Examining psychosocial factors associated with receiving workplace accommodations among people with disabilities

BACKGROUND: People with disabilities experience challenges in obtaining workplace support including job accommodations. OBJECTIVE: This study examined the impacts of psychosocial factors affecting the likelihood of an employee with disability receiving an accommodation and subsequent effects on job satisfaction and job performance. METHODS: This study recruited 596 participants from multiple national and state agencies serving persons with disabilities in U.S. A mediation model was conducted to examine the impacts of psychosocial factors (i.e., self-efficacy, positive affect, negative affect, workplace support, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) knowledge, accommodation knowledge, and work goal) on receiving accommodation, and the impacts of receiving accommodations on job satisfaction and job performance. The indirect effects of the psychosocial factors on job satisfaction and job performance via receiving accommodations were examined using the Delta method. RESULTS: Among all the examined direct effects, only the effect from workplace support to receiving accommodations and the effect from receiving accommodations to job satisfaction were significant. Nevertheless, indirect effects were non-significant, indicating that all the psychosocial factors had no indirect effect (via receiving accommodation) on job satisfaction and job performance. CONCLUSION: The findings reveal the significance of workplace support on employees’ likelihood of receiving accommodations, and subsequent association between accommodation receipt and job satisfaction. Rehabilitation professionals need to provide adequate training to employers to facilitate inclusive and supportive workplace environments.