DEGREE PROJECT IN INDUSTRIAL MANAGEMENT, SECOND CYCLE, 15 CREDITS STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN 2019
TAPPING INTO PEOPLE WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER: "Moving Towards an Inclusive and Neurodiverse Workplace"
GREG NICHOLAS GARTSU
MARIA STEFANI
KTH ROYAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT
TAPPING INTO PEOPLE WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER: “Moving Towards an Inclusive and Neurodiverse Workplace”
Greg Nicholas Gartsu Maria Stefani
Master of Science Thesis TRITA-ITM-EX 2019:219 KTH Industrial Engineering and Management Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management SE-100 44 STOCKHOLM
Tapping into People with Autism Spectrum Disorder: “Moving Towards an Inclusive and Neurodiverse Workplace” 1
Master of Science Thesis TRITA-ITM-EX 2019:219
TAPPING INTO PEOPLE WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER: “Moving Towards an Inclusive and Neurodiverse
Workplace”
Greg Nicholas Gartsu Maria Stefani
Approved Examiner Supervisor 2019-06-12 Gregg Vanourek Kristina Nyström
ABSTRACT Organizations lack knowledge of a relatively new phenomenon of the potential of those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). As companies today seek to innovate, this paper explores employers’ experiences and perceptions of employing those with ASD. As companies have already begun to integrate adults with ASD into their organizations’ it seems appropriate to help Swedish companies to innovate and give them a competitive advantage. This paper provides a critical analysis on the challenges within the employment market in Sweden to include individuals with ASD in high-quality labor and high-tech industries. Analyzing data from several case studies and relevant literature review, this paper describes the employment discrimination of people with ASD and investigates if such discrimination can be eradicated by developing an innovation to include those people. Further, this paper seeks to explore if such a social innovation can be adopted in Swedish companies. The results of surveyed and interviewed employers showed their knowledge, support, and confidence about ASD was mixed; partially because of the ethics to question one’s neuropsychiatric diagnosis. Additionally, 2 actors were contacted to gain further insight into the process of the social innovation process framework. In summary, these studies find companies lack knowledge regarding ASD. Increasing knowledge and awareness from successful company cases could encourage companies to design ASD, or more broadly neurodiversity, into their organizations in order to innovate.
Keywords Autism spectrum disorder, mental health, innovation diffusion, integrated employment, neurodiversity, social innovation process.
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SAMMANFATTNING Organisationer saknar kunskap om ett relativt nytt fenomen som innefattar potentialen hos personer med autismspektrumstörning (ASD). Företag söker ständigt efter innovation, så detta arbete undersöker arbetsgivarnas erfarenheter och uppfattningar om att anställa personer med ASD. Eftersom företag redan har börjat integrera vuxna med ASD i sina organisationer, förefaller det sig lämpligt att hjälpa svenska företag att utvecklas genom innovation och ge dem en konkurrensfördel inom detta ämne. I den här uppsatsen ges en kritisk analys av utmaningarna på arbetsmarknaden i Sverige, som innefattar personer med ASD i högkvalitativa arbeten och högteknologiska industrier. Genom analyser av information från flera fallstudier och relevant litteraturgranskning, beskriver denna uppsats diskrimineringen som innefattar personer med ASD och undersöker om diskriminering kan minska genom utveckling, för att inkludera denna målgrupp. Vidare, syftar denna uppsats på att utforska en sådan social innovation som kan antas i varje företag. Resultaten av undersökningen samt intervjuer, visar att arbetsgivarnas kunskap, support och förtroende för ASD är delade; delvis på grund av etiken att ifrågasätta sin neuropsykiatriska diagnos. Dessutom kontaktades 2 aktörer för att få mer inblick i processen inom ramen för social innovationsprocess. Sammanfattningsvis finner dessa studier att företag saknar kunskap om ASD. Ökad kunskap och medvetenhet från framgångsrika företagsärenden skulle uppmuntra företag att utforma ASD, eller på en mer allmän nivå inom neuro mångfald, i sina organisationer.
Nyckelord Autismspektrumstörning, mental hälsa, innovationsdiffusion, integrerad sysselsättning, neurodiversitet, social innovationsprocess
List of Abbreviations
ASD Autism Spectrum Disorder
HFA High-Functioning Autism
PDD-NOS Pervasive Developmental Disorders-Not Otherwise Specified
SIP Social Innovation Process
Tapping into People with Autism Spectrum Disorder: “Moving Towards an Inclusive and Neurodiverse Workplace” 3
Glossary of Terms
Autism A developmental condition of variable severity that is characterized by difficulty in social interaction and communication and by restricted or repetitive behavior. (Oxford Dictionary, 2019)
Autism Spectrum Disorder Describes a range of neurodevelopmental condition varying in degrees of impact on daily functioning. The term spectrum reflects the fact that the symptoms vary across different individuals, ranging in type and severity. (Psychology Today, 2019)
Autistic Relating to or affected by autism. (Oxford Dictionary, 2019)
Asperger Syndrome A developmental condition related to autism and characterized by awkwardness in social interaction, pedantry in speech, and preoccupation with very narrow interests. (Oxford Dictionary, 2019)
High-functioning autism An informal term referred to autistic people who have normal overall intelligence; not cognitively challenged. (Borremans, Rintala, Kielinen, 2009)
Neurodiversity The range of differences in individual brain function and behavioral traits regarded as part of normal variation in the human population (Oxford Dictionary, 2019). Although this term is used especially in the context of ASD, some definitions may include learning disabilities and even mental health conditions (National Symposium of Neurodiversity, 2019).
Neurotypical Not displaying or characterized by autistic or other neurologically atypical patterns of thought or behavior. (Oxford Dictionary, 2019)
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Inspiration for our topic arose from many passionate people. Thank you to all of those people of enlightenment, from guest lecturers to the KTH community. By the same token, we would like to express our gratitude towards our supervisor, Kristina Nyström, who has guided us with her wisdom, knowledge, and support.
A special gratitude to all the interviewees and organizations who willingly took their time to share the information we needed to complete our research, and especially to the autism community in Stockholm and throughout the world that helped to connect us with their networks.
Our gratitude also extends to our family and friends who have supported us before, during, and after our study period at KTH. Their loving care and wise counselling have helped us through our journey to achieve our Master’s in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management.
And above it all, we would like to thank God for His Favor.
Stockholm, June 9th 2019
Nick Gartsu Maria Stefani
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CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION 8 1.1 Introduction to Autism 8 1.2 Problem Definition 10 1.3 Research Question 10 1.4 Purpose 10 1.5 The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 10 1.6 Scope 11 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 12 2.1 What is Autism Spectrum Disorder? 12 2.2 Autism Spectrum Disorder vs The Employment Market 13 2.2.1 Employment Rates 14 2.2.2 Advantages and Disadvantages of ASD Individuals 15 2.2.3 Evidence of ASD Individuals in Actual Workplace 16 2.2.4 Support Systems for ASD at Work 17 2.3 Previous Analyses of Employment and ASD 19 3. THEORY OF INNOVATION 22 3.1 Social Innovation 22 3.1.1 The Elements of Social Innovation 22 3.1.2 Social Innovation Process 23 3.2 Diffusion of Innovation 24 3.2.1 Characteristics of Innovation and the Rate of Diffusion 24 3.2.1.1 Relative Advantage 25 3.2.1.2 Compatibility 25 3.2.1.3 Complexity 26 3.2.1.4 Trialability and Observability 26 3.3 Narrative of the Phenomenon 27 4. METHODOLOGY 28 4.1. Research Approach 28 4.2 Collecting Research Data 28 4.3 Sampling Method 29 4.3.1 Design 29 4.3.2 Data Collection 29
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4.3.3 Ethics 30 5. RESULTS 31 5.1 Survey Results 31 5.2 Interview Results 32 5.2.1 Interview 1: The Healthcare Sector 32 5.2.2 Interview 2: Staffing Agent in the Engineering Sector 33 5.2.3 Interview 3: Consultancy in the IT Sector 33 5.2.4 Interview 4: The Tech Sector 34 5.2.5 Interview 5: Not-for-profit Intermediary in the Social Innovation 35 5.2.6 Interview 6: The Telecommunication Sector 35 5.2.7 Interview 7: Product Development Manager in Telecommunication Sector 36 5.3 Discussion / Analysis 37 6. CONCLUSIONS 43 6.1 Limitations 45 6.2 Final Remarks 45 6.3 Further Research 46 7. REFERENCES 47 Appendix A. Literature reviews of support system for individuals with ASD 54 Appendix B. Interview Questionnaires 56
List of Figures and Tables
Figure 1. Views on the suitability of different job types for individuals with autism. 19 Figure 2. Four fundamental elements of social innovation. 23 Figure 3. Research Model for the Social Innovation Process. 23 Figure 4. Social innovation process for an inclusive and neurodiverse workplace. 38 Table 1. Summary of the study findings and suggestions to bridge the gap 44
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1. INTRODUCTION The first chapter begins with an introduction to establish the context in which the research will take place, including the definition of the problem, the research question, the purpose of the study, the methodology used, and the scope of the research.
1.1 Introduction to Autism Adults with high-functioning ASD have recently came into focus in the society. Major tech companies have been attracted to their positive traits. Companies such as Google, SAP, and Microsoft, have begun to recruit this group of people (Annabi, 2018). Additionally, entrepreneurial consultancy companies have formed globally. By specifically matching ASD adults with niche industries, these organizations can utilize the positive attributes of this talent pool. Nevertheless, these initiatives have not been recognized throughout any specific industry, such as IT. Society nor companies have known about ASD for a significant time in human history.
Dating back to 1911, the concept of autism was created by the German psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler to describe a “symptom of most severe cases of schizophrenia” (Evans, 2013, p. 4) and referred to it as an “excessive hallucination and fantasy in infants” (Evans, 2013, p. 4). According to him, autistic thinking occurred because infants wished to avoid unsatisfying realities by replacing them with hallucinations and fantasies. This concept was used from the 1920s and up until the 1950s (Piaget, 1923; as cited in Evans, 2013). However in 1960s, the description of autism was radically reformulated. Kolvin (1971) studied that autism in infants and young children did not have any hallucinatory thinking of any form. He pointed that rather than having an excessive fantasy, autism was described for someone who did not fantasize at all (Kolvin, 1971; Evans, 2013). Following Kolvin’s research, other psychiatrist researchers also formulated autism as a “‘communication disorder’ rather than ‘psychotic disorder’” (Evans, 2013, p. 18).
