ABSTRACT

The study focuses on the influence of leadership behavior, HRM practices, and innovative activities on the job performance of employees during Covid-19. Relevant literature depicting the role and influence of leadership, HRM, and innovation on employee job performance and output has been used to form the relationship between the identified study variables. The previous articles and journals relevant to the study topic were used to elaborate the three hypotheses formed as a part of the study. Quantitative surveys have been carried out comprising of 78 expatriates employees (officer level and above) from private and public sector firms in the UAE. Positivism philosophy and a descriptive research design have been opted for in the research due to their suitability to the quantitative data collection and analysis methods used in the study. SPSS application was used to analyze the data sets procured from 78 participants and establish a viable relationship between the study variables. It was found that leadership behavior has the maximum influence on employee job performance after HRM practices. When combined with a sound reward system and the application of innovation, it can lead to maximized employee job performance and outcomes, contributing to the overall organizational goals. The research limitations include insufficient sample size and a lack of homogeneous focus on all the three independent variables. Further, the objectives of the research could have been more oriented towards the chosen subject. The findings can be used by firms to understand and implement aspects of leadership behavior, innovation, and sound HRM practices to maximize employee job outcomes.

Keywords: Leadership behavior, HRM practices, Innovative job activities, Job performance, COIVD-19 pandemic, and the UAE

INTRODUCTION

The coronavirus global epidemic (COVID-19) has severely impacted the health of people, particularly people working in the medical sector, both physically and emotionally. Using social cognitive theory, the researcher has examined the impact of knowledge sharing on the working environment flourishing and helping behaviors and that of other frontline staff during the COVID-19 outbreak (Bartsch et al. 2020). Furthermore, the positive influence of a leader’s organizational citizenship behavior in greater collaboration between direct democratic business managers’ place of employment functioning and assisting attitudes was investigated. The organizational commitment of the figurehead established a strong relationship among both participatory management and employee flourishing. The same has been done for organizational communication helping behavioral patterns. Corporate structures and elements within them have severely changed since the outbreak of Covid-19, with the majority of the firms opting for work-from-home situations during these times. The employees are being managed under different leadership styles than the usual ones via the use of technology. The use of applications and software during these times has skyrocketed primarily due to increased and extensive uses by organizations to communicate with the employees and meet their goals. Along with the change and modifications in leadership styles and behaviors, the human resource management practices and work culture have altered a lot recently due to the pandemic. This has led to variations in employee outputs and their job performance, which are often proving to be difficult to manage, primarily due to an absence of a modified management structure and a lack of innovative approaches to deal with them. In exceptional cases, for the job roles that cannot be done without venturing outside and working within the office premises, restrictions are being imposed to prevent the spread of the virus, which are responsible for highly limiting the usual work productivity and employee performance. Face-to-face interactions and communications have become limited with the firms gradually terminating employees to make up for losses incurred and overburdening the existing employees with additional tasks and responsibilities. Due to these factors, their output at the end of the day is naturally decreased significantly. To eliminate these issues and challenges in the contemporary corporate world, and especially during this period of crisis, a proper and tailored regulatory body, sound supervision, and implementation of innovation and creativity are needed in the workplace.

The COVID-19 pandemic is reported to be one of the biggest events in 2020 and has a major impact on the international healthcare industry. Since the Second World War lung disease has been one of the major health obstacles. COVID- 19, which has significantly affected all aspects of life, including interpersonal relationships, economics, health, and assistance. People have seen a large number of individuals ruled by fear and uncertainty (Almohtaseb et al. 2021). In addition to the important understanding of pharmacology, economic policy, and neuroscience, various management strategies are crucial in addressing challenges posed by Covid-19.

Catastrophic situations usually influence the company culture and can swiftly maintain the existing, monetary, and health circumstance of companies, which generates positive organizational effectiveness. Their initial reaction to those situations can be decisive. This research paper, therefore, has developed the research finding transaction models to examine the effect of participatory representatives in the outcome measures of health workers, especially the prospering place of employment of staff members and cognitive behaviors, while still investigating the modest effects of the conduction integrity of a leader. In particular, participatory representatives could enable practitioners in a workplace environment stimulated by crises to foster prosperity and enhance their behavior and attitude (Yuan, Ye & Zhong, 2020).

