Unveiling and Overcoming the Canvas Ceiling: Non-Profit Organisations Working with Stakeholders to Facilitate Refugee Employment and Workforce Integration

Increasing number of refugees worldwide and the need to integrate them into the workforce in receiving countries pose new challenges to organisations and societies. This thesis, comprised of a literature review and two empirical studies, makes original contributions to theory and practice in an effort to set theoretical foundations and to establish empirical starting points for management scholars to contribute to the timely issue of refugee workforce integration. This thesis firstly outlines the complexity of factors affecting refugees’ employment outcomes through a multi-disciplinary literature review. The phenomenon of the canvas ceiling is introduced to describe a systemic, multilevel barrier to refugee workforce integration and professional advancement. The review points to a need for a combined effort from stakeholders to facilitate successful refugee workforce integration. The first study therefore examines how non-profit organisations (NPOs) support refugees in a resource-constrained, multi-stakeholder setting. The findings suggest that NPOs opt to meet the demands of “powerful and vocal” stakeholders, such as governmental organisations and employers, to secure resources, but an over-reliance on these stakeholders can hinder supporting wider range of refugees. The second study investigates how employers carry out their corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals, through human resource management (HRM) functions, while working closely with NPOs facilitating refugee employment support programs. The findings change the current understanding of the HRM–CSR literature on external stakeholder engagement by suggesting that a strong co-dependence, rather than a mere collaboration, underpins effective execution of HRM functions with CSR goals. Finally, this thesis concludes with the potential ways to advance research and improve societal impact to facilitate refugee workforce integration by promoting stakeholder commitment and sharing social burdens across sectors