A theory of planned behaviour (TPB): a perspective on rehiring ex-offenders / Fatin Nadirah Khasni

Ex-offenders face multiple challenges when re-integrating into their community following their released from the prison, forcing them to reoffend to support their livelihood. Reoffence of ex-offenders can be prevented if they are availed job-ready skills before their release and stable employment opportunity. However, the success of obtaining a job ultimately depends on the employer's attitude and perception towards the ex-offenders. The present study intends to engage employers with prior experience working with ex-offenders to gauge their rehiring perspective, since they exhibit more" ex-offender accepting" behaviour. This study uses the Theory of Planned Behaviour(TPB) to form the conceptual model. This theory maintains three main components namely attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control and were utilized in predicting the employers' intention to rehire ex-offenders. To further expand the TPB model, organizational culture, risks and government incentives were included as predictors of attitude, while skills and supporting documents were incorporated as determinants of perceived behavioural control. A self-administered survey was used to gather data from 135 Malaysian firms with history of employing ex-offenders, and the hypotheses of this study were tested using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The analysis revealed attitude and subjective norm as solid predictors of rehiring intention. Besides, organizational culture and government incentives were observed to influence attitude, while skill set significantly predicts perceived behavioural control. Generally, active community and ex-offender engagement can reduce the social stigma associated with the employment of ex offenders. Finally, some suggestions for future studies are also discussed in this study