To provide workers with increased personal experience, recognition, and active participation with careful strategic planning, participatory management focused on simultaneous application and policymaking among both supervisors and subordinates. With the theory of social identity, leaders are required to respond positively by showing better work performance and adding substantial efforts when communicating with employees, especially the ones who lack interaction skills. Having this in mind, wellness workers are expected to prosper while being involved in management, but instead, extend behavioral well-being to everyone around them. It has been observed that participatory management works effectively to anticipate prosperity and employee behavior mostly during COVID-19. In light of the constricted information systems and organizational settings, the author analyzes the mediating effect of an LBI leader in the connection between authentic leadership and a prospering and developmental working environment.

A flourishing working environment refers to the psychological province that organization owns during their work, “vitality” and “learning.” Previous studies have recognized vitality and having to learn as two fundamental aspects of a successful place of work. Agility is an energetic emotional state, and a commitment to work. In a comparative analysis, training refers to the information and approval process of abilities in the workplace to structure trust and capacity. The prosperous place of employment shows psychological wellbeing and is pretty much entirely dependent on the society of the perivascular world. It ensures reasonably high judgment capacity and identifies and active engagement.

Moreover, the positive impact of a pioneer’s hierarchical citizenship has been observed and the link between business administrators’ work environment working and helping perspectives were examined.

This examination paper creates and researches the discovering exchange models to inspect the impact of participatory delegates in the result proportions of wellbeing laborers, particularly the flourishing work environment of staff individuals and psychological practices, while as yet exploring the humble impacts of the conduction respectability of a pioneer. Specifically, participatory delegates could empower experts in a work environment climate animated by emergencies to encourage thriving and upgrade their conduct and demeanor.

This gives the laborers expanded individual views, acknowledgment, and dynamic support with issues and vital arranging, partaking the board zeroed in on synchronous application and policymaking among the managers and their subordinates.

It is important to adopt a structure for managing the firm’s human resources such that the employees are satisfied, thereby giving their best conducting their job roles over the long run. The structure needs to be favorable for the employees meeting their needs and adding to their professional development. Also, the framework of human resource management needs to be flexible so that it can be changed and modified whenever the need arises. In this way, the organization can change its management systems as per the changing scenarios. Often the organizations carry out occasional and periodical training and development programs for their employees which are primarily aimed towards making them capable of handling a wide and diverse range of critical and complex job roles from or outside their field of expertise. The majority of the research papers carried out in the past point towards the fact that there is an existence of a positive and strong relationship between practices associated with human resource management and employee job outcome/job performance exhibited by employees of an organization. Often managers rely on performance management systems to critically assess the behavior and output given by their employees, as per which rewards are given to keep them in a constant state of motivation, thereby contributing to their improvement in performing their tasks within the firm. Conducting this practice on a large scale has its benefits as it would enable the firms to make their employees focus towards a common goal aligning it with the needs and objectives of any given organization. In addition to this strategic plan lying within effective human resource management is the functions in the system that are used to coordinate and control processes of interviewing, recruitments, hiring of the right set of candidates, and training them to develop their skills, such that the company can ensure that they would help it to achieve its goals and objectives. Job innovation and creativity when combined with a sound HRM system to facilitate the maximum output via the job roles performed by employees in an organization. It has been observed that innovative approaches add more to employee creativity and their output at the end of the day, especially when compared to the traditional approaches of handling organizational tasks. The given research paper focuses on these variables, innovation, leadership behavior, and HRP practices, and critically analyzes their contribution to the job performance of employees. The research objectives and methodology have been developed as per the chosen research topic comprising of extensive surveys to procure data from.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Leadership behavior and job performance

Leadership is a vital technique for creating a process and consistent culture in the company. Organizational culture is a special relationship for both workers and management and instructions and continues to support followers to accomplish organizational objectives (Usman et al. 2021). Strategic and robust organizational culture can aim to resolve daily challenges in today’s unforeseen atmosphere. Representatives have certain features and features that differentiate them from everyone and staff members try to emulate them to achieve organizational objectives. The full implementation of the objectives and tasks is guaranteed with credibility, sympathy, connectivity, team cohesion, and other essential features. Top management with persuasive messages to major beneficiaries to fulfill their activities confidently in the achievement of company goals. As a result, a company will have lengthy growth and sustainability. Those that take and incorporate current leaders as a major element in all of this and prepare everyone different participants as representatives.

