Low Morality among Employee Due to Pandemic Covid-19 and Leadership Challenge: A Literature Survey
Abstract
Sudden outburst of covid-19 had a profound effect on the whole world. The economic sector is among the worst affected. Lock-down had be implement in most countries in an attempt to slow the rate of infection. This caused the economic sector to stall, and caused many businesses to go bankrupt or downsizing. Job insecurity and workload due to sudden changes negatively affect employees’ morale. Thus, leaders’ role is crucial. This study presents the effect of Covid-19 towards employee and effect of low morality employee towards organization and which leadership role best suit to overcome this issue. This study was conducted by reviewing existing literature. Result shows leadership role have direct effect towards employee morale and organization productivity. Thus, it is suggested that leaders act rationally when deciding approach taken so that employee’s morale stay upheld at high level. Authentic leadership style is suggested as the best approach leaders may implement to help boost employee morale at this crucial time. Whereas, ethical leadership and behavioural approach can also be adopted depends on the situation. During this uncertainty, employees also tend to see leaders as their role model, so leader are responsible in providing guides for employee to understand good and bad of every action or decision made.
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https://doi.org/10.5897/AJBM10.854
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https://doi.org/10.5539/ibr.v10n7p1
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Zheng, D., et al. (2015). Effects of ethical leadership on emotional exhaustion in high moral
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2015.01.006
Zhou, J., & George, J. M. (2003). Awakening employee creativity: The role of leader emotional
intelligence. Leadership Quarterly, 14(4–5), 545–568. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/S10489843(03)00051-1
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wabak-covid-19-pandemi
Almatrooshi, B., Singh, S. K., & Farouk, S. (2016). Determinants of organizational performance: a proposed framework. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 65(6), 844–859. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPPM-02-2016-0038]
Ampornstira, F. & Noor, A. (2019). Effects of leadership on employee morale in higher
Education. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 10(7). Retrieved from
http://ijbssnet.com/journals/Vol_10_No_7_July_2019/15.pdf
Arvind, M., Lakshmi, M., & Keerthi D.S. (2019). Impact of employee morale on organizational success. International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering, 8(4), 3289–3293. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.35940/ijrte.d8070.118419
Atiya, A., Naser, N.A., & Shebaib, F. (2015). Ethical Leadership: The Effect on Employees.
International Journal of Business and Management, 10(3). Retrieved from http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ijbm/article/view/43586
Bakari, H., Hunjra, A. I., & Niazi, G. S. K. (2017). How does authentic leadership influence
Planned organizational change? The role of employees’ perceptions: integration of
theory of planned behavior and Lewin’s three step model. Journal of Change
Management, 17(2), 155–187. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/14697017.20
17.1299370
Bernama. (2020, 10 9). The Edge Markets. Retrieved from https://www.theedgemarkets.c
om/article/airasia-confirms-laying-10-staff
Cucinotta, D., & Vanelli, M. (2020). WHO declares Covid-19 a pandemic. Acta Biomedica.
Mattioli 1885. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.23750/abm.v91i1.9397
Dangmei, J., & Pratap Singh, A. (2017). How aesthetic leadership style might relate to
Employee morale at workplace? An analytical study. Www.Apjor.Com, (Lv), 2015
2018. Retrieved from https://ssrn.com/abstract=3047949
Debata, B., Patnaik, P., & Mishra, A. (2020). Covid-19 pandemic! It’s impact on people,
economy, and environment. Journal of Public Affairs. Retrieved from
https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2372
Han, M., & Sheng, Q. (2020). How does transformational leadership work on COVID-19? An
empirical evidence from China. Journal of Innovative Studies, 1(2), 1–20. Retrieved from
http://iiinstitute.us/index.php/jis/article/view/1
Hansen, H., Ropo, A., Sauer, E., (2007). The Leadership Quarterly – Elsevier. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/download/50109113/Aesthetic_Leadership20161104-6508 dq6g8a.pdf
Kanimozhi, M. & Vinothkumar, A. (2018). Effectiveness of employee morale and its impact on employee relation in manufacturing industry. JETIR, 5(11), 7. Retrieved from
http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1811065.pdf
Karim, W., Haque, A., Anis, Z., & Ulfy, M.A. (2020). The Movement Control Order (MCO) for Covid-19 crisis and its impact on tourism and hospitality sector in Malaysia. (2020).
International Tourism and Hospitality Journal. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.37227/ithj-2020-02-09
Kaushik, M., & Guleria, N. (2020) The Impact of Pandemic COVID -19 in Workplace. European Journal of Business and Management. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.7176/ejbm/12-15-02
Klingborg, D. J., Moore, D. A., & Varea-Hammond, S. (2006). What is leadership?