From the 1960s to the 1980s, there were changes in diagnostic methods because institutions for ‘mental defectives’ were closed down and speech therapy services flourished (Eyal, Hart, Onculer, Oren, Rossi, 2010; as cited in Evans, 2013). This meant that autism came to be associated with “profound mental retardation and other developmental or physical disorders’” (Wing and Potter, 2002; as cited in Evans, 2013, p. 4), resulting in an increasing number of children who were considered to display autistic traits (Evans, 2013).
Following the 1959 Mental Health Act in Britain, children with intellectual disabilities who had previously been isolated were integrated into schools (Evans, 2013). The Society for Autistic Children, which were exclusive for autistic children were set up in the early 1960s,
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and campaigned to the Ministry of Education to regard all autistic children as ‘educable’ (Evans, 2013). The organization required that all children should be integrated within the same educational framework to encourage these children’s integration in a unified theoretical framework concerning the development of their thought (Evans, 2013).
Research after research was carried out to describe the phenomena of autism in children, but the diagnoses were still quite inaccurate and vague (Evans, 2013). In 1979, Wing and Gould conducted a prevalence study of ‘Severe Impairment of Social Interaction and Associated Abnormalities' in children (Evans, 2013). Then in 1981, Wing published a paper on Asperger’s Syndrome after reclaiming Hans Asperger’s article on autism. In her paper, she extended her argument that autism should be included within a wider group of conditions which have impairment of development of social interaction, communication, and imagination (Wing, 1981; Nadesan, 2005; as cited in Evans, 2013,). As her finding was highly influential, increasing numbers of studies were placed on autism. These studies then regarded “autism as a problem of ‘social’ interaction rather than a problem of emotional relationships with others” (Evans, 2013, p. 23).
Fairly recently, scholars have brought up the fact that the focus of ASD research has been centered on children. One highlight is that society must remember that “autistic children grow up” (Kopelson, 2015, p. 572) and those adults should be productive members of society. Karen Kopelson (2015) has taken the initiative to make the learning process easier for employers with handbooks.
A movement for people with autism, called The Neurodiversity Movement, proposed for employers to be open minded and more approachable (Lorenz, Reznik, Heinitz, 2017). Yet there are two options for ASD individuals who want to work, either to try to gain employment in a nonspecific workplace that might not be accommodating enough, or look for a job in an autism specific job environment (Hendricks, 2010; as cited in Lorenz et al., 2017).
To enter the first option is not an easy task. Barriers, such as various communication problems or rigorous application processes, need to be overcome before actually gaining employment. Barriers, in other words, are social structures which undoubtedly contain bias. And once those structural barriers and processes are removed, “equal opportunities are created and conditions can be considered socially equal” (Rosqvist, 2012, p. 211). Even when they have finally gained meaningful employment, there are also challenges that arise in the workplace such as difficulties in engaging in casual conversations with co-workers or various distractions in the common open plan that offices offer. However the second option offers a better job environment than the first. Employees with ASD report “less communication and environmental problems than those who work in regular jobs” (Morris, Begel, Wiedermann, 2015; as cited in Lorenz et al., 2017, p. 6).
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Connecting the dots from the early findings of autism until present, it would appear that people with ASD are excluded beginning in their childhood. They are either isolated, pushed away, or being put in an exclusive environment because of social stigma and, as expected, their inability to interact with other people (Wing, 1981; California Department of Developmental Services, 2002; Graziano, 2002; Ozonoff, Rogers, Hendron, 2003; Howlin, 2004; Schaller and Yang, 2005; Fradd and Joy, 2007; Wareham and Sonne, 2008; Cashin and Barker, 2009; Evans, 2013; Kopelson, 2015; Lorenz et al., 2017).
1.2 Problem Definition Adults with high-functioning autism (HFA) are searching for a meaningful employment through high-performing jobs, while companies are looking for talents to occupy the ‘tough-to-fill’ jobs. So can the discriminated be connected with these positions? The potential of this underserved group might exactly be what employers are looking for. Although several giant companies have already adapted employment programs for individuals with ASD (Austin and Pisano, 2017; Annabi, 2018), one cannot deny that there are still many that have not. Based on this, the problem is to investigate the challenges companies have to adopt the social innovation of including HFA adults in their workplace.
1.3 Research Question The research question in this paper is: “what are the obstacles that companies face with employing adults with autism spectrum disorder?” The question can be answered through these sub questions: ● Do companies have knowledge of ASD? ● What are the companies’ perceptions? ● How are these companies supporting employees with ASD?
1.4 Purpose Industrial companies seek to innovate. Consumers demand more socially conscious corporations, which contribute to public benefit and not strictly profit (Tu, 2016). This study targets to identify what employers know about ASD, and to discover whether employing individuals with HFA can be diffused to and be adopted by other companies. This has implications for entrepreneurs developing conscious corporations.
1.5 The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals One of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), prosperity, targets “to ensure that all human beings can enjoy prosperous and fulfilling lives and that economic, social and technological progress occurs in harmony with nature” (p. 5). More
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specifically, Goal 10 aims to “reduce inequality within and among countries” (p. 18). This goal is further broken down to include adopting policies, increasing opportunity, and reducing inequality for all. Humans with disabilities are included in section 10.2 of the 2030 Agenda (UN, 2015, p. 25). Therefore, this research contributes to the economic and social dimensions highlighted by the UN.
1.6 Scope The focus of the research is on companies’ perceptions of adults with HFA, with Sweden as the geographical scope. Companies included within the scope are in high-tech industries and other sectors of high-quality labor (e.g. business industries, healthcare industries).
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2. LITERATURE REVIEW In this chapter, the term autism is defined and the current situation of integrated employment for individuals with ASD is discussed, followed by further analyzing the problem of ASD in the workforce. Then the social stigmas around ASD are investigated and the current research is summarized. The final section in this chapter seeks to corroborate whether the evidence provided confirms or contradicts the need for an ASD innovation to take place in workplaces.
2.1 What is Autism Spectrum Disorder? Autism is a spectrum of neurodevelopmental disorders with wide variations in symptom severity, intellectual level, and functional disability (California Department of Developmental Services, 2002; Geschwind, 2009; Frazier, Youngstrom, Speer, Embacher, Law, Constantino, Findling, Hardan, Eng, 2012) which lasts throughout a person’s life (Howlin, 2004). It is characterized by a “distinct impaired verbal and nonverbal communication; deficits in socialization and reciprocal social interaction; and restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior” (American Psychiatric Association, 2000; as cited in Schaller and Yang, 2005, p. 4) which is known as the “triad of impairments” (Fradd and Joy, 2007; Wareham and Sonne, 2008; Cashin and Barker, 2009). There are also other features that may be associated with the triad, such as language delay and deviance, obsessional pursuit to specific interesting subjects, high sensitivity to noise and light, abnormal movement, and eating or sleeping disorder (Schopler, Mesibov, Kunce, 1998; Howlin, 2004). The group of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) includes classic autism, pervasive developmental disorders-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS), Rett’s syndrome, and Asperger syndrome (highly-intellectual type of autism) (Schaller and Yang, 2005; Marshall, Noor, Vincent, Lionel, Feuk, Skaug, Shago, Moessner, Pinto, Ren, and Thiruvahindrapduram, 2008). Individuals with high-functioning autism (HFA) and Asperger Syndrome generally show less impairment in language usage and cognitive development, but still have severe disability in social interactions (California Department of Developmental Services, 2002; Graziano, 2002; Ozonoff et al., 2003; Schaller and Yang, 2005).
ASD was once thought to be a relatively rare condition, with 1 occurrence in 150 children (surveillance year 2000), however the current prevalence of ASD is estimated to be as high as 1 in 59 children (surveillance year 2014) (CDC, 2018). It is reported to occur in all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups, with rates four to five times higher in males than in females (American Psychiatric Association, 2000; CDC, 2018). The increase in prevalence might be because the main characteristics recognized can occur to a broad range of people of any age (Graziano, 2002; Schaller and Yang, 2005). Mental health
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experts recognize that many adults with ASD are undiagnosed and surmise that for every three ASD diagnoses, there are two additional undiagnosed people with ASD (Lewis, 2018). Lewis (2018) concludes there should be a shift for people to be aware of ASD to create a positive impact on their lives and those around them (Lewis, 2018).
Various studies have examined the learning characteristics of individuals with Asperger Syndrome and compared it with HFA. The studies showed that individuals with Asperger Syndrome have higher verbal than nonverbal abilities, and scored higher on theory of mind tasks (Schopler et al., 1998). However, the distinction between Asperger Syndrome and HFA has not been resolved yet (Schopler et al., 1998). Therefore from this point forward, HFA and Asperger Syndrome will be used interchangeably in this paper.
In relation to social barrier, Baron-Cohen, Jolliffe, Mortimore, and Robertson (1997) conducted an ‘advanced theory of mind test’ that was perceived to test how well the participants can put themselves in other person’s mind, and relate to their mental state. “‘Theory of mind’ is the ability to attribute mental states to oneself or another person (Premack and Woodruff, 1978; as cited in Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright, Hill, Raste, and Plumb, 2001, p. 241), which is the main way for people to make sense of or predict another person’s behavior” (Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright et al., 2001, p. 241). It can be referred to as “mentalizing” (Morton, Frith, and Leslie, 1991), “mind reading” (Whitten, 1991), “social intelligence” (Baron-Cohen, Jolliffe et al., 1999), and overlaps with “empathy” (Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright et al., 2001). The failure to “mind read” or mentalize is what assumed to be “mindblindness” (Frith, 2001).
Now the background has been presented about the characteristics and dimensions of autism spectrum in society, in section 2.2 the rich potential of these individuals will be connected to the work environment.
2.2 Autism Spectrum Disorder vs The Employment Market Work has a direct impact on the wellbeing of humans, including people with ASD (Milner and Dimov, 2018). Stankova and Trajkovski (2010) described employment as: The right to work is one of the fundamental human rights, however it should not be understood as a right of any work, but a job that fits the capabilities and qualifications of the individual and right to work, whose performance secures human's existence. (p. 17)
This subsection first discusses ASD employment rates and the connection of ASD special abilities to jobs in high demand. Second, the incumbent social innovators found in research are mentioned with the fields and projects they have found people with ASD
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excel in. Thirdly, the section introduces the challenges, findings, support, and the perceptions of ASD from previous studies.
