Barriers and Facilitators of Career Development among Employees with Disabilities: A Global Scoping Review

Promoting equal career opportunities for employees with disabilities is a key component of workplace inclusion and vocational rehabilitation. However, employees with disabilities continue to face unique challenges in their career development. Identifying both barriers and facilitators is essential to guide organizational practices and policy.

This scoping review was conducted using the Population, Concept, and Context (PCC) framework and reported in accordance with the PRISMA extension for scoping review guidelines. Systematic searches were conducted across the Web of Science, Scopus, PsycINFO, EBSCO, PubMed, Google Scholar, Semantic Scholar, and IEEE Xplore databases. Studies were eligible if they examined factors influencing the career development of employees with disabilities in organizational settings.

From 2781 references extracted, 10 studies were selected. The synthesis revealed barriers and facilitators across three domain: (1) individual factors (e.g., career self-management); (2) group-level factors (e.g., support system); (3) organizational factors (e.g., workplace accommodation); and (4) family (e.g., family advocacy and expectation).

This review highlights the multidimensional nature of career development for employees with disabilities. By categorizing the influencing factors into individual, group, family, and organizational levels, the findings provide a foundation for future research and practical strategies to promote inclusive career advancement.