The Effects of Cultural and Personnel Controls on the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Public Organisational Contexts

The inclusion of persons with disabilities (PwD) can be regarded as a pivotal component of the institutional mission of public organisations (POs), which is consistent with the overarching principles of social responsibility that characterise these entities. A number of international organisations and national regulations are promoting the adoption of inclusive approaches towards PwD in POs, with a view to disseminate such models also in non-POs. To make PwD effectively involved in the organisations where they work, it is essential that POs engage all employees in individual behaviours that are aligned with the value of social inclusion. The present study set out to examine the impact of cultural and personnel controls on the inclusive approaches towards PwD in public organisational contexts. To this end, a survey was performed among the subordinate employees working in municipalities of Southern Italy. The findings have demonstrated that these types of controls have a positive effect on the inclusive approaches towards PwD. These are also explained by employees’ perceptual experience of an inclusive working context. The paper sought to contribute to the research on the potential to integrate cultural and personnel controls with the social responsibility principles in POs, a workplace context which has still received little attention.