ABSTRACT
Social changes, technological evolutions, globalization and even the achievement of sustainable development objectives require the adoption of new business models, in which innovations are considered a cornerstone of achieving and maintaining a competitive and a social advantage. This descriptive and quantitative study discusses the results obtained after implementing an open innovation program to promote access to internships for university students with disabilities, in which three multi-national companies have participated. We used the Job Typicalness, Quality of Work Life and Employment Maturity Interview Questionnaires to collect information. The results show that the jobs performed by disabled participants are similar to those of other workers. This job typicality positively influences their perception of quality of life and job satisfaction. The open innovation process has focused on collaboration to provide accessibility and equity to the procedures of human resources departments for access to employment, that is, external collaboration has been used to offer an equal-opportunity hiring process. The information obtained allows us to conclude that companies need to increase their training and/or knowledge in the fields of diversity and inclusion to eliminate the barriers of access to employment found in hiring processes. This study reveals the importance of this type of open innovation among companies and organizations, not only for establishing diversity-sensitive human resources policies, but also for promoting the talent attraction with equal opportunities and an inclusive labour market.
ABSTRACT
Agenda 2030 expresses, through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), and in particular through No. 4, the need to ensure an inclusive and equitable education, which promotes learning opportunities for all. At the university level, all students are urged to acquire the necessary theoretical and practical knowledge to promote sustainable development, so that they become graduates capable of facing the challenges of the future and the real demands of a society marked by heterogeneity, including the needs of people with some kind of disability. In this sense, the present work analyzed the impact of a transversal training program in Design for All on university degree students. For this purpose, a descriptive and comparative ex post facto study was developed in which the impact of an online training program was quantified by establishing comparative pre- and post-training. The results indicate that the approach, through the delivery of a training xplain eon Design for All, contributed to a change in the perceptions of students regarding disability, its role in the university and in the future workplace. Furthermore, it increased the knowledge of institutional action undertaken in terms of awareness and approach to human disability.