The Impact of COVID-19 Outbreak on Human Resource Operation: Empirical Evidence from the Perspective of Malaysian Retail Employees in Klang Valley

Hossin, Md Suliman Sentosa Ilham Miah Md Shuhel

The aim of this research is to examine the Coivd-19 impacts on the Human Resource (HR) operation in the Malaysian retail sector, especially in the Klang Valley area. A self administered online survey was conducted with 330 participants answering. The partial least square approach to structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to investigate the direct effects of the proposed variables. Besides, the mediation test was used to examine the indirect effects. The outcomes of the study showed that the current pandemic has an essential influence on job depression and anxiety at the retail level. Furthermore, the direct relationship between Covid-19, salary, and layoff is significant, suggesting that COVID-19 is a severe problem for employees' salaries and layoffs. In contrast, the indirect effect of Covid19, job depression, job anxiety, salary, and layoff confirm a significant relationship with partial mediation. Job depression, however, does not mediate the relationship between COVID-19 and layoff. This research only considered Klang Valley area in addition to the data collected through the convenient sampling method by using an online survey form. The findings of the study offer an insight into the factors influencing human capital management and how the retail decision-makers, retailers, retail consultants, and staff should devise a new approach to adjust HR policies in a ‘new normal’ situation. The study adds to the existing knowledge about the effect of Covid-19 on job depression, job anxiety, salaries, and layoffs among retail employees. This study will also provide a source of further research because the area under investigation is new in the current pandemic situation