In essence, representatives might have features, attitudes, conduct, and other relevant characteristics to encourage team members to achieve their organizing goals. Developers can take on great connections between some of the leadership qualities and the achievement of his objective. Several studies examined good management achievements to goals that have specific features focusing on all changes in organizational goals. In this respect, employee engagement is considered to be an important factor in achieving designated goals. Towards that end, internal business literature sees different types of leadership styles as a key path to achieving the set goals.

Diversity of styles are also interesting and effective for assessing the system as enormous qualitative approaches prevent the employees to enhance the workplace culture. For example, transactional leadership is attributable to innovative thoughts, improves communication, shares opinions, and addresses crises efficaciously. Particularly in comparison to a practical management style, effective leadership is versatile, inspiring, and trustworthy (Ahmed, Zhao & Faraz, 2020). This many modern people genuinely think that organizational culture is a rich source for restoring strategic planning, order to facilitate workers, and strategies when the world faces the worldwide pension crisis of Covid-19.

Hypothesis (H1): Leadership behaviors positively influence employee job performance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

HRM practices and job performance

Human resource practices improve the efficiency and survival of companies by drawing, pinpointing, or rather maintaining individuals with guidance, skills, values, and attitudes that endorses its organization’s aims and goals. Employee Engagement is every essential strategic technique to achieve many of its corporate success through deserving employees for its staff members (Haque, 2021). In this study, the origin and sequence of the correlation between Human resource management practices (remuneration, performance appraisal of performance) and performance outcomes of younger workers were studied.

To reach organizational goals, organizations are facing intensely challenging dilemmas. For a company to succeed, it must be able to gain a competitive advantage by cutting costs, generating technological capabilities, improving effectiveness and efficiency, and expanding customer speed. Organizations, therefore, need to concentrate on the capacity of their employees to achieve common goals (Sultana et al. 2020). Efficient management of the human resources of a company could generate and enhance knowledge, confidence, harmony, and commitment to the successful manager. Human resource management practices generate somewhat conditions under which employers and contractors in and study diligently in the company.

Companies need human resources to accomplish their goals, generate their goods and services, and ultimately enhance customer satisfaction. Effectiveness and simplicity for the customers are also considered important. Dramatically decreased and inability to ensure objectives could be experienced as unsatisfactory or just as a personality flaw. Jobs are also described as the extent to which individuals fulfill their role under specific requirements established by the institutions that have mentioned that effectiveness. It is a set of results achieved over a given period, without comparison to the composer’s attributes or leadership attributes.

An effective leadership when combined with proper human resource management can act as a potent tool for motivating the employees and inspire them to move towards the common organizational objective. It has been observed that employees tend to perform better when they are motivated and focused. A good leader can facilitate those without much effort, thereby maximizing their work output and performance in the long run. The situation of Covid-19 has brought many hardships for the employees as well as the firms with decreased worker output, overburdening of employees with responsibilities, and frequent employee turnovers. These challenges can be mitigated successfully by adhering to the principles of leadership and reinforced organizational management during these times.

Hypothesis (H2): HRM practices positively influence employee job performance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Innovative job activities and job performance

Workplace efficiency was evaluated obliquely to focus on improving organizational effectiveness and via technology as employees develop strategies for innovative products and services to enhance a healthy organizational culture. New technology is understood as the practice whereby alternative techniques or awareness are created for economic benefit. It enables employees to develop anything remarkable, which can act as an instance of inspiration for others. Distinct varieties of advancement, such as good or service, system, brand management, and technical innovation, have an optimistic impact on companies. Motivating and inspiring staff, for obvious reasons, introduce new products or market the products and services brands (Hu, He & Zhou, 2020). This calls for innovative methodologies and maintains the completeness of any organization in the global environment.

When staff perceives those that represent a company, individuals make a contribution to the performance of the organization by innovatively trying to complete their job roles. The company not only needs to offer its employees the ability to satisfy their perceptions and to grow everyone’s expertise and abilities to have been a key component with the outcome and to start making their suggestions, but also make a significant contribution to the functioning of the organization. Advancement is the basis for optimistic communication between leaders and organizations. Leadership should also focus and encourage exploration in strategy formulation and place its finances within the foundation’s overall expenditure.

