Social Networks and Career Advancement of People With Disabilities

Abstract

Although organizational social networks are known to influence career mobility, the specific direction of this influence is different for diverse employee groups. Diversity in organizational network research has been operationalized on various dimensions such as race and ethnicity, age, religion, education, occupation, and gender. Missing in this stream of research are application and implications of social networks as they influence career advancement of people with disabilities. The objective of this conceptual article is to outline how social network characteristics such as network density, multiplexity, cohesiveness, and homophily influence career advancement of individuals with a disability. The author concludes by proposing that human resource development professionals can engage in structured socialization programs, network audits, focused training, and the creation of an inclusive climate to ensure that social networks do not pose a deterrent to career advancement of minorities such as people with a disability.

Social network analysis and social capital in human resource development research: A practical introduction to R use

“…Although the analysis technique of the social network was not applied as a methodology, they tested a structural indicator—clique‐membership status. Since then, as consideration of network perspectives grew in popularity, and HRD researchers found ways to incorporate a network analysis into various areas such as learning network theory (Melo & Beck, ; van der Krogt, ), career advancement via informal social networks (Combs, ; Kulkarni, ), career development in women's networks (Bierema, ), knowledge management (Parise, ), leadership (Baltodano, Carlson, Jackson, & Mitchell, ), social‐networked learning (White, ), interorganizational networking (Hawley & Taylor, ; Weigl, Hartmann, Jahns, & Darkow, ), and virtual working community and job performance (Wu & Zhang, ), and in bibliometric techniques to understand citation, cocitation, and keyword networks (Hyun, Cho, & Yoon, ; Jo, Jeung, Park, & Yoon, ).…”

Human Resources Development and Career Development: Where Are We, and Where Do We Need to Go

“…Scholarship on career development, equity, and privilege in HRD is scant. The work that exists covers gender (McDonald and Hite, ), African American women (Alfred, ), foreign born workers (Lopez, ), battered women (Collins, ), people with disabilities (Kulkarni, ), LGBT (McFadden, ) and straight privilege (Rocco & Gallagher, ). While these citations represent the equity issues covered, in most cases the issue treatment lacks depth (in terms of one scholar focusing on the issue) and breadth (in terms of multiple scholars examining the issue or the examination of a range of topics related to the issue).…”

Job Seekers with Musculoskeletal or Sensory Disabilities: Barriers and Facilitators of Job Search

“…For this reason, researchers are increasingly focusing on the social structure surrounding a job seeker with disabilities and the role of key actors in this interpersonal network (e.g. Kulkarni, 2012;Kulkarni and Gopakumar, 2014;Potts, 2005). For example, researchers have considered how job search outcomes are influenced by contact with trade unions (Richards and Sang, 2016), community organizations (Fujimoto et al, 2014) and others with disabilities (Kulkarni and Gopakumar, 2014).…”

“…Specifically, the design directly addresses several gaps in the literature articulated by Kulkarni and Scullion (2015). These involve a need for research on DETAs that are 'based in a wider range of geographies catering to various forms of disability' (Kulkarni andScullion, 2015, p. 1177). In this respect, the study provides an opportunity to explore job search issues in a distinct regulatory, political and employment context to prior research conducted in India.…”

“…In this respect, the study provides an opportunity to explore job search issues in a distinct regulatory, political and employment context to prior research conducted in India. We also addressed a call for research that 'ask[s] about the different forms of support that agencies may have given to different employee groups' (Kulkarni andScullion, 2015, p. 1178) by identifying the support that is most helpful for job seekers with musculoskeletal versus sensory disabilities. Finally, a strength was our efforts to capture the views of a variety of employment stakeholders.…”