs. This study offers guidelines on the formation of pro-hiring attitudes towards PWDs and the significance of subjective norm as an attitude-shaping mechanism.

Critical areas in the entry of Japanese enterprises in a developing country like the Philippines involve the following: internal labour market formation, wage and compensation system, labour-management relations schemes and other management strategies. Human resource development in Japanese enterprises in the Philippines faces structural and institutional barriers. A high turnover rate of workers is one structural barrier, involving the labour market, which prevents the internalization of skills. There is an emphasis upon job-based wages and a reliance upon the local minimum wage standards both of which are distinctly non-Japanese practices. There is a serious gap between perceptions among Japanese expatriates, Filipino managers and the local rank-and-file workers with respect to the hierarchy of factors in wage determination. Differences with respect to the concept and valuation of work add to the problems of communication. In the Philippines, there are structural and institutional barriers to co-operati...

The gap between the employment rates of disabled and non-disabled people in the UK was 33 percentage points (pp) in 2019. This is partly explained by the fact that disabled people have lower levels of education. To assess the role of education in the disability employment gap (DEG), we decompose this DEG into characteristics and structural components using Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition methods. If the average education levels of disabled people were raised to those of non-disabled people, the DEG could be reduced by 4 pp (12 per cent). This would leave a remaining gap of 11 pp (33 per cent) explained by other characteristics and 18 pp (55 per cent) attributable to structural barriers in the labour market. These results are consistent with other findings in the literature, showing educational inequalities to be an important explanation of the DEG. However, the results also highlight the continued relevance of structural barriers that are disproportionately hindering the employment prospects of disabled people.

Vocational and business training to improve women's labour market outcomes in low‐ and middle‐income countries: a systematic review

This study aimed to explore the attitudes of students of a higher education institution towards infopreneurship. The study emanated from observations that the widespread use of information technologies has created a new sector in the labor market – infopreneurship. The study adopted the case study research design based on focus group discussions to establish the students’ attitudes towards infopreneurship. The participants for the focus groups were students of the Information Science department at the University of Technology, Cape Town. Data collection during the focus group discussions was based on unstructured interviews. Quantitative data analysis was applied based on data reduction from codes to categories. An enterprising attitude (26.4% code frequency) dominated the positive responses while negative attitudes were mainly reflected by a critical attitude (20.8% code frequency) towards infopreneurship. While it appeared that positive attitudes were more prevalent than negative attitudes, there were notable observations that the respondents were critical or neutral towards the essence of infopreneurship in the South African context. It was found that the belief that infopreneurship is not a viable form of employment was still prevalent. Some respondents believed that employment means working for someone. They felt that there is greater respect in being employed than engaging in infopreneurship. Some respondents, however, appear to have stronger entrepreneurial orientations and felt that infopreneurship offers the best employment opportunities. The study recommends changes in higher education curricula and the creation of a stimulating environment for infopreneurship.

Despite numerous debates among researchers and policymakers, the literature lacks a comprehensive study investigating the actual interaction between labor market and business regulations on the one hand and unemployment on the other. Existing research is focused either on the relationship between labor market regulations and unemployment or the link between business regulations and employment, though studies on the latter are fewer. This study aims to fill these gaps by conducting a statistical investigation of the labor market and business regulations’ effects on unemployment in 11 EU transition economies during the 2000–2016 period. To achieve our purpose, we used the panel cointegration test. The individual cointegration coefficients revealed that market-oriented labor market regulations diminished unemployment in Bulgaria, Poland, and Romania, but they raised it in Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, and Slovenia. Meanwhile, market-oriented business regulations decreased unemployment in the Czech Republic, Latvia, and Poland, but they increased it in Croatia and Slovenia.

Purpose: To explore how the attitudinal environment influences the participation experiences of young adults with disabilities who use assistive technology.Methods: In this qualitative study, twenty young adults using assistive technology completed individual interviews before and after engaging in a photovoice process. Ten of the participants then took part in a focus group. Data were analyzed inductively using a thematic analysis approach.Results: Analysis yielded three primary themes “seen and treated as different, assumptions made and impatience”. A fourth theme emerged through focus group discussion “photos as a means of consciousness-raising”. Findings suggest that young adults with disabilities who use assistive technology regularly encounter negative societal attitudes that hinder participation. The photovoice process promoted consciousness-raising at the individual, interpersonal and societal level for the participants.Conclusion: Many young adults with disabilities use assistive technology to facilitate participation in everyday activities. However, the usefulness of assistive technology is susceptible to the environment in which it is used. Further actions are needed toward resolving this challenging participation barrier; these actions should draw on the perspectives and creativity of young adult assistive technology users.IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONYoung adults with disabilities who use assistive technology describe how other people’s negative attitudes can make it challenging to participate in their important activities.Participants took photographs that represented the negative attitudes they face on a daily basis and saw their photos as a way to raise awareness of the negative attitudes.This research highlights the importance of addressing negative attitudes toward people using assistive technology: young adults with disabilities have expertise and creative ideas about how to do this, so their voices should guide future research projects.

