Digital Workplace Technologies and the Inclusion of Disabled Workers: A Realist Review and Synthesis of Evidence and Workers' Perspectives

ABSTRACT

While digital technologies have transformed modern workplaces, research examining their impact on disabled workers' inclusion has focused on assistive technologies, overlooking the underlying social structures and organisational practices. This realist review, informed by focus group insights from disabled workers, examines mainstream workplace technologies and the contexts in which they enable or constrain inclusion. From an initial pool of 317 records, 29 studies were analysed, focusing on working‐age adults with disabilities or neurodiversity and worker‐related outcomes. Focus group participants validated identified patterns and highlighted critical contextual factors. Using Context‐Intervention‐Mechanism‐Outcome (CIMO) configurations, the analysis examined four contextual domains: technological design, individual circumstances organisational practices and legal and policy environment. The synthesis reveals that technologies produce divergent outcomes depending on how contexts activate mechanisms at psychosocial‐, organisational‐ and societal‐levels, demonstrating both enabling and exclusionary patterns. The findings offer insights for organisations seeking to leverage digital technologies while ensuring equitable and inclusive employment opportunities.