2.2.1 Employment Rates Research found that the employment rate for individuals with ASD is disappointing. This is not to be blamed on any particular group because it is a social construct. Disabilities become a problem “caused by social structures of inequality and discrimination” (McLaughlin, 2003; as cited in Rosqvist, 2012, p. 208). ASD employment is lower than the population at large, compared to neurotypicals and their peers with other types of disabilities (Baldwin, Costley and Warren, 2014; Roux, Shattuck, Rast, Rava, and Anderson, 2015). The National Autism Indicators Report (2017) from Drexel University in the US surveyed and found that less than 16 percent have full-time paid work. Additionally, slightly more than half of autistic individuals in work said they were more skillful than those their job required. Further, only 32 percent are in some kind of paid work, whereas 77 percent who are unemployed stated that they want to work. This means that fewer than one in six autistic adults is in full-time employment (National Autism Indicators Report, 2017). It also shows that they are more likely to experience challenges in securing and sustaining a long-term employment. They are either unemployed (without a job), underemployed (working at a level far below their knowledge, skills, and experience), or ‘malemployed’ (working in jobs which they are totally unsuited) compared to other groups with other types of disabilities (Romoser, 2000; Hurtlbutt and Chalmers, 2004; Baldwin et al., 2014, Roux et al., 2015). This finding also indicates that ASD individuals hold a fragmented work history as a result of a high level of job-switching. Such evidence may limit their potential to gain long-term employment and career development, which contributes to low self-esteem and stress, leading to depression, isolation, financial insecurity, and suicidal thoughts/attempts (Mawhood and Howlin. 1999; Müller, Schuler, Burton and Yates, 2003; Rebholz, 2012; as cited in Baldwin et al., 2014).
There are labor shortages in particular industries which ASD individuals tend to excel in, such as programming and natural sciences (McMullen, 2000; Baldwin et al., 2014). Hence existing companies recognize their strengths and specifically aim to employ them while continuing to be a regular competitive business (Lorenz et al., 2016). Mixed results for these findings are evident since some research show adults with ASD also work in a broad range of occupations. Since ASD is a pervasive issue, high-GDP countries have government, institutions, or organizations available to assist them. Using an estimate that 1% of the population has autism, the cost of all ASDs to the UK amounted in £25 billion per year (Knapp, Romeo, Beechman, 2009). And, respectably, the opportunity to tap into ASD must be looked at from a cost-efficiency perspective for business owners. In some economies, such as in the USA, research has already proven that the monetary benefits
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of ASD individuals working in their community outweigh the monetary costs. Therefore those with ASD “working in the community produced a net benefit” (Cimera et al., 2011, p. 173). Due to this evidence, this research paper can be delimited to not focus on whether the ASD community is profitable, and rather focus on diffusing the opportunity of how this group can be effectively employed in communities.
2.2.2 Advantages and Disadvantages of ASD Individuals The specific challenges that this vulnerable group faces in the context of recruitment and employment vary. The challenges include rigorous preliminary stages of applying for work such as dealing with complex job application materials and interviews; acclimatizing to the new work environment and responding flexibly to unexpected situations; and communicating effectively and interacting socially with co-workers, among other obstacles (Beardon and Edmonds, 2007; Hillier, Campbell, Mastriani, Vreeburg Izzo, Kool-Tucker, Cherry, 2007; Stuart-Hamilton, Griffith, Totsika, Nash, Hastings, and Felce, 2009; Robertson, 2010; Baldwin et al., 2014). An additional challenge, found by Milne (2018), exists in “the nonverbal cues and social behaviors of other people” (p. vi). The behaviors lead to difficulties building relationships and their well-being (Milne, 2018).
To the contrary, adults with ASD frequently excel in performance in jobs that require visual thinking, systematic information processing or precise technical abilities. They often can be successful in such fields as mathematics, computing, physical sciences, and library science (McMullen, 2000; Baldwin et al., 2014). However these should not be stereotyped as the ‘right’ kind of job people with ASD should have in professional settings (Romoser, 2000). Studies have shown that adults with ASD are actually employed across a broad range of occupations, including those contrary to the popular assumptions of people who are on the spectrum, such as sales, creative arts, and the military (Müller et al., 2003; Stuart-Hamilton et al., 2009; Baldwin et al., 2014; Lorenz et al., 2017).
The competitive employment market overlooks many individuals with ASD even though they have the potential and unusual abilities. Despite their social and communication disabilities they excel in long-term memory skills, accuracy, and reliability, in addition to possessing a great attention to details, the ability to visualize problems and show extraordinary ability in repetitive work (Mawhood and Howlin, 1999; McMullen, 2000; Wareham and Sonne, 2008; Morris et al., 2015; Austin and Pisano, 2017; Annabi, Sundaresan, and Zolyomi, 2017; Annabi, 2018). Employers who are aware of autism and unlock this hidden potential, may acquire a competitive edge in the industry. As Austin and Pisano (2017) explained, in the past companies have shaped people so they can easily fit together with ease. They ended their article explaining that companies also want to innovate. And in order to innovate companies need to have various points of views and minds. In addition, individuals with ASD should be considered as desirable employees
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compared to neurotypicals because they would be much more likely to favor to work in one company rather than shuffling to other companies that offer more profitable job opportunities (Romoser, 2000).
2.2.3 Evidence of ASD Individuals in Actual Workplace Although for the previously mentioned reasons most companies refuse to employ ASD individuals, companies that have successfully utilized the distinctive characteristics and talents of individuals with ASD do exist. These companies have unlocked the group’s hidden potentials and use them as a competitive advantage, while supporting them to secure meaningful employment. Specialisterne Foundation is the first organization in the high-tech industry to identify the niches in the economy and employs adults with ASD (Wareham and Sonne, 2008). Though it was tough at the beginning and the founder of the company discovered that the business model was hard to scale, against all odds the company has now become one of the largest organizations in the IT industry to employ individuals with ASD and has established globally. It is reported that over 75 percent of the employees at Specialisterne, “in areas such as software testing and data validation” (p. 12), are diagnosed with some form of ASD (Wareham and Sonne, 2008).
Inspired by the success of Specialisterne, technology giants such as Google, SAP Software Solutions, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), IBM, and Microsoft began to employ IT workers with autism, who mostly are working with software developing and testing (Annabi, 2018). In similar fashion, American company Aspiritech, and Passwerk in Belgium also provided affordable software testing by harnessing the talents of people with HFA (Annabi, 2017). Corresponded to this, Auticon, an IT company based in Germany, and Meticulon, a Canadian IT startup, only employ individuals with HFA as consultants (Lorenz et al., 2017). These initiatives proposed several potential benefits, including meeting the rising demand for IT workers, as well as capitalizing on the talents of employees with autism (Annabi, 2018). Additionally, such initiatives would have a greater social impact (Shattuck et al., 2012) and at the same time provide meaningful employment opportunities for IT-oriented individuals with ASD (Annabi, 2018).
Outside of IT related work, a professional service company like Ernst&Young (EY), Deloitte, and PwC, had also launched program to recruit individuals with neurodiversity, including ASD (Cohn, 2017). With their exceptional focus and strong mathematical skills (McMullen, 2000; Baldwin et al., 2014), “what would usually take months to calculate would take roughly five to ten minutes, tops” (Cohn, 2017). Another example, the United Overseas Bank (UOB) Group in Singapore together with Autism Resources Center also initiated to include individuals with ASD. 30 percent of their 50 employees working in handling customer documents (e.g. checking digitalization, handling) are diagnosed with autism (Lorenz et al., 2017). Moreover, lately an Israeli army unit had become aware of
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the strength of autistic individuals and recruits dozens of them into their Special Intelligence Unit 9900. To join the forces, these young autistic adults must participate in a special military training program to train both their perception skills and social abilities, where afterwards they can utilize their “above-average visual perception skills for various geography-related tasks, such as mapping or analyzing satellite images for the smallest changes” (Rubin, 2016; as cited in Lorenz et al., 2017, p. 7).
Surely, it is not surprising that most of the previously mentioned examples are IT related. Although it might seem quite stereotypical, this certainly shows that “autistic individuals somehow naturally have an interest in computer sciences” (Mazurek Shattuck, Wagner, Cooper, 2012; as cited in Lorenz et al., 2017, p. 8). However, not only limited to IT, it also shows that there are growing needs to construct autism awareness in workplaces within different industries to support potential employees with ASD. In order to discover their hidden talent, they need to be understood. To quote Dr. Temple Grandin on Einstein, whom she believes had a mild form of Asperger Syndrome, “had he been born today, he would probably have ended up just driving a truck in twenty years’ time!” (Acker, 2005, p. 42).
2.2.4 Support Systems for ASD at Work High-functioning and intellectual ASD individuals may get a suitable job however more likely they cannot secure nor sustain their jobs, not because of the lack of competencies but due to the lack of soft skills and flexibility (e.g. solid communication skills, being a team player, emotional intelligence, the ability to acclimate to new work environment, etc) (Burt, Fuller, and Lewis, 1991; Austin and Pisano, 2017). Nevertheless several employer support schemes have already been performed and adopted in companies to recondition the challenges which both ASD individuals and their employers face. The schemes include the modification of jobs and schedules, assistance with job routines and tasks, willingness to provide accommodations, and behavior support that extends to social arena (Burt et al., 1991; Mawhood and Howlin, 1999; Hagner and Cooney, 2005; Lorenz et al., 2016), which was shown to be successful. With higher level of social inclusion and social acceptance in the workplace, ASD individuals may obtain longer job retention (Belcher and Smith, 1994; Hagner and Cooney, 2005). Additionally, such management practices of the employer will also establish an atmosphere of mutual support and develop a worker-friendly environment which will benefit both parties (Rogan, Banks, and Howard, 2000; Hagner and Cooney, 2005).
Another important factor of an effective management method is deciding which support intervention will be most effective and when to apply or withdraw it (Hagner and Cooney, 2005). For an employee with ASD, intervention may occur when there are situations which can interfere with overall performance such as changes in routines, unusually loud
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noises, or unexpected down time. As such, it would appear that the most successful employers/supervisors are the ones that can identify the problems quickly, determine which interventions is the most effective to address the distinct situation, and effectively monitor the intervention (Gates, Akabas, and Kantrowitz, 1996; as cited in Hagner and Cooney, 2005).
A study performed by Baldwin et al. (2014) underlines the factors that determine their satisfying employment experience. The study found high-functioning adults with ASD view “work mainly as an opportunity to apply their knowledge, skills and interests that is at the same time meaningful and has intrinsic value” (p. 2448). They also value the opportunities in their employment when they can confront some of the specific difficulties associated with their condition, which would challenge their boundaries of interaction capability. Another factor is the idea of work could make them bring their full capacity in their specific areas of interest and ability, which would benefit both themselves and their employers. The study emphasizes that individuals working in a well-matched job could achieve self-actualization. The latter finding would appear to strengthen the argument that underemployment and malemployment actually have detrimental impacts for adults with ASD (Baldwin et al., 2014). Ultimately, it seems that unsatisfactory employment experiences are “inevitably linked to the risk of losing or leaving jobs” (p. 2447).
