title: Lending a Helping Hand at Work: A Multilevel Investigation of Prosocial Motivation, Inclusive Climate and Inclusive Behavior.
abstract: Purpose People with disabilities often encounter difficulties at the workplace such as exclusion or unfair treatment. Researchers have therefore pointed to the need to focus on behavior that fosters inclusion as well as variables that are antecedents of such 'inclusive behavior'. Therefore the purpose of this study was to research the relationship between prosocial motivation, team inclusive climate and employee inclusive behavior. Method A survey was conducted among a sample of 282 paired employees and colleagues, which were nested in 84 teams. Employees self-rated prosocial motivation and team inclusive climate, their inclusive behavior was assessed by colleagues. Hypotheses were tested using multilevel random coefficient modeling. Results Employees who are prosocially motivated will display more inclusive behavior towards people with disabilities, and this relationship is moderated by team inclusive climate in such a way that the relationship is stronger when the inclusive climate is high. Conclusion This study shows that inclusive organizations, which value a diverse workforce, need to be aware of not only individual employee characteristics, but also team level climate to ensure the smooth integrations of people with disabilities into regular work teams.
authors.affiliation: Department of Work and Social Psychology, Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands. philippe.nelissen@maastrichtuniversity.nl.
authors.forename: Philippe T J H
authors.initials: PTJH
authors.lastname: Nelissen
authors.affiliation: Department of Work and Social Psychology, Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ute R
authors.initials: UR
authors.lastname: Hülsheger
authors.affiliation: Department of Work and Social Psychology, Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Gemma M C
authors.initials: GMC
authors.lastname: van Ruitenbeek
authors.affiliation: Department of Work and Social Psychology, Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Fred R H
authors.initials: FRH
authors.lastname: Zijlstra
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D015279:Organizational Culture; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Inclusive (helping) behavior; Inclusive climate; Multilevel modeling; People with disabilities; Prosocial motivation; Workplace inclusion