Since organizational culture has a major effect on development, the human resources department is an area of extensive and comprehensive study for scientists and researchers. Literature gives various forms of knowledge that drive the human resource policies affecting new technology associated with workplace behavior and actions. Various training and development programs help employees gain innovative skills. However, the employees manage their conduct in the way they demonstrate their devotion to them as members of society. So, if companies want transformational leadership from their staff members, they need to focus on creating job satisfaction.

The Covid worldwide scourge (COVID-19) has seriously affected the strength of individuals, especially individuals working in clinical areas, both truly and inwardly. Utilizing the social-psychological hypothesis, the scientists look at the effect of information sharing on workspace thriving and helping practices and that of other frontline staff during the COVID-19 illness flare-up (Abdullah & Anwar, 2021). Moreover, the positive impact of a pioneer’s authoritative citizenship conduct in a more prominent coordinated effort between direct fair business supervisors’ work environment working and helping perspectives was explored. The authoritative responsibility of the nonentity set up a solid relationship among both participatory administration and representative prospering, just as hierarchical correspondence helping personal conduct standards.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a major topic for debate in 2020 and significantly have affected the global healthcare industry. Due to newly implied restrictions and the economic downfall faced due to Covid-19, the organizations are finding it difficult to manage employees at these times. The old frameworks of management and leadership are proving to be ineffective to deal with the crises of the new situation. Organizations are struggling to earn profits, which are directly being reflected in the employee performance and their increased turnover rates which have especially elevated recently. Often the workers are made to bear additional job roles and responsibilities by the management and the senior staff members to cut costs. Instead of recruiting additional candidates they often pressurize their existing employees to do extra work at no too little wages. This is a prime factor for employee demotivation and is responsible for decreasing the morale to work among these working staff. To eliminate these issues and challenges and to survive during this hard time, the firms need to undergo a series of strategically planned steps. Some of the steps here comprise an extensive study of the market, identifying the potential customers, diversifying its services and products as per demands, incorporating a suitable set of leadership practices, introducing workplace innovation, and implementation of a capable human resource management system. Some of the sectors, like healthcare, tourism, and hospitality have endured the most during the epidemic and have been affected the most due to the lockdowns and movement restrictions. These sectors are in dire need of favorable changes to at least survive at the present moment. On the other hand, sectors like pharmacy are booming at these times with a higher number of sales of medicines and daily healthcare essentials. However, the supply chain networks are being hindered due to import and export restrictions, often leading to situations where it seems to be like the healthcare of a nation is on the verge of collapse. Supplies are low with increased demands, leading to a situation of turmoil where patients are deliberately not provided complete treatment to attend to the masses.

Previous examinations perceive imperativeness and learning as two major parts of an effective work environment. Dexterity is an enthusiastic passionate state, and a promise to work. In a near investigation, preparing alludes to the data and endorsement interaction of capacities in the work environment to structure trust and limit is needed. The prosperous work environment shows mental prosperity and is essentially reliant upon the social world. It guarantees a sensibly high judgment limit and recognizes and dynamic commitment.

A hierarchical culture is an uncommon relationship for the employees and executives and directions. This drives them to achieve authoritative designations in the future. Vital and vigorous authoritative culture can aid in determining everyday challenges in the present unanticipated climate. Agents have certain highlights that separate them from everybody in the organization. Complete execution of the destinations and undertakings is ensured with believability, compassion, availability, group attachment, and other fundamental highlights. Top administration with powerful messages motivates the recipients to satisfy their exercises and align them with the organization’s objectives. Thus, an organization will have protracted development and manageability.

The agents may have highlights, mentalities, direct and other applicable qualities to urge colleagues to sort out tasks and accomplish their objectives (Zhao, Ahmed & Faraz, 2020). Engineers can take on incredible associations between a portion of the authority characteristics and the accomplishment of their goals. A few investigations analyzed some great administration accomplishments of objectives, which have explicit highlights zeroing in on all progressions in authoritative objective. In this regard, worker commitment is viewed as a significant factor in accomplishing assigned objectives. Towards that end, inward business writing sees various sorts of initiative styles as a vital way to accomplishing objectives that are put forward to them.