Journal of Veterinary Medical Education. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/ 6937144_What_Is_Leadership
Kube, S., Maréchal, M. A., & Puppe, C. (2013). Do wage cuts damage work morale? Evidence from a natural field experiment. Journal of the European Economic Association, 11(4), 853–870. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1111/jeea.12022
Rosli, F. A. (2020). 79,737 hilang pekerjaan tahun ini. Kuala lumpur: BH Online. Retrieved from https://www.bharian.com.my/berita/nasional/2020/09/730655/79737-hilang-pekerjaan-tahun-ini
Mango, E. (2018). Rethinking Leadership Theories. Open Journal of Leadership, 07(01), 57–88.Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.4236/ojl.2018.71005
Moore, C., Mayer, D. M., Chiang, F. F. T., Crossley, C., Karlesky, M. J., & Birtch, T. A. (2019). Leaders matter morally: The role of ethical leadership in shaping employee moral cognition and misconduct. Journal of Applied Psychology, 104(1), 123–145. Retrieved fromhttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/327711156_Leaders_Matter_Morally_
The_Role_of_Ethical_Leadership_in_Shaping_Employee_Moral_Cognition_and_Misconduct
Naile, I., & Selesho, J. M. (2014). The role of leadership in employee motivation. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 5(3), 175–182. Retrieved from
https://doi.org/10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n3p175 ]
Ngambi, H.C. (2011). The relationship between leadership and employee morale in higher
education. African Journal of Business Management, 5(3), 762–776. Retrieved from
https://doi.org/10.5897/AJBM10.854
Northouse, P., G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice, Seventh Edition. © 2016 SAGE Publications, Inc.
Plowman, D. A., et al. (2007). The role of leadership in emergent, self-organization. Leadership
Quarterly, 18(4), 341356. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/3lBURNi
Powe, D. E (2020), Leadership Approaches Federal Government Civilian Employees Perceive
Most Effective for Enhancing Employee Morale and Productivity. Dissertations. 338. Retrived from https://digitalcommons.brandman.edu/edd_dissertations/338
Raj, S.S., Bell J.K. (2016). Role of leaders for boosting morale of employees in IT sector.
International Journal of Management Research & Review, 6(9). Retrieved from
http://ijmrr.com/admin/upload_data/journal_Sam%20Raj%20%204oct16mrr.pdf
Rawat, S. R. (2015). Impact of transformational leadership over employee morale and motivation. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 8, 25–34. Retrieved from
https://doi.org/10.17485/ijst/2015/v8iS6/62118
Shaban, O. S., Al-Zubi, Z., Ali, N., & Alqotaish, A. (2017). The effect of low morale and
motivation on Employees’ productivity & competitiveness in jordanian industrial
companies. International Business Research, 10(7), 1. Retrieved from
https://doi.org/10.5539/ibr.v10n7p1
Strauss, K., Griffin, M. A., & Rafferty, A. E. (2009). Proactivity directed toward the team and
organization: The role of leadership, commitment and role-breadth self-efficacy. British
Journal of Management, 20(3), 279–291. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1111/j.14678551.2008.00590.x
Tanchaisak, K. (2019). An Investigation of the Influence of Leadership Style upon Employee’s
Morale at Ramkhamhaeng University. ASEAN Journal of Education, 5(1). Retrieved from http://aje.research.dusit.ac.th/upload/file/Flie_journal_pdf_07-10-2019_201049_1.pdf
Venkatachalam, A., & Sakunthala, P. (2015). Concept of employee morale associate professor
Pg and research department of commerce. Indian Journal of Research, 4(12),
17–19. Retrieved from http://worldwidejournals.in/ojs/index.php/pijr/article/viewFile/3
390/3406
Wandera, H. T. (2013). The Effects of Retrenchment/ Staff Rationalization: A Case of K.T.D.A
Ltd. Journal of Human Resources Management and Labor Studies, 1(1), 25. Retrieved
from http://jhrmls.com/journals/jhrmls/Vol_1_No_1_June_2013/2.pdf
Winston, B., & Patterson, K. (2006). An integrative definition of leadership. International
Journal of Leadership Studies, 1(2), 6–66. Retrieved from https://www.regent.edu/acad/
global/publications/ijls/new/vol1iss2/winston_patterson.doc/winston_patterson.pdf
Zheng, D., et al. (2015). Effects of ethical leadership on emotional exhaustion in high moral
intensity situations, The Leadership Quarterly, Retrieved from
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2015.01.006
Zhou, J., & George, J. M. (2003). Awakening employee creativity: The role of leader emotional
intelligence. Leadership Quarterly, 14(4–5), 545–568. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/S10489843(03)00051-1
Zhu, N., Zhang, D., Wang, W., Li, X., Yang, B., Song, J., … Tan, W. (2020). A Novel Coronavirus from Patients with Pneumonia in China, 2019. New England Journal of Medicine, 382(8), 727–733. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmoa2001017
(2020). WHO isytihar wabak COVID-19 pandemik. Geneva: BH Online. Retrieved November 4,2020, from https://www.bharian.com.my/dunia/eropah/2020/03/664515/who-isytihar
wabak-covid-19-pandemi
Published
2020-12-31
How to Cite
LAZIM, Nur Lyana; MOHAMED SALIM, Nor Azura; WAHAB, Samsudin.
Low Morality among Employee Due to Pandemic Covid-19 and Leadership Challenge: A Literature Survey.
Asian Journal of Behavioural Sciences, [S.l.], v. 2, n. 4, p. 26-37, dec. 2020.
ISSN 2710-5865.
Available at: <https://myjms.mohe.gov.my/index.php/ajbs/article/view/11677>. Date accessed: 27 apr. 2025.
Section
Articles
