Lata Dyaram

Purpose: While literature cites several distinct studies on workforce diversity and employee well-being (EWB), attention to their combined significance has been limited. Extant work highlights cognitive outcomes of diversity, while its impact on affect-related outcomes is underexplored. The purpose of this paper is to examine how employee perceptions of diversity (based on surface and/or knowledge attributes) influence their well-being and how perception of inclusion mediates this relationship. Design/methodology/approach: In total, 248 full-time employees from large organizations across varied industries in India have participated in this survey-based study. Findings: Structural equation modeling results indicate surface and knowledge diversity to significantly impact EWB. Surface diversity adversely affected well-being, while knowledge diversity had favorable impact. Besides, inclusion was found to be a significant mediator between knowledge diversity and well-being but not between surface diversity and well-being. Research limitations/implications: Present study explores the diversity–well-being link through the lens of perceived inclusion. Future research should consider contextual factors that will influence these relationships. Practical implications: Managerial nudging can enhance employee self-control, intrinsic motivation and well-being. Further, managers should note how knowledge diversity aids in well-being toward constructive cross-functional synergy building. Originality/value: Study conceptualizes diversity from Indian social and employment perspectives, while incorporating inclusion as a contextual factor currently under-researched empirically in the Indian context. Further, the authors contribute to the limited literature on affect-related effects of diversity.

Purpose: This study aims to review the extant literature on workplace disability inclusion in the organised sector in India and presents an integrated model based on emergent themes in indigenous studies. Design/methodology/approach: The review is directed by the following foci: In what contexts was workplace disability inclusion in India empirically investigated? How was workplace disability inclusion examined (method)? What important themes emerge from the studies? Towards this, empirical scholarly studies in India, published between 2011–2019, is reviewed to identify the evolutionary trends. Findings: Prominent themes have been identified at three levels – organization, group and individual. At an organization level, the focus is on inclusive strategy and practices. Country-specific contextual factors such as legislation, accessibility and external eco-system influence an organization’s inclusive strategy, which addresses how organizations engage with persons with disability (PwD), job mapping, accessibility and targeted recruitment. Inclusive practices span across various phases of the employee life cycle, namely, recruitment, onboarding, development and retention. At the group level, the themes highlight group boundaries, PwD-supervisor interaction, PwD-co-worker interaction and PwD-PwD interaction. At an individual level, PwD experiences are categorized as physical, job-related and psychological. Workplace treatment and experiences of PwD vary from discrimination to inclusion and along with other outcomes, are influenced by contextual factors. Research limitations/implications: This study contributes to the development of workplace disability inclusion theory, by presenting an integrated model of prominent themes, offering greater clarity and avenues for extending the literature. The paper discusses themes that can help organizations facilitate inclusion, thereby improving employment opportunities for PwD. Originality/value: In a first, the study provides an integrated account of inclusion of PwD in organized sector in India.

Workforce diversity literature highlights adverse effects of surface diversity on employee affect. We examine the applicability of surface diversity effects in the Indian social milieu. Since diversity effects are context-specific, in a first, we test the moderating impact of employee's perceived organisational politics on the inclusion mediated diversity-well-being link among 617 employees from Indian organisations. Post ascertaining the measurement model fit using AMOS 22, we used PROCESS to test for moderated-mediation effects. Perception of organisational politics moderated the surface diversity–inclusion–well-being link such that inclusion was found to be weaker for employees who perceived high politics. We discuss the implications for managers.