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Perceived organizational support and work engagement of employees with children with disabilities

Abraham Stefanidis (Peter J. Tobin College of Business, St. John's University, New York, USA)
Vasilis Strogilos (Centre for Research in Inclusion, Southampton Education School, Southampton, UK) (National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)

Personnel Review

ISSN: 0048-3486

Article publication date: 6 May 2020

Issue publication date: 13 January 2021

883

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to investigate the role of organizational support, as it is evidenced by supervisor's support and coworkers' support, in the work engagement levels of employees who are parents of children with special needs and disabilities (SND).

Design/methodology/approach

The authors employed a self-administered survey questionnaire in Singapore and collected 224 useable responses. They used moderated hierarchical regression analysis to assess the relationships among organizational support, employees' child disability severity and levels of work engagement.

Findings

The research results indicated that higher levels of supervisor's and coworkers' support have a positive impact on work engagement levels of employees with children with SND. In addition, the authors observed that supervisor's support and coworkers' support moderate the relationship between employee’s child's disability severity and work engagement levels.

Research limitations/implications

The results contribute to the introduction of a discussion about supportive practices directed toward this diverse group of employees in Singapore. The research findings are country-specific.

Practical implications

The authors propose that human resource management practitioners could craft policies that may trigger tangible and emotional support by supervisors and coworkers of employees with children with disabilities, depending on employees’ children's disability severity.

Originality/value

This research is the first empirical examination that measures the work engagement levels of employed parents of children with SND in Singapore, considering both organizational and family dimensions.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This study was partially funded by the Education Research Funding Programme, National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, project no. SUG09/16VS. The views expressed in this paper are the authors' and do not necessarily represent the views of NIE.

Citation

Stefanidis, A. and Strogilos, V. (2021), "Perceived organizational support and work engagement of employees with children with disabilities", Personnel Review, Vol. 50 No. 1, pp. 186-206. https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-02-2019-0057

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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