An examination of factors influencing responses to requests for disability accommodations

Purpose/Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the influences of responses to reasonable accommodation requests for an individual with a disability. Research Method/Design: Two-hundredforty individuals participated in a vignette-based experiment in which aspects of the requestor's disability and the accommodation request were manipulated. Results: The results showed that intentions to grant an accommodation were predicted by a number of factors, including emotional responses toward the requestor, characteristics of the impairment causing the disability, characteristics of the accommodation, and perceptions of fairness. Conclusions/Implications: The Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act (ADAAA) mandates organizations to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified employees with impairments that are disabling, yet discrimination in the form of the unfair rejections of these requests still persists. Altogether, this study provides evidence that decisions regarding reasonable accommodations requests are likely influenced by a number of factors, none of which constitute legal reasons for denying a request.