Abstract
Disability inclusion has become an increasingly prominent expectation for organisations, yet employment outcomes for persons with disabilities remain uneven and fragile. Drawing on qualitative data from 30 multinational company subsidiaries operating in Pakistan, this study examines how human resource management practices organise and bound disability inclusion in a developing economy context characterised by regulatory ambiguity and constrained labour market infrastructures. Using an institutional perspective, the analysis shows that disability inclusion is rarely absent or overtly resisted. Instead, it is commonly enacted through selective and bounded arrangements that allow organisations to recognise inclusion as legitimate while keeping core HR systems largely unchanged. The findings reveal how inclusion is stabilised through minimalist compliance, outsourced responsibility to external intermediaries, personalised support mechanisms, and judgements of work fit that limit progression and durability. The study further shows how visibility and reputational recognition enable disability inclusion to circulate across organisational fields without necessitating deeper institutional embedding. By reconceptualising disability inclusion as bounded institutionalisation, this research advances HRM and inclusion scholarship by shifting attention from policy adoption to the organisational processes through which inclusion is translated, constrained, and rendered fragile in practice.