A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Entrepreneurship (Commerce) with honours. The library of Universiti Malaysia Kelantan has the right to make copies for research purposes only. Tan Wai Hong, a lecturer from the University of Malaysia Kelantan's Faculty of Entrepreneurship and Business, who served as our supervisor.
Without the participation of the respondents, we may not be able to collect the data to complete our research. But we are also grateful for the infrastructures and facilities provided by University Malaysia Kelantan. This study aims to investigate the post-pandemic effects on employee job performance in Malaysia.
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
While, after the two years of Covid-19 outbreak, the Prime Minister of Malaysia announced that Malaysia would enter the endemic stage of Covid-19 from April 1, 2022. After almost two years of battling the pandemic, this announcement allows Malaysians to return to living relatively normal lives under the lenient Covid-19 guidelines and standard operating procedures (SOPs). While previous leadership studies have emphasized that transformational leadership is essential in times of normality, less attention has been paid to transformational leadership in times of crisis, mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which threatens business sustainability.
Due to COVID-19-related restrictions, working outside of traditional office spaces, such as from home, was not an option (McConnell, 2021). According to Laker (2020), the rapid pace of transformation brought about by the COVID-19 epidemic may not be ideal, although important lessons such as mentoring. According to earlier studies, COVID-19 has an impact on people's emotions such as excessive anxiety, fear of illness, depression and mental stress (Gibson and Janikova, 2021). Therefore, it is a highly plausible theory that fear of illness affects people's emotions, which in turn affects employees' work psychology.
Research Objectives
Scope of the Study
This can help keep employees satisfied as they will feel valued and contribute more to achieving the organization's goals and objectives during the pandemic. Finally, this study will be useful for researchers to make a prominent conclusion of the results of theories, hypotheses and research questions. According to MacDonald (2020), post-pandemic is a new form of social contract as we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The term 'work environment' can refer to the physical conditions that exist in the workplace, such as the temperature in the office, or to the equipment present there, such as laptops, desks and related items. Furthermore, this chapter contains the overview of the literature review, the basic hypothesis of the study and the summary of this chapter. Finally, the conclusion of the fifth chapter, which provides an overview of the main findings and suggestions for future research.
LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction
- Underpinning Theory
- Previous Study
- Conceptual Framework
- Summary
Job performance is defined as the quality and quantity of work that results from individual or group efforts to meet goals (Schermerhorn et al., 2005). Researchers have therefore established the hypothesis that transformative leadership has an impact on employees' job performance based on the aforementioned researchers' results and recommendations. The results of the study showed that several aspects of the workplace had an impact on employee performance (Kholil et al., 2014).
The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between the post-pandemic effects on employee job performance in Malaysia. In this chapter, the literature review is covered along with correlations between the variables and the main topic of the study. These three categories will contribute to the post-pandemic effects on employee job performance in Malaysia.
RESEARCH METHODS 3.1. Introduction
- Research Design
- Study Population
- Sample Size
- Sampling Techniques
- Research Instrument Development
- Procedure of Data Analysis
Probability sampling, also called random sampling, involves selecting a subset of the population so that each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected for the sample. However, it is crucial to note that convenience samples may not be representative of the population of interest and may introduce bias in the results. We aim to investigate the impact of the post-pandemic on employee job performance in Malaysia.
Each section of the questionnaire used a five-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 to 5, which more accurately reflects the respondent's actual evaluation. According to Formplus Blog (2022), pilot testing involves a number of procedures that allow the many facets of the researcher's project to be assessed in advance. Finally, if any problems are identified, the questionnaires are distributed for the actual study after being revised based on the pilot test findings.
A descriptive analysis will be used to describe the characteristics of the data through mean, median, standard deviation, variance, range and percentage. This reliability test is to ensure that consistent results will occur without bias and is an indicator of reliability of measurements and obtaining consistent measurements over time. Spearman's rank-order correlation coefficient (also known as Spearman's correlation) is a nonparametric indicator of the strength and direction of an association between two variables assessed on at least one ordinal scale.