Nesbitt (2000) compared organizational issues around employing those with Asperger syndrome juxtaposed to those that do not. The findings showed employers currently employing ASD individuals were attentive to the knowledge and support needed by the group. This differentiated from the employers not employing individuals with ASD. This second group had more of an expectation focus on employing those with ASD (Nesbitt, 2000). The takeaway from Nesbitt’s research shows that organizations may need to have experience interacting with individuals within the organization. This allows them to understand how to equip their companies with the resources needed to make employment decisions regarding employing individuals with ASD.
Researchers conducted a survey on over one thousand adults in a Northern Irish population. One of the questions sought out the perception on the suitability of different jobs “ranging from relatively low skilled, to manual, and to highly skilled” (Dillenburger McKerr, Jorgan, Devine, Keenan, 2015, p. 335). As seen below in figure 1, high functioning adults with ASD are perceived to have a noticeably higher perception as being suitable for computer programming roles. Since the roles are quite narrow in this survey, the researchers sought out to see companies’ perspectives in multiple industries to see if they align with the public's perception.
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Figure 1. Views on the suitability of different job types for individuals with autism. (Dillenburger et al., 2015, p. 335)
2.3 Previous Analyses of Employment and ASD To further provide background of a socially innovative opportunity, this subsection goes over prior researchers’ suggestions. The results of those studies are discussed, and then the alignment between these studies are introduced.
Chen, Leader, Sung, and Leahy (2015) have found 4 external factors contributing to the challenges faced by those with ASD. 1) Employers’ attitudes are concerned about employing and supporting them. 2) Vocational services lack the quality and quantity needed to support their studies. 3) Disability benefits create incentives to choose low- paying jobs or staying unemployed. And 4) the family socioeconomic status may hinder their access to resources and education. The overall conclusion detailed that adults are underserved and further research should be conducted to improve the services provided to adults with ASD (Chen et al., 2015). The social well-being through the employment of members of society has been proven to be a challenge and a socially beneficial opportunity.
Up until present, children have been the main focus in autism. Psychologists applied the diffusion of innovation theory on autism intervention programs for children through the eyes of administrators (Dingfelder and Mandell, 2011). To facilitate the diffusion of autism
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interventions in the community, research by Dingfelder and Mandell suggested to partner with communities and to develop new interventions. The involvement was to ensure that the interventions meet the community’s needs and capabilities, thereby increasing the probability of successful diffusion (Dingfelder and Mandell, 2011).
Researchers, such as Karen Kopelson (2015), brought the fact to our attention that “autistic children grow up” (p. 572). She had guidebooks marketing individuals with high- functioning autism (HFA) and strived to convince the secondary audience of prospective employers to hire HFA job-seekers (Kopelson, 2015). This group is discriminated by some organizations due to their “‘autistic traits’ such as asociality and inflexibility” (Kopelson, 2015, p. 558) as well as “mindblindness” (Kopelson, 2015, p. 559). And just as all strengths have their weakness, these traits also have great trade-offs or advantages. The challenge in research is around including autistic traits in organizations. In Germany, researchers conducted a cross-sectional-survey finding that adults with ASD need employer support programs (Frank, Jablotschkin, Arthen, Riedel, Fangmeier, Hölzel, and Tebartz van Elst, 2018).
Expanding on the research previously by Chen et al. (2015), an internal system would allow companies to create a mutually beneficial relationship, while contributing to the well- being, productivity, and profitability of society. As mentioned earlier, ASD costs the UK society a great amount of money. It is assumed that this case applies to other societies of humans with ASD as well. Therefore, instead of focusing on how to reduce costs and services for individuals with ASD, a better solution would be to find out ways companies can tap into their potential or eliminate the costs associated with keeping them out of the labor force (Chen et al., 2015). Besides the ethical reasons for employing adults with ASD, Cimera et al (2011) have found the value generated by employing those with autism outweighed the monetary costs in communities in the USA. And this excludes "non- monetary outcomes, such as increased happiness, improved self-worth, and the development of meaningful friendships" (Cimera et al, 2011, p. 179). Costs make sense to mention since social innovation must be financially sustainable in addition to contributing to the well-being in society (Dawson and Daniel, 2010). Because of these clarifications discussing the non-monetary benefits, the authors of this paper recognize that cost arguments could arise. To narrow the scope this paper will now focus on the challenge of how employers can open their doors and maximize the contribution provided by ASD adults.
To summarize what previous research has found, Frank et al (2018) suggested companies should develop support programs. Dingfelder and Mandell (2011) proposed partnerships to increase the diffusion rate of intervention programs for autistic children. The use of ASD-specific tools have been suggested (Scott, Falkmer, Falkmer, Girdler, 2015) and tested in the employment process (Scott, Falkmer, Girdler, Falkmer, 2018).
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The Integrated Employment Success Tool (IEST™) tested by Scott et al. (2018) confirmed the hindrances for researchers to comprehend employers’ challenges, which makes trialing modifications arduous and troublesome. Using visuals as strategies for training people with ASD for the workplace and keeping them employed have shown positive results (Ballard, 2016). Collectively these studies acknowledge the need for additional research around employment and ASD. Bringing these previous studies together, this paper will now introduce theories to expand on the innovation diffusion used in the case of Dingfelder and Mandell (2011) and the social innovation process.
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3. THEORY OF INNOVATION This chapter provides background information regarding social innovation and the social innovation process. Next, the theory of diffusion of innovation is explained to identify the elements of this innovation in companies throughout society.
3.1 Social Innovation In an article inspecting innovation from documentation on Benjamin Franklin, Mumford defined social innovation as “the generation and implementation of new ideas about how people should organize interpersonal activities, or social interactions, to meet one or more common goals” (Mumford, 2002, p. 253). An important highlight in the findings of Mumford (2002) were that “social innovation requires both persuasion and the support of relevant elites” (p. 262). Critiquing Mumford’s work, the elites can be more than elite individuals alone. The additional elites could be the aforementioned big players such as Microsoft, Dell, and EY. Developing on the findings brought forward in Mumford’s article, the business landscape meets the support from elite’s requirement for a social innovation to diffuse.
3.1.1 The Elements of Social Innovation Overtime, social innovation has consisted of applying science and technology to commercial contexts (Dawson and Daniel, 2010). In contrast to innovations rising for profit, exploitation for gain, or due to competition; social innovations vary since they usually arise for “a concern with people and communities” (p. 10). Dawson and Daniel discuss the importance of sustainability by using profits and competitive advantage as metrics. Using these metrics they discuss how social initiatives, focusing more on improving the well-being of society, can be justified both socially and economically.
Exploring the social innovation process “represents an attempt to bring some different bodies of knowledge together in reflecting on social innovation, social entrepreneurship and social business” (Dawson and Daniel, 2010, p. 18). The business management authors explored social innovation through the “two key knowledge domains of business innovation and social awareness” (p.10). After explaining that social innovation has more complexities than simply a product or process innovation, they go on to further develop the term social innovation as “the process of collective idea generation, selection and implementation by people who participate collaboratively to meet social challenges” (Dawson and Daniel, 2010, p. 16). They deconstruct the further developed system of social innovation into 4 fundamental elements, shown below in figure 2 in their PCPG model.
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Figure 2. Four fundamental elements of social innovation. (Dawson and Daniel, 2010, p. 16)
The people in the PCPG model have “special interests, common goals or shared agenda(s)” and the goal seeks to resolve “social challenges that will advance social well- being” (p. 17). The challenge and process elements can vary depending on the people and goal. The complexities of social innovation contain more layers than mentioned in the PCPG. Therefore, the Social Innovation Process (SIP) is further visualized below in figure 3.
Figure 3. Research Model for the Social Innovation Process. (Turker and Vural, 2017, p. 101)
3.1.2 Social Innovation Process In the findings, the authors of this paper chose to focus on the SIP model provided by Turker and Vural (2017) with explores "the nature and interlinkages between institutional context (IC) and social innovation process (SIP) by considering the role of actor in the
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interface" (p. 99). The SIP model aligns closely, both semantically and conceptually, with Dawson and Daniel’s 4 fundamental elements of social innovation, which consist of people, the challenge, the process, and the goal. The model created by Turker and Vural contain 3 boxes in addition to the social innovation in itself. These are the 1) IC (made up of people), 2) challenge, goal, and process in the SIP and 3) the actor. Turker and Vural (2017) found social innovations are missing intermediaries. And they refer to the gaps as institutional voids (IVs). Consequently, a linkage must be made between these IVs and institutional supports (ISs). They define an IS as: “The support/s embedded in the social- welfare logic” (p. 104). Once an actor realizes a SI the challenges are found, goals are set, processes form, and that is how “either incremental, institutional, and disruptive SI” (p. 99) occurs. Through the lens of IVs and ICs, their studies focused on several actors ranging from non-governmental organizations to business organizations in Turkey. As their theory was delimited to social innovation, this paper applys Turker & Vural’s model to the area of ASD as a social innovation in the Swedish market.
3.2 Diffusion of Innovation Diffusion of innovation can be defined as: The process through which an innovation is adopted, through a series of stages, influenced by interpersonal (e.g. opinion leader or change agent), mass, and digital communication and networks, over time, through a social system, with a wide variety of consequences. (Rogers, 2003; Rice, 2009; as cited in Rice, 2017) In other words, “adoption is not a simple function of knowledge but requires also evaluation and trial” (Baptista, 2000, p. 517).
3.2.1 Characteristics of Innovation and the Rate of Diffusion The diffusion and adoption of innovation can be influenced by several factors. In this paper, the authors only observed the diffusion and adoption from the characteristics of innovation. The five characteristics of innovation includes relative advantage; compatibility; complexity; trialability; and communicability/observability (Tidd and Bessant, 2009; Rice, 2017); all of which are related to how an innovation is being perceived by potential adopters, and to which extent can these attributes accelerate the rate of adoption (Tidd and Bessant, 2009). If innovation is seen as including individuals with ASD in the workplace, and potential adopters are seen as companies, then these attributes can be the guide to identify why such an innovation is easy/difficult to be adopted in the employment market.
It is also important to note that attributes of innovation can be separated into primary and secondary attributes. Primary attributes are independent, meaning that it is “invariant and inherent to a specific innovation irrespective of the adopter.” (Tidd and Bessant, 2009, p. 356); while “secondary attributes may vary from adopter to adopter, being contingent
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upon the perceptions and context of adopters.” (Tidd and Bessant, 2009, p. 356). Should there be any discrepancy between characteristic of an item of knowledge and how a potential user would perceive that character, ‘attribute gap’ will occur. In order for the knowledge to be adopted, the sum of all attribute gaps should be minimized (Tidd and Bessant, 2009).
