Être handicapé: Quel impact sur l'évaluation de candidats à l'embauche?

Abstract

This study aims to give a psychosocial perspective to the problem of the professional integration of persons with a disability (wheelchair users). Experiments were undertaken to test the hypothesis that persons with a disability are discriminated during the recruitment process. Through three experimental investigations, we examined the social perception of subjects (employers and students in human resources) towards job applicants presented with or without a disability. Furthermore, we introduced two other factors: the nature of the job, and whether or not it is the applicant's first job. Targets are described by Curriculum Vitae. The dependant measures included perception scales (personality and employment characteristics) and an impression of employment potential. Our results clearly showed that the mention of a disability has major repercussions on the overall impression of job applicants and on their chances of being employed. Analysis of variance showed that applicants depicted as disabled were generally rated higher than able-bodied applicants. However, applicants with a disability were rated more negatively as far as professional skills are concerned. Moreover, this depreciation was all the more significant for those applicants depicted as disabled and who had never worked, and for those jobs for which they were not expected to apply. The discussion poses the problem of the role of social perception towards disabled people and its impact on the recruitment process.