The Impact of COVID-۱۹ Outbreak on Human Resource Operation: Empirical Evidence from the Perspective of Malaysian Retail Employees in Klang Valley

The aim of this research is to examine the Coivd-۱۹ impacts on the Human Resource (HR)operation in the Malaysian retail sector, especially in the Klang Valley area. A selfadministered online survey was conducted with ۳۳۰ participants answering. The partial leastsquare approach to structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to investigate thedirect effects of the proposed variables. Besides, the mediation test was used to examine theindirect effects. The outcomes of the study showed that the current pandemic has an essentialinfluence on job depression and anxiety at the retail level. Furthermore, the directrelationship between Covid-۱۹, salary, and layoff is significant, suggesting that COVID-۱۹is a severe problem for employees' salaries and layoffs. In contrast, the indirect effect ofCovid۱۹, job depression, job anxiety, salary, and layoff confirm a significant relationshipwith partial mediation. Job depression, however, does not mediate the relationship betweenCOVID-۱۹ and layoff. This research only considered Klang Valley area in addition to thedata collected through the convenient sampling method by using an online survey form. Thefindings of the study offer an insight into the factors influencing human capital managementand how the retail decision-makers, retailers, retail consultants, and staff should devise anew approach to adjust HR policies in a ‘new normal’ situation. The study adds to theexisting knowledge about the effect of Covid-۱۹ on job depression, job anxiety, salaries, andlayoffs among retail employees. This study will also provide a source of further researchbecause the area under investigation is new in the current pandemic situation

Keywords:

COVID-۱۹ , Job Depression , Job Anxiety , HR operation , Malaysia , PLS-SEM , Retail Industry