As Dearing and Cox (2018) stated, “When opinion-leading individuals and organizations adopt an innovation, social systems convert from one normative state to another. When opinion leaders do not adopt an innovation, systems do not change.” (p. 184). Microsoft, SAP, HPE, and IBM as tech-leading companies, as well as EY as a huge firm in the professional service sector can be recognized as opinion-leading organizations; with their initiatives to include individuals with ASD in their organizations (Annabi, 2018), it is expected that other smaller companies will follow their footsteps.
3.2.1.1 Relative Advantage From relative advantage point of view, including autistic adults into the workplace will not only be economically profitable for the employers, but it will also give other benefit such as satisfaction and social prestige (Tidd and Bessant, 2009). Autistic employees have been identified to “perform a wide range of highly advanced tasks with remarkable quality and efficiency” (Ernst&Young, 2018, p.7). For example, in one of its largest projects, using robotics and traditional coding, autistic employees of EY saved the company 800 hours while improving the overall quality of work; the combined time savings and quality improvements saved the company approximately $100,000. Again, another project in EY was completed 5-12 times faster than what was scheduled, providing its client “a predictive model with an error rate of less than 4%” (Ernst&Young, 2018, p. 7).
3.2.1.2 Compatibility As far as for compatibility, the fit with existing values and norms of an innovation may be more important than existing practices (Leonard-Barton and Sinha, 1993; as cited in Tidd and Bessant, 2009). Innovations do not instantly fit the user environment initially, and should there occur significant discrepancy between the innovation and the adopting organization, changes in the innovation or organization will be needed (Tidd and Bessant, 2009). This would convey that including adults with ASD in the workplace might be unsuitable to some companies’ existing values and norms, combined with the unwillingness to having changes in the workplace settings or in their organizations, such innovation might not meet the compatibility attributes. Nevertheless, if such innovation is implemented successfully, it will result in mutual adaptation of both (Tidd and Bessant, 2009).
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3.2.1.3 Complexity “Innovations which are simpler for potential users to understand will be adopted more rapidly than those which require the adopter to develop new skills and knowledge.” (Tidd and Bessant, 2009, p. 356). In order for an organization to adopt a new innovation, ‘absorptive capacity’ is required to “allow the transfer of knowledge from the user innovation community to the organization” (Di Gangi and Wasko, 2009, p. 307). Absorptive capacity is defined as “the firm's ability to value, assimilate and apply new knowledge” (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990; as cited in Di Gangi and Wasko, 2009, p. 307). Complexity in an innovation may hinder potential users to even be aware of the benefit it would bring because of the knowledge gap regarding the innovation. Integrating employees with ASD would require employers to gain more information and knowledge about them, as well as providing appropriate support for them. The complexity of the idea itself would discourage some companies to adopt such innovation, which is related to their absorptive capacity (Tidd and Bessant, 2009).
3.2.1.4 Trialability and Observability Trialability and observability of an innovation represents “less uncertainty to potential adopters” (Tidd and Bessant, 2009, p. 356) by being “visible to others” (Tidd and Bessant, 2009, p. 357). These two attributes examine the ability of potential adopters to test an innovation before adopting and to view initial results of the innovation’s success or failure (Di Gangi and Wasko, 2009).
One of the first companies to try to harness the latent talent of individuals with ASD was Specialisterne. Established in early 2000, it was considered as the innovator of such novelty. Although the founder’s endeavor did not fall in the trialability category, which refers to the ability to try out an innovation without total commitment nor investment (Cain and Mittman, 2002), the remarkable success of it started to become visible to other companies.
The observability attribute plays a big role in such innovation. In 2008, USA based software testing company Aspiritech developed a similar venture and was driven by a similar background1 as the innovator. Inspired by the two ventures, UK company Autism Works was founded. Lately, many larger companies (e.g. Microsoft, Dell, IBM, Google) started to tap into the potential of people with ASD (Annabi et al., 2017; Annabi, 2018), and even the military forces began to tap into their potential (Lorenz et al., 2017). This shows that potential adopters are able to witness the outcome of the adoption of such innovation, and by which they can determine its prospects for diffusion. The more obvious the evidence, and the better outcomes an innovation carries, the more likely it will be adopted by new users (Cain and Mittman, 2002). Therefore it would be interesting to see
1 https://aspiritech.org/our-passion/history/
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if other companies also tap into the potential or are at least aware of the value and potential that those with ASD could provide to their organizations.
3.3 Narrative of the Phenomenon The theoretical background provides the information to investigate the research question of “what are the obstacles that companies face with employing adults with autism spectrum disorder?”. From the research question backed with literature review, the authors derived these hypotheses from Wareham and Sonne (2008, p. 16), viewed from the company’s perspective: 1) The lack of knowledge about ASD; 2) Lack of acceptance in the workplace for people with different condition; 3) Social stigma around autism; 4) Lack of support for individuals with ASD in getting employed; and 5) Lack of support in the workplace when they are finally getting employed.
The hypotheses are therefore used as a base for further investigation through empirical studies with these sub questions: ● Do companies have knowledge of ASD? ● What are the companies’ perceptions? ● How are these companies supporting employees with ASD?
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4. METHODOLOGY The chosen methodology is discussed in this chapter. Sub-chapter 4.1 describes the process of research for literature review. Sub-chapter 4.2 discusses the methods used for collecting sampling data, which includes the design structure of the survey questionnaires, respondent’s data collection, and the ethics of the sampling method used to collect the data.
4.1. Research Approach This study investigated employers’ perceptions and awareness of ASD in the workplace. Exploratory research was conducted due to a small number of earlier studies in existence (Collis and Hussey, 2013) regarding the topic.
An interpretivist paradigm was chosen since the data is not analyzed statistically, nor the authors had the desire to quantify qualitative data.
The researchers contacted autism organizations in Stockholm and established companies already in the implementation stages of this social innovation. This connection led the researchers to an established actor covering a wider scope than the HFA delimited by the researchers. With time restraints, resources, pre-study outreach, and risk assessment the researchers decided to approach ASD from the company perspective.
In order to avoid hindering participants to answer such a tricky issue, data collection was carried out in two steps: 1) sending out online surveys to companies that were considered to be neurodiversity-friendly; and 2) conducting an in-depth interview with the participants from the respective companies.
4.2 Collecting Research Data A mixed of quantitative and qualitative data was used in this project by collecting data from literature review, Internet searches, followed by sending out survey questionnaires to managers and employees in several companies, and in-depth interviews with the respective respondents. The survey questionnaires were derived from Scott et al.’s (2018) Integrated Employment Success Tool (IEST™). Due to the scarcity of data and the lack of statistics on pertinent information in peer-reviewed articles, the research also consisted of statistics that were not peer-reviewed. The survey was carried out as a result of the unwillingness of most target respondents to participate in the study.
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4.3 Sampling Method In this section, the methods used for observations of the companies who participated in the survey is explained.
As the research explores ASD diversity through the lens of employers, or in other words the population, the survey allowed for a clean, honest, and time efficient method to collect data. Assumedly, this created more objective rather than subjective answers. The sample collected was not random since employers and managers of organizations in Sweden were targeted. Attempts were also communicated to respondents to distribute the survey in their network, with the hope of creating a “snowball sampling or networking” (Collis and Hussey, 2013, p. 132) effect.
The collected results of the survey were then analyzed to identify which answers needed to be explored more. The identification provided the researchers to create a personalized interview questions for the participant. The participants who took the survey were then contacted again to clarify and elaborate on their answers for particular questions.
4.3.1 Design Surveys were adapted from the research conducted in Evaluating the Effectiveness of an Autism-Specific Workplace Tool for Employers: A Randomised Controlled Trial (Scott et al., 2018). Some adjustments were made from the original questionnaires, such as measurement rankings and locations; and some questions that were not relevant to the outcome of the surveys were deleted (e.g. gender, earnings, how many hours they work, etc). More importantly, it is necessary to highlight that there was no non-randomised controlled trial in this study.
The survey was provided in Google Forms, which consisted of 3 sections: 1) employer demographics; 2) workers scale form; and 3) the Employer Self-Efficacy Scale (ESES). A Likert scale was used in section 2 and 3 to assess people’s perception of employees with disabilities and their confidence to support these employees in the employment process respectively.
4.3.2 Data Collection Primary data was collected in the form of a questionnaire survey. The survey targeted companies which were considered to be neurodiverse and/or had employees with neural disabilities in different industries. Emails (n=22) were sent out to a sample of employers in various departments in Sweden explaining the purpose of the research, and 12 responded. Additionally, phone calls were conducted to increase the researchers’
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credibility and relationship with the respondents. Lastly, posts were shared on social media groups on Facebook and LinkedIn.
“Piggybacking” (Collis and Hussey, 2013, p. 133) off of the survey results, further qualitative interviews were conducted to gain further insights into the experiences, knowledge, and resources that the company had to employ and support people with ASD. These questions were open-ended questions to gain insights into the interviewees’ experiences. Notes were taken during these conversations for accurate delivery and presentation of the results.
In order to provide more reliable research, the participants of the study were of the higher positions or had more responsibilities for other employees in their respective companies (e.g. owners, managers, executives, or HR personnel).
4.3.3 Ethics In regards to such a complex and sensitive issue, this research adhered to ethical principles of scientific research. The participation of this thesis interview was voluntary and so all of the interviews were conducted on a voluntary basis. Further, respondents’ personal data would be kept confidential and appear as anonymous in order to be consistent, and most importantly to protect the rights and welfare of the respondents (Collis and Hussey, 2013). The participants were presented with a consent form stating that by submitting the Google Form they were willing to partake in the research and they can retract their participation before the publishing time without any consequences.
This thesis was written objectively and impartial of any opinions and biases. The authors of the thesis did not receive any sponsorships from any of the companies mentioned and interviewed in the research, nor did the authors promote one specific industry over the other. The research was carried out based on the authors’ interest to contribute to the body of knowledge and a more inclusive society, and was reported in a truthful way with respect to important societal values. Finally, the authors did not discriminate neurotypicals, rather to raise awareness of neurodiversity and the future of a more inclusive culture.
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5. RESULTS This section describes the analysis of the survey and interview results. As mentioned in chapter 4, the surveys were conducted in English and distributed online through Google Forms, followed by in-depth interviews with the participants who took the survey. During the process, the authors identified several important findings, therefore other interesting discussions with established actors are also included. To maintain the anonymity of the respondents and the organizations, the results do not specify the name and company size, therefore they will be referred as: ‘The Healthcare Sector’; ‘The Engineering Sector’; ‘The IT Sector’, ‘The Tech Sector’, and ‘The Telecom Sector’, etc. The interviewees are also referred as ‘Interviewee(number)’. In the closing of this chapter, the theories presented above are applied to the context of ASD in the workplace.
