Organizational Practices and Their Outcomes for Employees with Disabilities: A Review and Synthesis of Quantitative Studies.
Rik van Berkel, Eric Breit
PMID 40074932WHAT IT FOUND
Across 27 quantitative studies, organizational practices like accommodations, leadership, and workplace culture showed mixed links to employee performance, well-being, and job retention.
While positive practices were associated with better outcomes, negative factors like discrimination and job insecurity also emerged. The evidence base is fragmented, with no controlled effect studies.
Key findings
01The review synthesized 27 quantitative studies examining the relationship between organizational practices and outcomes for employees with disabilities.
02Workplace relations, accommodations, and leadership were the most frequently studied practices, showing positive associations with performance, well-being, and sustainable employment in several studies, though results were mixed.
03The available evidence is limited and fragmented because rigorous effect studies like RCTs are rare in this area, preventing a meta-analysis.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The evidence base is fragmented and limited, with no controlled effect studies included. Most included studies were cross-sectional surveys, which cannot establish causality. The review did not consider effect sizes or covariates, focusing only on the significance of relationships. The quality assessment was light, excluding only one article based on journal rank. Contextual factors like organization size or type were not analyzed. The review could not determine if practices beneficial for employees with disabilities also benefit other groups.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was funded by the Research Council of Norway.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat these associations as proof that specific practices cause improved outcomes. The review includes only observational and survey-based studies, with no randomized controlled trials. Positive correlations between accommodations and performance may reflect other factors, such as employer commitment or employee motivation, rather than a direct causal effect of the accommodation itself.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →