Perspectives of business owners, employees, and consumers on the hiring of formerly incarcerated persons
Fernando P. Tiu Jr., May R. Hernandez, Sofia Judyawon & Steve Jerome P. De Rama
Abstract
The 2021 Philippine Statistics Authority survey shows that unemployment rate among formerly incarcerated persons (FIPs) is twice as high as the national average. This reflects the difficulties encountered by FIPs in finding gainful employment after doing time, as well as the reluctance of businesses to hire them. The study involved a total of 316 respondents consisting of consumers, business owners and managers, employees, and suppliers. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential (comparative and correlational) statistics. Findings show that while the respondents generally agree to the concept of providing employment opportunities for FIPs, in general, they are not open to having them in the workplace. The study also offers detailed insights on the perceptions of stakeholders according to their demographics. From a marketing perspective, plunging headlong into the hiring of FIPs on the principle of inclusivity is ill-advised. It is recommendable to first invest in the education and orientation of stakeholders regarding the hiring of FIPs, before deciding to actually hire them, lest they risk backlash from employees, business partners, and the consumers themselves.
Keywords
human resource management, inclusivity, Philippines, ex-convicts
Author information & Contribution
Fernando P. Tiu Jr. orresponding author. Master in Business Administration, University of Batangas. Director for Marketing and Promotions, Faculty, College of Business and Management, Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc. Email: fernandotiujr819@gmail.com
May R. Hernandez. BS Business Administration major in Human Resource Management, Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc. Email: may.hernandez@cefi.edu.ph
Sofia Judyawon. BS Business Administration major in Human Resource Management, Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc. Email: sofia.judyawon@cefi.edu.ph
Steve Jerome P. De Rama. BS Business Administration major in Human Resource Management, Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc. Email: stevejerome.derama@cefi.edu.ph
"All authors equally contributed to the conception, design, preparation, data gathering, analysis, and writing of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript."
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Funding
This work is funded by Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc.
Declaration
The author declares the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the preparation of this paper. In particular, ChatGPT was utilized for translating and refining the phrasing of the introduction, literature review, discussion of results, and conclusions, which were originally drafted using a combination of English and Tagalog. AI was also used to identify and remove references that did not meet the required recency criteria, except for those included in the Theoretical Framework, and to compile the bibliography in APA 7 format based on the available reference information. The author takes full responsibility for the review, verification, and editing of all content generated with the assistance of AI.
Notes
This paper has been presented at the 3rd International Conference on Management, Education & Innovation (ICMEI) 2026.
Acknowledgement
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Cite this article:
Tiu Jr., F.P., Hernandez, M.R. Judyawon, S. & De Rama, S.J.P. (2026). Perspectives of business owners, employees, and consumers on the hiring of formerly incarcerated persons. Management, Education & Innovation Review, 3(1), 133-159. https://doi.org/10.53378/meir.207
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