Who's Disclosing? The Influence of Mental Disability Disclosure and Social Status on Hiring
Stigma is a significant obstacle that job candidates with mental disabilities face during the hiring process. One-way candidates can combat stigma is by making strategic decisions about when and how to disclose their mental disability. While previous research has examined disclosure for disabilities stereotyped in paternalistic ways—perceived as lower in competence but higher in warmth (e.g., using a wheelchair)—my co-authors and I focus on bipolar disorder, a mental disability stereotyped as both low in competence and warmth. I will describe three studies, including a survey with individuals with bipolar disorder, an experiment, and an interview-based study with hiring managers. These studies uncover the motivations of bipolar job candidates for disclosing their condition during the hiring process, their methods of disclosure, and how different disclosure strategies affect hiring managers' decisions. To develop a model of hiring managers’ decisions, we draw from impression formation theory, the stereotype-content model, and the model of stereotyping through multiple categories (MOSAIC). We examine how integration and decategorization disclosure strategies impact hiring evaluations through their influence on hiring managers' perceptions of competence and warmth, considering the status of job candidates' educational affiliation as a boundary condition of these relationships. The results reveal that disclosure strategies vary in effectiveness, with significant differences observed for candidates with lower educational affiliation status rather than higher. To end, I will explore the implications of this research for research and practice.
Brent Lyons
Brent Lyons (he/him) is an Associate Professor of Organization Studies at the Schulich School of Business. His research involves the study of stigma and its consequences for the work, careers, and well-being of members of nondominant social groups, such as disabled employees and sexual minority employees. Brent has published his work in journals such as Academy of Management Review, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management, and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. His research has also been supported by multiple grants from SSHRC. Brent serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management, and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.
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