A commentary on Thomas et al. (2024): What employees, HR professionals, and business leaders really need

Purpose. This study asks and attempts to answer the question: “Does accommodation crafting partially mediate the effects of personal resources (self-efficacy and political skill) and organizational characteristics (job autonomy and perceived organizational support) on employees who are Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) decisions' to engage in task crafting?”

Design/methodology/approach. Employees who are DHH (n = 225) completed an online questionnaire under conditions of anonymity unless they chose to participate in a cash drawing by providing their email address. Participants worked full-time (30 or more hours per week) in the United States.

Findings. Accommodation crafting was found to partially mediate the significant direct effects of self-efficacy, political skill and job autonomy on task crafting. Perceived organizational support was not found to be significantly related to accommodation crafting and was therefore excluded from partial mediation analyses.

Originality/value. For DHH employees participating in this study, we conclude that an enhanced understanding of the effects of personal resources and organizational characteristics on task crafting is conceivable when considering the partial mediation role of accommodation crafting. Simply put, we find evidence that these employees need to use accommodative resources to engage in accommodation crafting as an intermediate step before engaging in task crafting. Perhaps more importantly, this study may add a piece to the puzzle of how proactive behaviors might contribute to creating better employment opportunities for diversity, equity and inclusion for employees with disabilities.