A variety of styles are likewise intriguing and viable for surveying the framework as huge subjective methodologies forestall the representatives to upgrade the working environment culture. For instance, conditional administration is owing to imaginative musings, further develops correspondence, shares suppositions, and addresses emergencies solidly. Especially in contrast with a functional administration style, the compelling initiative is adaptable, motivating, and reliable. These numerous advanced individuals feel that hierarchical culture is a rich hotspot for reestablishing vital arranging, request to work with laborers and methodologies, when the world faces the overall annuity emergency of Covid-19.

Human asset rehearses work on the proficiency and endurance of organizations by drawing, pinpointing, or rather keeping up with people with direction, abilities, qualities, and perspectives that embrace its association’s points and objectives. Worker Engagement is a fundamental vital method to accomplish a significant number of its corporate accomplishment through meriting representatives for its staff individuals. In this examination, the beginning and arrangement of the connection between Human assets the board rehearses (compensation, execution evaluation of execution) and execution results of more youthful specialists were considered.

To arrive at the authoritative objectives, associations are confronting seriously testing problems. All together for an organization to succeed, it should have the option to acquire the upper hand by reducing expenses, creating innovative capacities, further developing viability and effectiveness, and growing client speed. Associations along these lines need to focus on the limit of their workers to accomplish shared objectives. Effective administration of the HR of an organization could create and improve information, certainty, congruity, and obligation to the fruitful administrator. Human asset the board rehearses produce to some degree conditions under which businesses and workers for hire in and concentrate steadily in the organization.

Organizations need hugely powerful people to achieve their objectives, produce their labor and products, and at last to improve consumer loyalty. Viability for something like the conventional individual is likewise significant. Significantly diminished and powerlessness to guarantee goals could be begun to encounter as inadmissible or similarly as a character imperfection. Occupations additionally are depicted as the degree towards which people satisfy their job as per explicit necessities set up by the establishments that have referenced that adequacy is a bunch of results accomplished over a given period, without correlation with the arranger’s ascribes or authority credits.

Working environment proficiency was assessed diagonally to zero in on working on authoritative adequacy and using innovation as representatives foster techniques for creative items and administrations to upgrade the sound hierarchical culture. Innovation is perceived as the training whereby elective procedures or mindfulness is made or monetary advantage. It empowers workers to foster anything truly exceptional. Unmistakable assortments of headway, like great or administration, framework, brand the executives, and specialized development, hopefully, affect organizations. Rousing and moving staff, for clear reasons, present new items or market the items and administrations brands (Collie, 2021). This calls for imaginative procedures and keeps up with the culmination of any association in worldwide climate.

At the point when the staff sees those that address an organization, people commit to the presentation of the association by creatively attempting to better the development measures. The organization needs to offer its management the capacity to fulfill their insights and to develop everybody by adding to their capacities to meet the common goals.

Hypothesis (H3): The innovative job activities positively influence employee job performance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Influence of innovative job activities on employee job performance

It has been observed that creativity is directly associated with the job performance of employees. Research shows that innovation and employee job performance are highly linked to one another, which holds in the situation of Covid-19 as well where the majority of the employees are working from their homes (Greenberg et al. 2020). Presently, during the period of Covid-19, employee engagement has become one of the most important aspects of the corporate world. Now, the only way to monitor and assess the performance of employees is online, which has its limitations. Therefore, for this, innovation and creativity need to be incorporated into the daily activities and tasks undertaken by these employees. For this, job activities, especially those that require innovative approaches are the most suitable and be the most efficient in increasing the job performance of employees. Innovative job roles increase their levels of engagement, dedication, and productivity, thereby heavily influencing the job performance of the employees involved. The human resource managers and practitioners at these times have put employee engagement at the utmost importance due to the frequent phases of the lockdowns. Over the past few decades, the organizations have been in constant pursuit of developing innovative and effective methods and tools to promote employee engagement and their job performance, the practice of which has elevated even more since the outbreak of Covid-19. As a part of these organizations’ increasing engagement of their employees, various engagement activities are being evolved, such as virtual learning and development, online family engagement practices, webinars with industry experts, online team building activities, team meet‐ups over video conference for lunch, online conduct weekly alignment sessions, virtual challenges and competition, short online game sessions, and numerous more.

