Determinants of Employee Performance Based on Work from Home Environment during Covid-19 Pandemic in Malaysia

Hu, Kor Hoon (2022) Determinants of Employee Performance Based on Work from Home Environment during Covid-19 Pandemic in Malaysia. Masters thesis, Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

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Abstract

In year 2020, work from home has become the new normal norm for employees due to the Covid-19 restriction. Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia restricts the social gathering and emphasizes the social distancing to prevent face to face interaction. The lockdown initiatives force people to stay at home and lead a widespread shift from work in office to work from home (Wan et al. 2021). Individuals can only have a social interaction with their family, friends, employer and colleagues through information technology. This makes most of the employees felt isolation and depression. In this context, people start to concern on the issue of work life balance and their emotions to adapt this new and challenging environment which the work from home is a new working style for the employees. Therefore, it is significant to study the determinants of the employee performance based on work from home environment during Covid-19 pandemic. By reviewing the existing research, there are lacking empirical research to investigate the determinants of employee performance based on work from home environment based on the organisational psychology perspective. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to have a better understanding the employee performance by examining the factors that influence the employee performance based on work from home environment during Covid-19 pandemic from the organisational psychological point of view. For the development of conceptual framework, Maslow‘s hierarchy of needs theory and Goleman emotional intelligence performance model are adopted as a theoretical support for the framework development.This research investigates the direct and mediating relationship between self-actualization needs, social needs, self-management, work-life balance, relationship management, collaboration, job satisfaction and employee performance. Furthermore, this research also establishes the moderator role of social awareness towards the relationship between self-management and relationship management. Furthermore, the moderator role of organizational trust towards the relationship between relationship management and collaboration. In this research, a total of 400 samples were collected through online questionnaire survey and the data is analysed by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The statistical result affirmed that self-actualization needs, social needs, self-management, work-life balance, relationship management, collaboration, job satisfaction and organizational trust have significant positive influence on employee performance based on work from home environment during Covid-19 pandemic. This research contributes theoretical and managerial implications with the findings generated from this research. This research also includes the limitation of the research and the recommendations for future studies to further explore the understanding of employee performance based on work from home environment.