Disability as a job resource: The role of job crafting and organizational citizenship behaviours. Towards an approach to value diversity in organizations

The number of employment opportunities afforded to people with disabilities in Italy is still not entirely satisfactory. Managerial policies should build a more favourable context, full of stimuli, support and backing for the promotion of good disability management practices within both private and public organizations. The aim of this study was to investigate how disability understood as a resource can positively influence the organizational climate and, consequently, the enactment of supportive and proactive behaviors, using the Job Demands-Resources model (JD-R) as a starting paradigm. Analyses were performed on 129 school educators in May 2021, who answered a structured questionnaire comprising several constructs, such as the perception of disability as a resource (2 items), job crafting (9 items) and extra-role behaviours (4 items). The mean age of the respondents was 51.6 years; most of them were female, married or cohabiting, and had a university degree. The study was performed through a non-parametric approach (PLS-SEM) and validated through bootstrap. Analyses showed that the relationship between disability as a resource and extra-role behaviors was partially mediated by the effect of job crafting. Results highlighted that workers with a predisposition to consider their colleagues with disabilities as a tool for growth are more likely to implement those behaviors that can improve the quality of organizational life and individual well-being, such as those oriented to proactivity and those aimed at expressing support, voluntary actions, and professional development even when this is not immediately required by the role.