We can determine whether a relationship is monotonic and positive or monotonic and negative by looking at the sign of the coefficient. This methodology includes the research design that will be used in this study. The population and sample determination is as set and includes all employees in Selangor and Johor using distribution-free methods.
The obtained data will be collected and then analyzed and discussed to get the desired research results on the relationship between post-pandemic effects on the work performance of employees in Malaysia (Selangor and Johor).
DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 4.1 Introduction
Preliminary Analysis (Pilot Test)
Surveys containing many Likert-scale questions are evaluated for reliability using Cronbach's alpha test. By examining Cronbach's alpha, we can determine how strongly a group of test items are related to each other. The reliability of the data analysis for both the dependent and independent variables in this study is shown in Table 4.2.
According to table 4.2, the dependent variable which is Job Performance has 0.679 as Cronbach's alpha, which stands as a questionable strength of internal consistency. The reliability range for the independent variables, which is Transformational Leadership Style is 0.850 indicates good internal consistency strength, followed by Work Environment is 0.731 and Job Satisfaction is 0.621 indicates questionable internal consistency strength. The data in this section are gender, race, age, education level, marital status, states of employment, and period of time the interviewee was employed by the same company/organization.
GENDER
RACE
This shows that most of the respondents working in Selangor and Johor state have bachelor's or master's or doctorate level education, while only fewer have primary or secondary level education.
EDUCATIONAL LEVEL
Spearman Correlation Analysis
Due to the use of a non-parametric method (no distribution) in this research, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient analysis was used to assess the strength of the association between two variables, which are the dependent and independent variables. The findings show that there is a strong relationship between job performance and transformational leadership style, which recorded a value of p = 0.466. The relationship between work performance and work environment recorded a value of p = 0.467, indicating a strong relationship.
To test the research hypothesis whether there is a relationship between the variables, Spearman's Rho correlation analysis was performed. According to table 4.21, the results of analysis show that there is a strong relationship between Transformational Leadership Style and Work Performance with a value of r= 0.466, p. According to table 4.22, the results of analysis show that there is a strong relationship between Work Environment and Work Performance with a value of r= 0.467, p.
According to table 4.23, the analysis results show that there is a strong correlation between job satisfaction and job performance with a value of r= 0.656, p. The results show that there is a correlation between the employees' job satisfaction and the employees' work effort. The Spearman correlation test was used to further analyze the data and look at the relationship between the independent and dependent variables.
DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSION 5.1 Introduction
- Key Findings
- Discussion
- Implications of the Study
- Limitations of the Study
In this research, we determined that there is a relationship between transformational leadership style and the work performance of employees in Malaysia. It also showed a moderate relationship between the independent variable (transformational leadership style) and employee job performance as the correlation coefficient value for transformational leadership style is 0.446. The researcher then determined that there is a relationship between the work environment and the work performance of employees in Malaysia.
It also showed a moderate relationship between the independent variable (work environment) and employee job performance as the correlation coefficient value for transformational leadership style is 0.447. Last but not least, the researcher established that there is a correlation between the employees' job satisfaction and the employees' work effort. It also showed a high correlation between the independent variable (employee job satisfaction) and employee job performance as the correlation coefficient value for transformational leadership style is 0.656.
The findings in this study have shown that there is a relationship between job performance with transformational leadership style, work environment and employee job satisfaction. The implications of the post-pandemic effects on employee job performance in Malaysia in relation to the transformational leadership style have not been well studied. However, more research is needed to understand the specific effects of the post-pandemic on employees' job performance in relation to transformational leadership in Malaysia.
There are numerous limitations to studying the post-pandemic effects on employee job performance in Malaysia. Timing is an important limitation to consider when studying the post-pandemic effects on employee job performance in Malaysia. Thus, the studies conducted during the post-pandemic may only reflect a snapshot of the situation, and the results may not be generalizable to the long-term effects on employee job performance.
Finally, this study aims to give the community an overview of the job performance of employees. Exploring the relationship between role ambiguity and job performance among employees in service sector SMEs in Malaysia. The purpose of this questionnaire is to better define the post-pandemic effects on the work performance of employees in Malaysia.