5.1 Survey Results The survey followed and modified IEST™ questionnaires that covered the knowledge, attitude, and confidence of company employing people with ASD. Several managers who were called and/or e-mailed stated that they were either not interested, they were not working in the system, or that they did not have sufficient data from the company to answer specific questions. The survey was organized in order to mitigate the risk of further respondents avoiding to partake in the study. In the end 12 responses were collected from companies in a broad range of industries.
Demographically, 8 out of 12 respondents were working in a non-ASD specific company in Sweden, while the remaining respondents were companies outside of Sweden that specialized in working with HFA. As far as the demographics of the respondents, 25% of them had the support of a Disability Employment Service provider. Their relation to those with ASD in their organizations ranged from co-worker, manager, HR, and business owner.
Of the 8 respondents working in non-ASD oriented organization in Sweden, 7 out of 8 were not sure if they had employees with ASD. This corresponded with one respondent briefly mentioning that “... level of autism is not something you can ask when hiring”. After further exploring their organization’s report on workplace diversity, there was no specific information regarding ASD to be found. This was understandable since people with autism may not let those around them, or they themselves, know they have autism (Lewis, 2018), and the employer does not want to discriminate. Due to privacy or fear of litigation, exploring the relationship between the employer and the employee with ASD proved to be difficult. Even though employers could not identify how many people had ASD, 3 out of the 8 respondents reported that they had experience supporting an employee with ASD for some period of time in an employment setting.
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As far as assessing the employers’ perceptions towards workers with ASD, the survey respondents showed mixed views. Overall the respondents showed positive attitudes towards creating an inclusive workplace for people with ASD. They believed that individuals with ASD deserve the same opportunities as everyone else, including the chance to work. While 4 employers in ASD-specific organizations agreed that workers with ASD get the job done, the rest (e.g. regular organizations) had mixed perspectives about it. Related to this statement, half of the ASD-specific organizations experienced that workers with ASD are nervous about being alone without the job coach or human service, and the rest of the respondents were mixed or undecided.
5.2 Interview Results Interviews were conducted with 7 managers and business owners in several different industries in Sweden. The discussion followed a semi-structured method with personalized questions based on the survey results. The topics of what kind of resources (e.g. Disability Employment Service) were available to support the company to employ individuals with ASD; what kind of positions do these people have within the company; why the company felt confident/not to employ individuals with ASD were brought up. The open-ended questions allow the interviewees to thoroughly explain their experience with employing people with ASD thus enabling the researchers to obtain comprehensive information. During the discourses the responses were documented through notes.
5.2.1 Interview 1: The Healthcare Sector The interview was carried out with an HR consultant in a healthcare sector that had previously participated in the survey. It started off with inquiring whether they had received a job application for doctor or nurse position from a person with ASD.
“One nurse with a function disability are working in the hospital, but she always has one person she works with that has the main responsibility. She doesn’t have her own responsibility. There is another nurse that’s responsible for all the work she does, that’s approved by the other nurse.”
The question followed with inquiring if they knew someone with HFA that applied for administration role. Apparently, they were not aware to whether they were working with someone with ASD in their administration role.
When Interviewee1 was asked if people with ASD have the possibility to be employed in high-level positions, the reply was “I don’t think it’s possible in the hospital because they can’t have that kind of responsibility for other people’s health. So I don’t think in healthcare they can have that kind of position.” There were no people in the organization that had high-functioning ASD in their healthcare facility. On the other hand there were cleaners
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and people with ASD working jobs with less qualifications at the hospital, such as helpers, who needed to be supervised.
Regarding the resources that they receive from the government or the hospital to support these group, they mentioned that there were several external organizations involved aside from the hospital, namely the municipality, Arbetsförmedlingen, and LSS (the right for people with disabilities to receive supports).
5.2.2 Interview 2: Staffing Agent in the Engineering Sector Interviewee2’s job task consisted mostly of screening applicants and then meeting them if they meet the qualifications for clients. In their experience they had never come across a person that they felt possess the description of people with ASD. While performing their job, they would never ask about ASD. And even if they felt someone possessed these qualities, they still would meet any candidate despite any of these conditions as long as those candidates meet the job requirements.
They were knowledgeable that there were already actors in the ASD market. Their company had met with an intermediary whose sole purpose was to staff out services for people with Asperger syndrome. They expressed that it was a great idea. In their staffing experience they thought it was important to start the foundation of the company with neurodiverse individuals. They explained further that it is a huge benefit to have diverse employment because people see things from different perspectives. This would lead to a strong culture and a strong base for the employees as well. And if the employer could not see that, then they are missing the bigger picture.
5.2.3 Interview 3: Consultancy in the IT Sector The third interview was conducted briefly with the CEO of an IT service which contracts consultants with autism. To enhance the credibility of the authors, the interview began with the authors explaining that Interviewee3 was referred by Interviewee2, followed by the question of why they employed people with Asperger Syndrome.
“The main reason for a customer to buy from us is that they get the people with ASD.” When asked if there is actually a market for this, Interviewee3 replied “Yes, you can say so. We are the one [in Sweden] that create that market.”
The business model of the company sounded similar to Specialisterne’s, and when asked further if they have ever heard of it, the CEO affirmed that they knew the founder of Specialisterne.
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The next question was what they thought were the challenges within this social innovation and what the major challenges were for companies to find out how they can utilize this in their company. They responded that this “is a big question and it is not so easy to answer right now.”
5.2.4 Interview 4: The Tech Sector This interview consisted of a follow up conversation from the survey going into further detail of the manager’s levels of confidence, experience, and details of supports.
When asked about how many people they have worked with ASD, Interviewee4 informed the researchers that “it’s not legal to ask employees whether they have ASD or not. And the level varies a lot. We have never had a team member that was open with their diagnosis.”
After being asked about their confidence in supporting an employee that would be open with their diagnosis, Interviewee4 explained the process would be for that employee to “share the diagnosis directly with their manager. And if the employee needed support they would inform their manager who would obtain help from external professionals.”
One example provided was if an employee had a mental breakdown they would have assistance from the organization via exit programs. They have also had employees with physical disabilities where they accommodated for their working conditions as much as possible.
The closest example Interviewee4 had with managing people with mental disabilities would be a team member with dyslexia. “In this case, the team member with dyslexia could not read the messages on a communication platform or the documentation in the project. So the team had to communicate in verbal form. The benefit was to include the employee in all decisions."
When asked about the additional strength this person brought to the team, they explained they were “much more precise with details. And the job is done super accurately. The quality of work is incredible if you look back on the average time it takes for a speedy developer to develop something and then fix it.” This individual never had to go back to fix something after. In the end it brought much more time to the team.
Elaborating on why they felt confident in recruiting individuals with ASD was because their company “does not differentiate people in the recruitment process. So therefore they would have the same process as anyone else.”
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5.2.5 Interview 5: Not-for-profit Intermediary in the Social Innovation Interviews and research point towards knowledge and supportive intermediaries in the process of integrating people with ASD into the workplace (Rosqvist, 2012). In the Swedish market there was a not-for-profit company found as one actor recognizing the challenge. As an intermediary they educate as well as develop the processes for recruiting, staffing, and working with neurodiverse people.
Their goal can be summarized as collaborating with communities and companies interested in becoming more neurodiverse and inclusive. They provide 3 services: education for employers, free time activities for companies and people with disabilities, and an educational program for those with neurodiversity. The program for neurodiverse people helps them to overcome challenges and increase their independence in the workplace in addition to other areas of life. The free time service connects companies and people with a wide range of disabilities to meet in their free time to participate in meaningful activities. And the educational service for companies informs them on the topics of neurodiversity and inclusion. The advice and exercises help companies to overcome the challenges in their organizations. The classes aim to help companies with their recruitment process and to make their organization more inclusive.
5.2.6 Interview 6: The Telecommunication Sector Interview 6 was conducted with HR personnel in the telecommunication sector who had already supported more than 6 ASD employees within their current role. When asked about the kind of positions that these employees had, they answered with, “We do not know where these people are in the organization as example has an ASD diagnose. This is because of that according to Swedish law, we are not entitled to register which employees have a neuropsychiatric diagnosis. The answers we provided in the survey are an estimate with background to the questions that the managers make to HR.”
Regarding the modifications and supports that they have to make to accommodate employees with ASD, their response was, “The employees with a neuro-diagnosis we have are probably as highly functional so they perform their work without special adaptations. So far, we have not had targeted recruitment against people with ASD diagnoses”. Interviewee6 then continued by giving an example where a manager in their company ask HR about what kind of intervention can be made when an employee disclosed their ADHD diagnosis. They replied with, “Nothing special except that the manager can ask their employee if it is okay to talk to the psychologist who made the neuropsychiatric investigation. This is to get more knowledge about what this diagnosis means for the work that the employee has, so that mistakes are avoided due to ignorance”. Then they also added that the manager should “encourage the employee
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[with neuro-diagnosis] to tell their colleagues about their diagnosis and what it means in a work context”.
5.2.7 Interview 7: Product Development Manager in Telecommunication Sector Interview 7 consisted of a follow up conversation from the survey going into further detail of the manager’s levels of confidence, experience, and knowledge of supports.
The interview started out by asking about their experience of working with someone with ASD. They stated they had “not worked with anyone with autism. I guess we have people that are not officially diagnosed.” This led to the next question which was asking Interviewee7 if they had inclinations of employees having autism. The response was the employee “would never tell us if they had it or so on. But I discussed it with some of our colleagues, and we probably have some people that do not have the diagnosis but could be on the spectrum in reality. A lot of engineers are maybe sometimes on the borderline so we suspect they could have that.”
When directly asked if they felt they do not have the knowledge or confidence to support people since they have never encountered them, Interviewee7 responded, “Exactly, no.” Continuing, they elaborated about the “people on the borderline.” When asked: What type of adjustments have you had to make to either ways of communication or the work environment, they responded: “We have a couple of unofficial cases. And we have not asked people if they have this disorder. But we have changed their tasks a bit so they are focused on a narrower area.” They continued that this was different since the company always worked in teams. And in these cases, the employees worked more alone in order for them to focus on their tasks. This was followed by asking if there was less collaboration. They answered this with examples of questions the manager would have used in this situation, such as “What are they good at? What do they like? It is not just less collaboration, we want to give them tasks that they want to work on and what they actually like.”
This was followed with the question: If someone was open with their diagnosis and they needed support, what kind of internal or external resources do you have? The response was “I would talk to HR to get help from them. But to my knowledge, the company did not have any programs.”