De capability approach als normatief-evaluatief kader voor sociale interventies: Kwalitatief onderzoek in India met inzichten voor de Vlaamse en Nederlandse praktijk

Objectives: Chinese migrant cancer survivors and carers face multiple barriers to accessing quality cancer information and support. This study aimed to explore the challenges and unmet needs experienced by the Australian Chinese community affected by cancer, and understand the contexts that hindered optimal care for this community.Methods: Adult cancer survivors and carers, whose native language is Mandarin or Cantonese, were recruited through community cancer support organizations. Bilingual researchers conducted focus groups with participants in either Mandarin or Cantonese. Focus groups were audio-recorded, transcribed, translated into English and thematically analyzed using qualitative methods.Findings: 62 Chinese-speaking participants (34 cancer survivors and 28 carers) participated in one of the eight focus groups conducted. The three main themes were (1) unmet information and support needs (trust, wellness, and rights); (2) barriers compounding unmet needs (language, health literacy, culture); and (3) participants’ recommendations regarding cancer information and support provision. Seven subthemes of unmet needs were also identified: Trust (e.g., communication barriers, health system barriers, comparison regarding the care received), wellness (e.g., cultural differences produce conflict on views about wellness, need for psychological, community, and spiritual support), and rights (e.g., low awareness of financial and legal assistance, other factors increasing or reducing vulnerability).Conclusions: This study highlights the needs and provides new insights into the impact of language, culture and health literacy barriers on the unmet information and support needs of the Chinese community affected by cancer. The key findings will inform the development of culturally targeted information and support resources for this community.

PurposeThis paper's main purpose is to evaluate immigrants’ demand for social assistance and services and identify the key barriers to social and labor market inclusion of immigrants in the European Union.Design/methodology/approachAn online primary survey of experts from NGOs and public organizations working on immigrant integration in the member states of the European Union was carried out. The data is analyzed using simple comparative statistical methods; the robustness of the results is tested by means of logit and ordered logit statistical models.FindingsThe authors find that the general public in Europe has rather negative attitudes towards immigrants. Although the business community views immigrants somewhat less negatively, barriers to immigrant labor market inclusion identified include language and human capital gaps, a lack of recognition of foreign qualifications, discrimination, non‐transparent labor markets and institutional barriers such as legal restrictions for foreign citizens. Exclusion from higher education, housing and the services of the financial sector aggravate these barriers. Changes in the areas of salaried employment, education, social insurance, mobility and attitudes are seen as desired by members of ethnic minorities. The current economic downturn is believed to have increased the importance of active inclusion policies, especially in the areas of employment and education. These results appear to be robust with respect to a number of characteristics of respondents and their organizations.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors’ findings are not limited to the sample studied, which is supported by their robustness analysis. However an extended opinion survey of the ethnic minority population is required to more accurately examine the problems faced by diverse groups of immigrants across EU member states.Practical implicationsThe findings of the study call for more effective diversity management and integration strategies to ensure non‐discrimination and better integration of ethnic minorities into the labor markets of member states.Originality/valueThere are few studies using primary survey data that have identified a wide range of barriers and challenges to economic integration faced by ethnic minorities in an enlarged European Union. The cross‐national opinion survey uniquely reflects views and suggestions of practitioners and immigrant minorities themselves.

This study explored the unfreedom of Grade 10 isiXhosa learners, highlighting the complex language, teaching, and assessment dynamics in Afrikaans classrooms. The study draws on them Capability Approach (CA) of Sen (1999) to assess the unfreedoms of learners in Afrikaans Grade 10 classrooms. It underscores the experiences of isiXhosa learners and the limitations imposed on them. Unfreedoms in CA are those hindrances to people’s or institutions’ capacity or ability to achieve. Although multilingualism is acknowledged globally and in South Africa as an inevitable reality, the limitations for isiXhosa learners in Afrikaans classrooms contradict the opportunities and possibilities in a limited educational space. A qualitative approach and case study design were used, and two Grade 10 classes were used to illustrate the case. The study conducted individual, focused group interviews and questionnaires to explore the experiences and views of isiXhosa learners placed in Grade 10 Afrikaans classrooms. The study revealed unfreedoms (limitations for isiXhosa learners enrolled in Afrikaans classrooms and the contributing factors that compound these unfreedoms to the learners’ ability to achieve educational objectives. Factors such as teachers’ frustrations with isiXhosa learners, lack of support, and teachers’ negative attitudes towards accommodating isiXhosa learners in the classroom were highlighted. Not limited to parental perceptions about the Afrikaans language as a language of opportunity, further constraints the learner’s enrolment choice. The lack of available space in public schools also forces parents to enrol students where there is available space, even if it means putting isiXhosa learners in Afrikaans home language classrooms to achieve access to education. The research recommends a translanguaging intervention model as it presents a promising avenue to address underperformance.

