Are high-performance work practices (HPWPs) enabling or disabling? Exploring the relationship between selected HPWPs and work-related disability disadvantage

We develop the organizational characteristics element of Stone and Colella's (1996) framework by drawing on the Ability-Motivation-Opportunity (AMO) model to assess the relationship between high-performance work practices (HPWPs) and work-related disability disadvantage. We develop competing enabling and disabling hypotheses concerning the influence of selected HPWPs (competency testing, performance appraisal, individual performance-related pay, teamworking, and functional flexibility) on disabled relative to nondisabled employees. An empirical assessment of these competing hypotheses using matched employer-employee data from the nationally representative British Workplace Employment Relations Study 2011 reveals a negative relationship between these HPWPs when used in combination and the proportion of disabled employees at the workplace, although this relationship disappears in workplaces with a wide range of disability equality practices. While disabled employees report lower work-related well-being than their nondisabled counterparts, we find limited evidence that this is associated with the presence of HPWPs.