Further elaborating on why Interviewee7 agreed on the survey that people with ASD have a positive influence on employees without ASD, they answered: “That was a speculation since we do not have it open.” They thought their company would be accepting if there was a program regarding autism and from their experience they thought individuals with
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ASD individuals could perform well if “you put them in the context where they could produce and perform.”
Interviewee7 was not aware of any third party companies that provided a service for companies needing support, but expressed interest. They responded as far as “Sweden, if you go back a few years ago this is something that people did not hear about as much as today. Now people know earlier that they have this disorder.” And later mentioned that “it would be more important to have a program in the future because it will be more common that people are aware they have ASD.” They had not heard of any autism specific programs inside or outside of Sweden.
They were interested in finding out more information and specifically would like to know “How is it in other countries?” In Sweden they thought the subject could have further coverage because they “had not heard of this in the news or of any companies saying ‘we do this and it works fine.’” The interviewers responded by informing interviewee7 of two companies found in Stockholm, as well as Specialisterne, Microsoft, EY, and Dell. This led to the question, “Is it positive for the companies as well?” Interviewee7 ended with saying they thought it would be good if their company had a program in the future regarding ASD, “but maybe it will come.”
5.3 Discussion / Analysis The combined results of the survey and interviews showed employers openness to people with ASD. To a higher degree, they felt that employees with ASD can get the job done, yet they were unsure of what supports would be needed. There was also uncertainty of the tools or resources they had access to within their companies. And what resources, if any, were needed to support the individuals. Additionally, they were not sure of the external resources available. For example, there was uncertainty in the areas of disability employment services and knowing whether or not the employers had supported employees with ASD.
The small sample of respondents from the survey showed that many employers lack experience and/or knowledge of employing people with high functioning ASD. On the other hand, not knowing if there is a difference between people with ASD and neurotypicals can also mean the employers are unbiased.
As far as government supports and rights specifically to Sweden, LSS2 (Lagen om Stöd och Service till vissa funktionshindrade) gives people with disabilities the right to support. Therefore companies have an obligation in Sweden to support mental hindrances. In the
2 https://lagen.nu/1993:387
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institutional context, IC, mental health professionals should also be part of solving the social innovation. Individuals with ASD symptoms may not want to be diagnosed with ASD, so they would prefer to refrain from seeking a professional diagnosis. On the other hand, some individuals self-diagnose themselves. Either way, “[health care providers] should provide information and resources and offer a referral for counseling to assist the individual in coping with a new self-perception [...]” and encourage “them in gaining self- awareness and acceptance” (Lewis, 2018, p. 18). The collaborative process of social innovation requires social awareness between these participants to solve these challenges (Dawson and Daniel, 2010).
The literature review, survey, and interviews partially validated that gaps exist in the social innovation of ASD from the employer perspective. In the SIP, the challenge or opportunity seems to be unknown by the majority of employers. Respondents also did not communicate confidence to set up ASD specific processes due to lack of ASD specific experience or knowledge of available resources. Therefore the goal of increasing the well- being in society through the equal opportunity and inclusion of specifically the niche group of people with ASD was not shown to be a focus of employers. To understand the disconnections the SIP model acts as a framework to visualize where the gaps exist. Additionally, interview 5 provided insight into the processes offered to companies by actors to accomplish the social innovation of tapping into ASD. The framework of the SIP model is illustrated below in figure 4.
Figure 4. Social innovation process for an inclusive and neurodiverse workplace. Adapted from Turker and Vural (2017) p 101.
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Based on the authors’ hypotheses, it is found that hypothesis 1, the company’s lack of knowledge about ASD is true to some extent. This also corresponds with employers’ unawareness of how many ASD employees are working in their organization. Taking results from the survey, more than half of the respondents were not sure of their ASD employees’ population.
This contrasts with the authors’ second hypothesis of the lack of acceptance in the workplace for people with different condition. Most respondents conveyed their acceptance for people with disabilities in the workplace. Empirical studies demonstrate that people do not actually discriminate ASD individuals, which is confirmed by the 90% of survey respondents who disagreed that the work environment is no place for people with ASD.
These findings led to the social stigma around autism. Companies in Sweden are highly open-minded; they are open to include people with different conditions, and do not want to discriminate anyone. Instead they create an inclusive environment for people who are neurodiverse. The small sample displayed that the social stigma around autism does not apply to companies in Sweden. For this, 25% of the respondents in Sweden agreed that employees with ASD have a positive influence on neurotypical employees, while the rest were undecided. Investigating on why they were undecided, it would appear that they have not worked with people with ASD. Nonetheless, it is interesting to add that all of the ASD-specific companies from outside Sweden agreed that ASD employees do have a positive influence on others.
As far as support during the employment process once ASD individuals finally get employed, most samples showed that they do not discriminate anyone, and would still meet any candidate despite their conditions as long as they meet the job requirement. This finding aligns with Nesbitt’s study that inexperienced employers’ are ‘expectation focused’. Some interviewees were also willing to give support to employees with a need to cope with adapting to the work environment. Interview 4 provided an example of the exit program and disability program their company had.
Indeed, the degree of ASD is not a question that a company asks during recruitment and individuals who have it might not want to disclose it. Furthermore, people who have knowledge about ASD usually have a personal experience with ASD (e.g. Specialisterne, Aspiritech), have interest in mental health, or keen to have a more inclusive and neurodiverse society. However, Interview 5 provided an important finding that there are actors who help organizations to be more aware of neurodiversity. Not only do they educate future employers to understand neurodiversity, but they also develop the employment processes to be smooth. Companies who want to be more inclusive to neurodiversity could probably need to reach out to such organizations.
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In terms of being free from any biases in the employment process, Interviewee7’s statements aligned with their beliefs in being inclusive for employees with different conditions. Interviewee7 showed a successful and effective management method by identifying their employees’ problems and gave the best solution to address it. In doing so, Interviewee7 supported both the ‘suspected’ employees effectively without disregarding the other team members.
In its relation with diffusion and adoption, the author compared the study findings with five characteristics of innovation, and attempted to suggest the bridges to connect the gaps.
The authors found an attribute gap in how companies in Sweden perceived working with ASD individuals. From the survey samples, it would appear that many employers do not see the relative advantage of employing them in comparison to employing neurotypicals, and whether it would be economically and/or non-economically profitable to their organizations. This is proven by too many ‘I do not know’ answers in the survey regarding the benefit of working with people with ASD. This shows a considerably low adoption rate of such an innovation in Sweden. To increase the adoption rate, the authors suggested that government and/or the actors themselves to market the added value of employing ASD individuals. In addition, neurodiversity programs in bigger companies such as Microsoft, EY, Google, etc., could also be perceived as the model to elevate the adoption rate.
Company cultures, existing values, and norms significantly affect the compatibility attribute and influence the adoption rate (Tidd and Bessant, 2009). Consequently, it would appear that tech, IT and engineering industries are more likely to adopt such innovation, while it is less likely for other industries like healthcare sector to do the same. It is because tech, IT, and engineering sectors value quality, accuracy, and efficiency that ASD employees can deliver (Tidd and Bessant, 2009; Ernst&Young, 2018). Nonetheless, not all companies in the aforementioned industries have the confidence, the resources, or the knowledge to adopt it, because it would also require them to make some changes in their organization. Hence, the adoption rate from its compatibilities is relatively low. In order to boost the adoption rate, companies can reflect and have a retrospect on their current values, organizational environment, and workplace norms and attempt to adjust to the new innovation. After all, no new innovation initially fit the user environment, and if such innovation is implemented successfully, both parties (e.g. ASD employees and employers) will gain a mutual adaptation (Tidd and Bessant, 2009).
Complexity is strongly connected to absorptive capacity, which is required to allow the knowledge transfer from the user innovation community to the organization (Di Gangi and Wasko, 2009). From the interview results, it is shown that the complexity of adopting social innovation for ASD individuals is high, which is confirmed by two reasons. Firstly,
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people who have been diagnosed with ASD do not want to disclose that they have it, or they even do not know that they have it. It is also ‘illegal’ for companies to ask their candidates about their neuropsychiatric diagnose. Secondly, not all companies are able to value and assimilate the benefit that ASD employees are able to provide to their organizations, which would be in the form of monetary or technical benefit. Further, it would require the companies to learn new information and knowledge about them, and provide the resources to give proper support scheme for them. This would seem to be adding to the complexity of such endeavor. The more complex an innovation is, the lower the rate of adoption. Hence, the authors encourage companies to seek education on the topic. Interview 5 with an intermediary organization in such social innovation provided an example of the possibility for companies to actually learn about the topic which will increase their confidence in the integration process.
Regarding to its trialability, the authors found the answer through the difficulty to obtain companies to answer the surveys. It proved that social innovation in general, and this topic in particular, is a new phenomenon that not many people have tapped or even consider. The authors assumed that it is because such an innovation is a subject that needs a great investment and total commitment, and there is no guarantee that their endeavor can reap success. Although there are several companies who have already succeeded, it is still considered to be a new phenomenon that requires a strong desire to include all people in their organization, with ASD people in particular. The examples of incumbent adopters who trialed and succeeded should be spread more widely in order for the benefits to be visible to others to create a network effect. The network effect will presumably increase the value of employing ASD people which will finally help the innovation to diffuse faster (Shapiro and Varian, 1999). Another suggestion is for companies to have the courage to experiment more with neurodiversity. The new adoption might give the organizations a competitive advantage in their respective industries.
It is previously mentioned that the observability attribute affects such innovation greatly (Tidd and Bessant, 2009). In Sweden alone, companies who are not working specifically with ASD have little knowledge about the social innovation. It is probably because there are not many successful models in the area that other companies can observe. Again, such innovation is considered to be a new phenomenon. However, it is worth mentioning that ASD-specific companies outside of Sweden are growing. New companies that tapped into the potential of individuals with ASD formed through observation. SAP, a giant in the tech industry, collaborated with Specialisterne to employ people with ASD3. Autism Works started to employ ASD adults as a result of observing Aspiritech and Specialisterne4.
3 https://news.sap.com/2013/05/sap-to-work-with-specialisterne-to-employ-people-with-autism/ 4 https://www.autismworks.com/
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Several companies are also found through networks (e.g. Interview 4), and other organizations initiated their own neurodiversity programs. This means that those organizations could witness the obvious outcomes of such an innovation. For companies in Sweden to be aware of the added value that such innovation can bring and start taking the initiative to adopt the innovation, the authors propose that companies should be exposed to other models’ success stories.
