Drivers of Career Success among the Visually Impaired: Improving career inclusivity and sustainability in a career ecosystem
Drivers of Career Success among the Visually Impaired: Improving career inclusivity and sustainability in a career ecosystem
Visual impairment, as a form of disability, remains understudied in the context of employment and careers. Drawing on career ecosystem and career sustainability theories, we explore factors that lead to career success and career sustainability of visually impaired individuals. We collected qualitative data from 66 visually impaired individuals from India who had experienced varying degrees of career attainment. We applied grounded theory to study their deep-seated attitudes and ingrained behaviors that help build successful and sustainable careers. High-career-attainment participants were extremely resilient, able to bounce back after rejection, and willing to adopt certain key psycho-social processes such as non-acceptance of rejection, relatability (forging positive relations with the sighted), family support, enabling self through technology, and influence mindset change, which led them to be ‘masters of circumstance.’ Conversely, the characteristics of low-career-attainment participants included their unquestioning acceptance of fate, higher degrees of skepticism, and obligation to support the family, which led them to become ‘victims of circumstance.’ We contribute to the career ecosystems and career sustainability literature by expanding it to wider populations and crystalizing processes that influence careers. The findings have policy implications for visually impaired individuals as well as for other people with disabilities, as well as for organizations and governments. Individuals should challenge conventional norms, be persistent and improve self-efficacy. Organization should think out of the box in order to win the war for talent by employing hidden talent.
career ecosystem, career success, career sustainability, disability, visual impairment
Bhaskar, A Uday
60578d50-cf77-4024-bce1-f19d8a853e36
Baruch, Yehuda
25b89777-def4-4958-afdc-0ceab43efe8a
Gupta, Seeta
3280021d-104d-413b-aa87-06436b14f95e
Bhaskar, A Uday
60578d50-cf77-4024-bce1-f19d8a853e36
Baruch, Yehuda
25b89777-def4-4958-afdc-0ceab43efe8a
Gupta, Seeta
3280021d-104d-413b-aa87-06436b14f95e
Bhaskar, A Uday, Baruch, Yehuda and Gupta, Seeta
(2022)
Drivers of Career Success among the Visually Impaired: Improving career inclusivity and sustainability in a career ecosystem.
Human Relations.
(doi:10.1177/00187267221103529).
Abstract
Visual impairment, as a form of disability, remains understudied in the context of employment and careers. Drawing on career ecosystem and career sustainability theories, we explore factors that lead to career success and career sustainability of visually impaired individuals. We collected qualitative data from 66 visually impaired individuals from India who had experienced varying degrees of career attainment. We applied grounded theory to study their deep-seated attitudes and ingrained behaviors that help build successful and sustainable careers. High-career-attainment participants were extremely resilient, able to bounce back after rejection, and willing to adopt certain key psycho-social processes such as non-acceptance of rejection, relatability (forging positive relations with the sighted), family support, enabling self through technology, and influence mindset change, which led them to be ‘masters of circumstance.’ Conversely, the characteristics of low-career-attainment participants included their unquestioning acceptance of fate, higher degrees of skepticism, and obligation to support the family, which led them to become ‘victims of circumstance.’ We contribute to the career ecosystems and career sustainability literature by expanding it to wider populations and crystalizing processes that influence careers. The findings have policy implications for visually impaired individuals as well as for other people with disabilities, as well as for organizations and governments. Individuals should challenge conventional norms, be persistent and improve self-efficacy. Organization should think out of the box in order to win the war for talent by employing hidden talent.
Text
Bhaskar et al VI Human Relations as accceted No Figures
- Accepted Manuscript
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Accepted/In Press date: 12 April 2022
e-pub ahead of print date: 5 July 2022
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Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2022.
Keywords:
career ecosystem, career success, career sustainability, disability, visual impairment
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 457326
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/457326
ISSN: 0018-7267
PURE UUID: 1c84041d-7ea5-4079-8f4b-c207ef544c73
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Date deposited: 01 Jun 2022 16:39
Last modified: 06 Jun 2024 01:52
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Author:
A Uday Bhaskar
Author:
Seeta Gupta
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