This text focuses on long-term unemployment in the German labor market caused by insufficient work skills capabilities and discusses the deficits of the current policy in improving the situation of job seekers who are repeatedly rejected in their efforts to find a job. For both the German approach to this problem as well as for the European labor policy a neoliberal orientation is still the paradigm, complemented in part by social democratic ideas and labeled “New Deal”. Distinct to the incoherent normative foundations of labor policy, the EU favors the normative base of the capability approach for measuring wealth and poverty. The capability approach (CA) provides a comprehensive, normative instrument for evaluation of individual welfare and social structures as well as a certain orientation of social policy. The text discusses the deficits of the current labor market policy and suggests the capability approach as a perspective for a new policy.

The relevance of the study arises from the need to develop new and more effective approaches towards social policies. The author investigates barriers to inclusion of vulnerable groups in the labor market and uses sociological methods to study the opinions of disabled persons, retired persons, multi-child families and young people on social and labor problems in the Northwestern Federal District. Two groups of barriers to active professional activity are singled out (internal and external barriers).External barriers characterize the situation in the labor market (lack of suitable job vacancies, employers’ negative attitudes). Internal barriers refer to personality traits and settings. The internal settings for uselessness to society and lack of support are major obstacles for the disabled and retired persons. As to the other groups, the internal barriers of young persons are underdeveloped professional skills and laziness, whereas parents raising multiple children have weak subjectivity and external locus of control.The inhabitants of the Northwestern Federal District consider persons with disabilities and retired persons to be the most vulnerable groups and have a clear idea about the external barriers to their professional activity exacerbated by their poor personal resources and rejection of social distraction strategies.

Background Persons with disabilities (PWDs) generally face strong discrimination and exclusion, especially with regard to their sexual and reproductive health. There is a prevailing social myth in Ghana that women with disabilities are asexual and cannot experience a positive motherhood experience. Although the World Health Organization recommends that research is conducted in this regard, community attitudes towards pregnant women living with disabilities remain largely unexplored. The purpose of this study was to explore community attitudes to pregnancy among women living with disabilities. Methodology The study design was a mixed method cross-sectional study involving quantitative face-to-face individual interviews with 400 randomly selected community members (both males and females) in three communities in the Adaklu District of Volta Region in Ghana. In addition, in-depth interviews were held with five female PWDs. Simple and multiple logistic regression analysis were used to examine the factors associated with perceptions towards pregnant PWDs. Results Majority of respondents agreed that pregnant women with disabilities should be kept in special institutions until delivery to prevent transmission of their disability to fetuses of pregnant women without disabilities. People also believed that pregnant PWDs are incapable of a safe motherhood experience. Among the strongly influencing factors for negative attitudes towards pregnancy of PWDs were educational status (p<0.001) and perceptions that the disability is caused by accidents (p<0.001) or spiritual issues (p<0.01). Regarding the relationship between perceived cause of disability and the resultant attitudes, respondents were three times more likely to have negative attitude and perceptions towards pregnant women with disabilities if their causes of disabilities were perceived to be spiritual compared to the cause being medical. Conclusion Our findings indicate that there are generally negative societal attitudes towards pregnant PWDs. The evidence suggests that a degree of prejudice and misconceptions exists towards the pregnancy of women living with disabilities. Generally, there is a public perception that women living with disabilities cannot have a safe motherhood experience and are capable of transferring their disability to an unborn child of another pregnant woman.

To better understand the hearing health learning needs of Hispanic/Latino adults by assessing hearing healthcare (HHC) knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors to inform the development of a culturally and linguistically appropriate self-management program. Through a series of focus groups with members of the target audience, this study explored knowledge about hearing loss and interventions, cultural facilitators and barriers to HHC utilization, and preferences for hearing health education and information delivery. Opinions were also received on patient education materials designed to increase self-efficacy for managing hearing loss in daily life. This work was guided by a practical framework of culturally competent interventions for addressing disparities in health and healthcare, centered on structural, clinical, and organizational barriers to care. A hybrid individualistic social psychology and social constructionist approach was used to build programmatic theory related to the primary research objective. Focus group goals were to generate a combination of personal opinions and collective experiences from participants with an a priori plan to analyze data using combined content analysis/grounded theory methods. Purposive sampling was used to select 31 participants who were Spanish-speaking, identified as Hispanic/Latino, and who had normal hearing or self-reported hearing difficulties. Thirteen focus groups were conducted using Microsoft Teams, and each group was audio and video recorded for later off-line transcription, translation, and analysis. A constant comparison approach was used to systematically organize focus group data into a structured format for interpretation. Transcripts were coded independently by two investigators, and emergent themes were derived and interpreted from the coded data. Major and minor themes tied to the framework for culturally competent interventions included those related to sociocultural barriers to care. Structural barriers, including inconsistent access to quality care, lack of culturally and linguistically appropriate patient education materials, appointment wait times and intake processes, and referrals to specialty care, were most frequently experienced by participants. Clinical barriers most frequently cited were a lack of culturally and linguistically congruent healthcare providers and lack of language access during healthcare visits. Other major themes included hearing loss lived experiences, family and familism, and hearing-related patient education needs and preferences. Focus group results were integrated into a Spanish-language hearing loss self-management program that is currently being evaluated in a randomized controlled trial. The themes uncovered provided insight regarding the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about hearing loss and HHC, including hearing-related learning needs, of Hispanic/Latino adults in this sample.