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Conceptualizing disability accommodation device acceptance by workgroups through a sociomaterial lens

Mukta Kulkarni (Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, Bangalore, India)
David Baldridge (Department of Management, College of Business, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA)
Michele Swift (Department of Management, College of Business, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA)

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

ISSN: 2040-7149

Article publication date: 7 October 2022

Issue publication date: 21 March 2023

193

Abstract

Purpose

The provision of accommodation devices is said to aid organizational inclusion of employees with a disability. However, devices that are meant to enable might only partially facilitate productivity, independence, and social inclusion if these devices are not accepted by the user's workgroup. The authors outline a conceptual model of accommodation device acceptance through a sociomaterial lens to suggest conditions influencing workgroup device acceptance.

Design/methodology/approach

To build the model, the authors draw upon the sociomateriality and disability literature to frame accommodation devices as experienced in ongoing interactions, representing the goals, feelings, and interpretations of specific workgroups. The authors also unpack attributes of devices—instrumentality, aesthetics, and symbolism—and propose how each of these can pattern social conduct to influence device acceptance. The authors then draw upon the disability literature to identify attributes of workgroups that can be expected to amplify or diminish the effect of device attributes on device acceptance in that workgroup.

Findings

The conceptualization, which the authors illustrate with examples particular to visual impairment, presents implications for who and what serves as a gatekeeper to accommodation device acceptance and thereby workgroup inclusion.

Originality/value

Prior research has focused on conditions under which devices are requested by users or made available by organizations, undergirded by the assumption that devices are well-specified once provided and that they operate relatively predictably when used in various workgroups. The authors focus instead on what happens after the device is provided and highlight the complex and dynamic interaction between an accommodation device and the workgroup, which influences device and user acceptance.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Editor Lee Martin and the reviewers for the guidance in developing this manuscript.

Citation

Kulkarni, M., Baldridge, D. and Swift, M. (2023), "Conceptualizing disability accommodation device acceptance by workgroups through a sociomaterial lens", Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Vol. 42 No. 2, pp. 285-299. https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-01-2022-0010

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited

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