An increased focus on digital aspects and its use to run the organization with the help of the employees is given with occasional employee development training and programs. Making employees familiar with technology and use it optimally to increase job performance is the prime goal for the majority of the organizations that are engaged in work-from-home situations. For this innovation and creativity are being considered as the two most important elements that need to be incorporated into daily professional practices (Contreras, Baykal & Abid, 2020). Also, while undergoing the new processes for employee engagement, employees are being able to learn new skill sets, some of which might not even be discovered by them previously to be present within them. In this way they are engaged in a continuous process of developing themselves, thereby adding to their abilities to solve complex job roles under pressure. Also, this is proving to be making the employees committed to the firms and be motivated during this tough and challenging time of the Covid-19 pandemic.

To facilitate innovative job practices within organizations for a higher level of work performance, certain criteria are needed to be met. The organization to promote innovative work culture and maintain the satisfaction levels of the employees at the same time must know what the employees expect from the organization, and equip them with the correct sets of tools and techniques to carry out their job roles while fulfilling their needs, thereby adding to their enhanced work performance in the long run.

METHODOLOGY

Introduction

The given research paper has been developed by the utilization of elements of methodology that suits best with the paper. A quantitative data collection and analysis approach has been chosen here in which 78 expatriates employees from certain private and public sector companies from the UAE have been surveyed. These collected statistical data sets were then analyzed via SPSS and their graphical representations were formed to add to the formation of the research findings. Furthermore, a positivism research philosophy has been utilized here along with a descriptive research design. Both of them collaborate well with the quantitative method chosen here and go hand in hand with one another, aiding the development of the research study.

Data collection method

A quantitative survey has been relied upon to collect first-hand statistical data sets and information relevant to the study subject from 78 participants. The participants are expatriates employees from certain private and public sector companies from the UAE. The data collection procedure has been carried out online due to travel restrictions and the hazard of getting infected while venturing outside.

As quantitative research involves the collection of numerous statistical data sets from different participants, their reliability naturally increases. Also, in quantitative surveys, the first-hand data sets procured from the diverse and wide range of participants are largely driven by personal first-hand experiences, which are reflected in the accuracy and reliability of the research findings formed after analyzing the collected data sets. Also, quantitative data unlike qualitative can be measured, which increased its dependency and accuracy as a mathematical measurement is involved here. Also, the researcher did not have the adequate resources and time to conduct qualitative interviews requiring extensive use of online meeting applications and a stable internet connection. Furthermore, the process of data collection via interviews and arranging for suitable open-ended questions, and analyzing the responses via tools like thematic analysis would have taken a lot of time, thereby affecting the quality of the entire research paper. Objective-type responses obtained from quantitative surveys have been far more convenient and effective to analyze under the available time with a limited number of resources at the disposal of the researcher (Aguinis, Villamor & Gabriel, 2020). Also, mathematical tools and the use of SPSS have added to the accuracy of the findings and thus enhanced the study quality.

Procedures of data collection

A total of 5 companies were initially listed and reached one by one. One of them was unwilling to participate in the research study so a total of 4 companies were selected at last. After reaching out to them and getting their consent the contact details of the employees eligible for the study were procured and they were contacted soon after. Their oral and written consent regarding their participation in the research was taken after initially briefing them about their roles in the development of the research paper and what is expected of them in the surveys.

Research philosophy and design

A positivism research philosophy has been opted for in the given research paper. The given philosophy follows a particular viewpoint which consists of only factual knowledge that is acquired via observation, comprising of measurement. The method is considered trustworthy and especially feasible for researches that utilize quantitative data collection and analysis procedures.

On the other hand, a descriptive research design has been chosen to systematically and accurately describe the chosen research topic with the help of the research population chosen. Research questions and objectives, such as where, what, how, and when have been answered and critically evaluated via the utilization of multiple study variables. As the descriptive research design utilizes multiple variables to provide in-depth statistical insights into a research objective, it has been opted for. Also, it goes well with quantitative research which utilized a wide and diverse range of statistical data sets and information for the development of the study.

