Disability-Inclusive Employment and Company Value Proposition Enactment: A Qualitative Framework from a Sri Lankan Service-Sector Case

Abstract

Purpose: This study develops a contextually grounded framework explaining how disability-inclusive employment may contribute to company value proposition enactment within a high-contact service organisation in Sri Lanka. It shifts attention from compliance or symbolic representation to the organisational mechanisms through which inclusion enters service routines and stakeholder interpretation.

Design/methodology/approach:  The study uses an interpretive qualitative single-case design. The dataset comprises participants: 12 employees with disabilities, six peers and subordinates, five supervisors and managers, and four customers. Data were collected between April 2023 and January 2024 through semi-structured interviews and stakeholder group discussions. Iterative coding, constant comparison, descriptive code co-occurrence review, an interpretive relational map, and a theory-led directed acyclic graph were used to develop and audit the framework. The visual and co-occurrence analyses are supplementary qualitative devices; they do not estimate network parameters or causal effects.

Findings:    Five interrelated mechanisms were identified: task–environment fit, ethical consistency, capability signalling, adaptive innovation, and internal marketing effects. These mechanisms appeared to connect inclusive work arrangements with service reliability, perceived authenticity, employee advocacy, and process learning. Their operation was conditional on leadership commitment, supervisory capability, accessibility infrastructure, staffing pressure, and repeated service interaction.

Originality:   The study reframes disability-inclusive employment as a potentially market-facing organisational capability when rights-based inclusion is enacted through accessible systems, supported performance, and consistent service routines. It integrates the social model of disability, the capability approach, service-dominant logic, signalling theory, internal marketing, and service-quality scholarship.

Implications:   Managers should connect inclusive hiring with accessible job design, supervisor training, employee voice, and service-process evaluation. Business-value arguments should complement, not replace, the ethical, legal, and human-rights basis for inclusion.

Research limitations: Evidence comes from one Sri Lankan organisation and includes only four customers. Customer facing interpretations are therefore exploratory, and the framework supports analytical transferability rather than statistical generalisation. Comparative, multi-site, longitudinal, and larger-customer studies are required.