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6. CONCLUSIONS At the time this paper was written, many companies in the world seek to innovate as competition increases throughout the world. Capitalizing on their unique ways of thinking, a small amount of companies have utilized the unique differences and strengths of those with ASD to find solutions to their problems. From the respondents in this study, the authors found that organizations do not actively seek autistic talent for high level positions in Sweden.
Most of autism research logically seeks interventions in childhood. As these individuals continue through life, the research question sought out to find the obstacles companies face when employing adults with ASD. The surveys and interviews found most employers were open to including people with ASD in their work environment if they meet the job requirements. The question that follows is if employers’ beliefs in equal opportunity align with their behaviors or actions. Obstacles were difficult to identify. The reason for employers not knowing was the result of both employees not telling, employers not asking, or having no employees with ASD. Consequently, employers do not know what support is needed. Confidence levels varied or were unknown due to lack of experience working with people with ASD. Therefore, the challenge of ASD as a social innovation is to first increase awareness of ASD in society. Increased knowledge will lead to more openness to ASD, and an increased focus on its value and benefits.
Studies have been conducted around ASD from an individual, company, and societal perspective. The purpose of this paper targeted identifying employers’ knowledge of ASD in pursuit of identifying barriers as to why this has not diffused throughout Sweden. Those barriers would allow Swedish companies to adopt the initiative to employ people with HFA. Once noticing that the social innovation has not diffused substantially, further literature review suggested using technology or tools to intervene, solve, and overcome the challenge. Actors and collaborations also play a role in educating and setting up unbiased or customized processes for companies as they staff their organizations.
The table below summarizes the findings of tapping into ASD through the lens of the characteristics of innovation. As few companies have knowledge about the attributes and the experience of working with this neurodivergent group, this research found that it has not diffused substantially.
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Characteristics of Study Findings Suggested Bridges Innovation
Relative Advantage There is an attribute gap. The Show the added value low perceived advantage through intermediaries, makes the rate of adoption actors, and the results of low. established companies’ programs.
Compatibility Companies feel they do not Adjust organizational have the existing skills, tools, environment, values, and or knowledge to be norms to accommodate compatible with ASD. individuals with ASD.
Complexity People are not always open Companies need training and about their diagnosis or education on the positive individuals might not even externalities of ASD. know they have ASD. Not all Increased availability of companies know the added guidebooks will increase value that ASD individuals employer’s adoption and provide to their confidence in the integration organizations’. And this process. perception could still be difficult to measure.
Trialability The difficulty to obtain More certainty in the trials companies to answer the and success of incumbent survey shows acquiring users adopters will show the to trial and develop iteratively benefits and create a network for a social innovation has its effect. And companies must challenges. experiment with neurodiversity to realize the added value and increase acceptance.
Communicability or Through the survey, it was Greater knowledge of the Observability shown that companies not problem and visibility of specifically working with ASD company success stories. have little knowledge or do This contact could be made not know much about the through various marketing social innovation. and media channels. ASD specific companies are aware of organizations with neurodiversity programs. Table 1. Summary of the study findings and suggestions to bridge the gap
The authors’ findings have implications for managers seeking for possible solutions to innovate within their organizations. As previously mentioned, individuals with ASD excel in certain positions or fields. The first step consists of knowing the attributes of ASD and the second step is finding out how to integrate these people into their organization design.
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The SIP model provided a framework to visualize the complexities involved in social innovation. Knowledge from the IC, intermediaries, and companies are all components in the system or architecture of social innovation. Combining the knowledge from areas of mental health, policy, business, and other stakeholders in the matter is essential to social innovation. Companies lack knowledge of the benefits and resources available regarding ASD. This makes supporting them throughout the employment process a challenge (Wareham and Sonne, 2008). This is not at the fault of the employer. Guides for ASD employment for adults came into existence just over a decade ago (Kopelson, 2015). Employers must obtain the knowledge of ASD in order for them to design neurodiversity into their companies. Obtaining this involves collaborating with the IC and intermediaries. Once the knowledge of ASD takes hold, then companies can design these unique talents into the architecture of their organizations. This can be carried out by reformulating their recruitment process. The structuring of people is difficult, yet organizations have proven it can be done. The background provided examples of companies’ success stories in the industries of software, accounting, military, etc. Socially conscious managers and entrepreneurs should seek to replicate the innovation in other fields and industries.
6.1 Limitations During the research, the authors recognized that there were some situations that could not be controlled. These include the sample size which do not allow for generalization of the Swedish market since a small qualitative approach was taken. This size affected the sample profile of the companies interviewed, thus these findings cannot be applied to other markets. Additionally, since the topic of the study was sensitive and private, the answers that were collected might not exactly resemble the truth. Finally, with the time restraint and risks such as the difficulty to interview job seekers with ASD, the study only explored the companies’ perspectives on employing people with ASD.
6.2 Final Remarks Companies have adapted to changes due to technological change, such as the Internet and remote work. Companies, and cultures on a larger scale, have adjusted to cultural differences from globalization and migration. Socially conscious organizations should have goals to tap into the potential of neurodiverse human capital. As humans, they view working as a means to apply their knowledge, skills, and interests to ultimately achieve self-actualization (Baldwin et al., 2014). Integrating ASD into the workplace has an impact on countries’ economies. In welfare countries, instead of being a tax burden, they can actually contribute and help to build the economy. The continual focus on past corporate culture and social norms, especially in the workplace, should not be used to exclude ASD or any other neurodiverse individuals capable of performing and contributing to a company. The focus should be on integrating and including different variations of the brain
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in society (Lorenz et al., 2017). In summary, this research explored whether employers have established a proper support system and/or process to help them to integrate well into the workplace in order to maximize their full potential, while benefiting the company. Embracing neurodiversity in the workplace should be the new normal of employment. The strengths and attributes of ASD have been shown in previous studies to increase the efficiency of teams, leading to improved products and services, and most importantly a more inclusive society.
6.3 Further Research Exploring the perspectives and experiences employers in Sweden have with ASD expanded on previous studies in various markets throughout the world. Further quantitative analysis would gauge the Swedish market more holistically. Approaches should be taken on the conventional autism specific roles, such as software testers and developers, or on the unconventional autism approach in people-oriented positions, such as hospitality.
From the observations, companies’ behaviors should be tested to see if they align with their beliefs. This again is difficult because companies are not recording this data. And doing so is unethical in many or all companies in Sweden. After confirming that companies’ behaviors align with their beliefs, future studies could then narrow the focus to first identify specific obstacles companies have when creating an ASD inclusive workplace. Successful strategies could be replicated in other organizations. Solutions could later be tested to overcome the unsolved identified obstacles. The survey provided by Scott et al. (2018) could be used to analyze the tool’s outcome on employers’ confidence and support.
In the research process, several established intermediaries as well as companies were found to have already begun to tap into the potential of ASD. Additional research could study these programs in greater depth in order to publish their processes and measured impact in the academic arena. Potential questions to study could be: ● What companies, industries, and roles in Sweden have an interest in HFA professionals? ● What challenges do companies face when integrating HFA employees into their work environment? ● How ASD intermediaries collaborate with companies with no experience of working with HFA professionals? ● How ASD-specific companies survive and scale their business?
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Appendix A. Literature reviews of support system for individuals with ASD
Literature Review of Employment and Autism
Study Method Purpose Result Suggestions
Evaluating the Integrated “To increase "The findings that The “study reinforced Effectiveness of an Employment employers’ the IEST™ did not the continued need for Autism-Specific Success Tool awareness and significantly new research Workplace Tool for (IEST™) understanding of improve approaches allowing a Employers: A autism, including employers’ self- better understanding of Randomized Controlled highlighting the efficacy and employers’ needs and Trial (Scott, et al., strengths of attitudes the key role they play in 2018) employees on the compared to the the employment autism spectrum, to control group may process” (p 3389). assist employers in be explained by identifying potential the issue of environmental compliance in the workplace study” (p. 3387). challenges and to provide strategies, recommendations and modifications required to assist and resolve the environmental workplace challenges encountered by employees on the autism spectrum” (p. 3379).
Education and Cross-sectional- To “examine “Adults with “Employment support employment status of survey employment status, ASD … are programs should be adults with autism type of occupation disadvantaged developed to improve spectrum disorders in and inadequate regarding their employment outcomes” Germany – a cross- employment in a participation in the (p. 1). sectional-survey (Frank sample of clinically German labour et al., 2018) mostly late- market, especially diagnosed and most with respect to likely not rates of intellectually unemployment, disabled adults with early retirement ASD in Germany” and (p. 1). overeducation” (p. 1).
A piece to the puzzle? qualitative study To “explore the ...“visual A study identifying perceptions of job narratives are visual narratives job coaches regarding indeed a positive coaches use to prepare how job coaches strategy for individuals with autism can use visual developing the
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for employment narratives as a skills needed to (Ballard, 2016) strategy to develop gain and maintain the skills needed to employment gain and maintain within individuals employment for exhibiting individuals with symptoms of autism and the ASD” (p. ii) perceived benefits and challenges of using visual narratives among individuals with an (ASD)" ( p. 7)
Viewpoints on Factors Q method “to identify, To “highlight the “The use of an ASD- for Successful categorise and need to facilitate specific workplace tool Employment for Adults reveal the communication may assist in facilitating with Autism Spectrum viewpoints of adults between the necessary Disorder (Scott et al., with ASD and employees and communication 2015) employers on employers to between these two factors for ensure a clear groups” (p. 1). successful understanding of employment” (p. 2). the needs of both groups are met” (p. 1).
Bridging the Research- diffusion of “to further our ...“a practical set Autism intervention to-Practice Gap in innovation theory understanding of the of questions researchers must Autism Intervention: An / framework dissemination and facing change current practice Application of Diffusion implementation of administrators as within communities by of Innovation Theory efficacious autism they decide about (a) partnering and (b) (Dingfelder et al., 2011) interventions” (p. the use of developing new 597). interventions” (p. collaborations (p. 607). 598).
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Appendix B. Interview Questionnaires Below are the examples of the questionnaires sent to the companies.
Employer Demographics In which location do you work? Which of the following best describes the industry in which you work? Which of the following best describes your role in the organization?
Workers Scale Form (using Likert’s scale, showing agreement and disagreement) Workers with ASD get the job done. A business will hire anyone who meets its employment standards. People with ASD won't be able to meet the job standards. Everyone ought to have the opportunity to work. Employees with ASD have a positive influence on employees without ASD. People with ASD should have the chance to work.
Employer Self-Efficacy Scale How confident do you feel that you can support an adult with autism spectrum disorder? Do you have any prior experience working with people with autism spectrum disorder in an employment setting? What is your role in relation to the employee(s) with autism spectrum disorder? Do you have the support of a Disability Employment Service provider?
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