Research Variables

Figure 1: Variables of the research

(Source: Created by the researcher)

Here, “job performance” is the dependent variable, whereas “leadership behavior”, “innovative job activities”, and “HRM practices” are the independent variables. These three highly influence the former.

Sample details

Table 1: Sample Details

Sample (n=31)

Gender

Male

Female

Marital Status

Single

Married

Divorced

Age

≤40(in Years)

41-50 (in Years)

≥51 (in Years)

Nationality

Emiratis

Non-Emiratis

Educational Qualification

High School / Diploma

Bachelor Degree

Master Degree

Doctoral Degree

Measuring instruments

Respondent rated items on leadership behaviors, HRM practices, innovative job activities, and job performance on a 5-point Likert scale. The instruments for leadership behaviors, HRM practices, innovative job activities, and job performance were developed from the extant literature. The Cronbach alpha coefficient for leadership behavior, HRM practices, innovative job activities, and job performance was found to be 0.931, 0.883, 0.890, and 0.880, respectively.

Table 2: Mean, SD, Cronbach Alpha, and relationships among leadership behavior, innovative job activities, HRM practices, and job performance

Mean

Cronbach Alpha

Leadership Behavior

3.60

1.073

0.931

Innovative Job Activities

3.61

0.539

0.890

0.379*

HRM Practices

3.67

0.510

0.883

0.611**

0.495**

Job Performance

3.32

0.535

0.880

0.481**

0.562**

0.491**

* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Wherein, SD = Standard Deviation.

RESULTS

Table 3: Impact of leadership behavior on job performance during COVID-19 pandemic

Model

R Square

Significance

Hypothesis Testing

Impact of leadership behavior on job performance (H1)

0.481

0.232

0.481

8.750

0.006

H1 accepted

Table 4: Impact of HRM practices on job performance during COVID-19 pandemic

Model

R Square

Significance

Hypothesis Testing

Impact of HRM practices on job performance (H2)

0.491

0.241

0.491

9.208

0.005

H2 accepted

Table 5: Impact of innovative job activities on job performance during COVID-19 pandemic

Model

R Square

Significance

Hypothesis Testing

Impact of innovative job activities on job performance (H3)

0.562

0.316

0.562

13.378

0.001

H3 accepted

SPSS software has been used here to form a linkage between the identified research variables and to highlight the ones that are the strongest. As per the results obtained, the impact of leadership behavior on job performance during the COVID-19 pandemic, as represented in table 3, has a significance value of 0.006. On the other hand, the impact of HRM practices on job performance during the COVID-19 pandemic yielded a significance value of 0.005. Lastly, the significance value for the impact of innovative job activities on job performance during the COVID-19 pandemic was found to be 0.001, which is the least among the three. The highest is the former one, representing the fact that leadership behavior has the highest influence on the job performance of the employees of the chosen firms during Covid-19. Also, the value of Cronbach Alpha is the highest for the study variable “leadership behavior”. Similarly, as can be seen from the graphical representation of the responses from the participants, leadership behavior and HRM practices are the variables that hold the most significance for employees’ job performance during Covid-19. After them, the variables “innovative job activities” and “job performance” hold the positions in terms of responses respectively.

Figure 1: Graphical Representation of the Responses

(Source: Created by the researcher)

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

It has been observed that the three study variables (independent) are responsible for highly influencing the variable “job performance”. Among these, leadership behavior is the one that has put on the highest impact on employee job performance. The majority of the survey participants/employees were in support of this fact. The found conclusion has been supported by the previous articles and journals relevant to the research subject. It has been observed that leadership behaviors are one of the few heavy influencers of job performance in the corporate world. Numerous articles studied in the literature section highlights that leadership behavior enhances employee job satisfaction, their levels of motivation, and job performance. Leadership behavior when combined with proper employee training programs increases their ability to carry out complex job roles, even under pressure and situations of crises. Exceptional leaders can accelerate the development of the organizations without jeopardizing the needs and expectations of the employees. Rather, under capable leadership, the employees are bound to excel along with the fulfillment of organizational goals effectively within a short duration of time. Companies flourish under managers and leaders who are efficient in guiding and leading their employees and workers towards enhanced performance, thereby often exceeding the organizational objectives. Leadership styles and their implications vary widely across the organization. However, some of the most commonly practiced styles of leadership to achieve the goals of the company are autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire styles. Leadership behavior is practiced and implemented carefully and wisely can yield great results, including enhanced job performance of employees which is often facilitated under close supervision by the leaders involved. The majority of the participants of the researchers have stated that leadership behavior is the heaviest influence of employee job performance, especially during Covid-19. During the home-from-home situations, the leadership practices are seen to be putting the most profound impact on employee motivation and their willingness to engage in job roles. This naturally is increasing their job performance and carries out complex job roles even under pressure. Here, the job-centered leader behavior and style are the most prominent in influencing employee work performance. Therefore, to make sure employee work performance is enhanced during the periods of Covid-19, organizations should make sure that effective leadership behavior, preferably which are work-centric, is exhibited by the firm’s leaders at different layers of the firm. This will ultimately lead to an increase in the corporate bottom line and the employees would be highly motivated to give their one hundred percent by performing better via participating in decision-making processes and delegation of authority induced by highly effective reward systems. An efficient reward system when combined with potent leadership behaviors along with other organizational practices like innovation and efficient HRP practices can lead to the enhanced job performance of the employees, primarily driven by motivation and inspiration from their leaders.

IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY

The study sheds light upon the optimal use of leadership behavior, innovative job activities, and HRM practices on enhancing the job performance of employees during the global pandemic, Covid-19. A lot of situations and circumstances in the corporate world have changed since the outbreak of Covid-19, requiring remedies and solutions that are modified or changed then the usual ones. It has been observed that a combined application of the above-stated variables can majorly affect the job performance of employees by motivating and inspiring them. Also, in the given research paper it has been found that leadership behavior among the three variables, has the highest influence on employees’ job performance, thereby having the strongest positive relationship with the dependent variable, job performance. The given study has been developed to shed light on the outcomes of leadership and employee work during Covid-19 and to establish a relationship between them. The study findings can be used by organizations from UAE as well as that from other nations to understand the role of leadership and other factors in achieving their organizational goals via maximizing employee engagement and increasing their work performance. Also, the importance and application of other influencers and their utilization such as innovation and effective HRM practices have been developed as a part of the research findings, which can again be utilized by these firms, especially during these times to increase their employees’ performance in the long run. Numerous studies, including the ones discussed under the literature review section, revealed that innovation has a drastic positive effect on employee job performance as their diverse and valuable ideas and thoughts are used to carry out complex activities. This also facilitates team collaboration, which in turn results in a higher generation of outputs achieved by a combination of ideas and beliefs generated while solving a work-related problem or carrying out a demanding job role.

In addition to the firms utilizing the findings, other researchers and scholars developing similar kinds of research papers can utilize them to know the subject and the roles of leadership, HRM, and innovation on enhancing the job performance of employees. Furthermore, the theoretical frameworks in the given research paper along with the statistical data sets can be tailored as per needs to shape other research papers and theses. Conducting certain modifications to the findings would also help to eliminate the gaps in this study. Additionally, the formed findings would contribute to the existing literature and development of future studies that could be part of an expansion of the given research paper, so that the researcher (same or other) can have a further in-depth understanding of the subject and all the relevant theories, ideas, models, and concepts relevant to it.

LIMITATIONS & DIRECTION FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

The research objectives were not properly formed. It would have been more beneficial to the research quality in case additional research objectives were considered here, primarily reflecting the study variables and their significance over one another. For example, the role and application of innovation and innovative activities on employees’ job performance has not been adequately analyzed throughout the entire research. The collected articles and journals primarily focused on the role of leadership behavior, which is one of the four variables in the research paper. A detailed description of others, especially, the role of innovation and innovative activities in the contemporary corporate world was missing. Although its significance in promoting the job performance of employees was mentioned multiple times, detailed elaboration of these statements was missing throughout the paper.

Furthermore, in terms of data collection, the sample size was 78, which is not considered adequate for the generation of statistical results comprising of up to four variables. Larger sample size will be included in the future for quantitative researches. Furthermore, as the sample size comprises only employees from firms of UAE, a large section of the research findings might not apply to scenarios from other nations. Limited research has been conducted on the corporate world since the outbreak of Covid-19, which can also be an issue here while developing the findings which are heavily governed by the pandemic situation.

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