Government support, employee motivation and job performance in the COVID-19 times: evidence from Turkish SMEs during the short work period

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the effect of government support (short work allowances - SWA) on SME employees' job performance and employee motivation perceptions, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data were collected from 2,781 employees working in SMEs registered to Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization (SMEDO) in Turkey. The relationships were assessed through structural equation modeling with bootstrap estimation.FindingsThe results support the proposed framework illustrating the positive effect of government support on employees' perceived motivation and job performance. Findings indicate that employee motivation has exhibited a mediating effect between government support and job performance. Another important finding is that, contrary to the classical understanding of Herzberg's two-factor theory, SWA system was able to perform as a motivating factor during the pandemic by meeting the hygiene needs.Research limitations/implicationsSince this is a cross-sectional research study, causal inferences cannot be derived from the research results.Originality/valueThere is a lack of empirical study on SME employees' perceptions on the government support during the pandemic, especially on the perspectives of emerging economies are infrequent. Turkey's case is unique in terms of providing insights on how perceived employee motivation is increased by the government supports (SWA) in Turkey, and how this motivation mediates the job performance perceptions. Besides, the impacts of government support are mostly studied at the firm or macro-levels, this study's unit of analysis is at individual level. Regarding the criticism from the motivation perspective of two-factor theory, COVID-19 context and its impact on the motivation needs have not been elaborated before. This article starts new discussions on how crisis contexts influence individual motivator factors.

Responsible Leadership and Innovation during COVID-19: Evidence from the Australian Tourism and Hospitality Sector

The COVID-19 crisis provides an opportunity for sustainable renewal and requires responsible leaders who are responsive to stakeholder needs and able to innovate in light of new challenges. This study draws on stakeholder theory and responsible leadership theory to examine (a) the challenges industry leaders face as a result of COVID-19 and (b) their innovative responses in light of their responsibilities to stakeholders and society. We conducted a corpus linguistics study based on high-volume media websites reporting tourism and hospitality news on leadership and innovation. We applied a stakeholder and social responsibility lens to the data analysis. We discovered that, despite the challenges that leaders faced, some transcended self-interest or integrated self-interest with consideration for the interest of others and formed partnerships with other stakeholders resulting in win-win solutions. In particular, we found evidence of leaders who (1) responded to the needs of owners, employees, customers, and community stakeholders and (2) developed not only incremental innovations but substantial ones benefitting stakeholders in business and society. We discuss responsible leadership as a pathway for transforming the tourism and hospitality industry towards a more sustainable and community-centred 'new normal'. Based on our findings, we present recommendations for future research and policymakers.

Digital technology use of SMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey: mobile applications' role on motivation and job performance

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to examine the impact of digital technology (specifically mobile applications) use on employees' perceptions of motivation at work (MW) and job performance (JP).Design/methodology/approachSurvey data were collected from 4,089 employees working in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) registered to Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization (SMEDO) in Turkey. The relationships were assessed through structural equation modeling with bootstrap estimation.FindingsThe results support the proposed framework illustrating the positive effect of perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) of mobile applications on employees' perceived JP. Findings indicate that MW has exhibited a mediating effect between both PU and JP and PEOU and JP.Originality/valueThis article discusses the accelerating role of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on SMEs' technology acceptance and the acceptance's positive impact on employees' motivation and performance. This article adds to the literature on SMEs by enabling researchers and practitioners to understand the issues in digital technologies acceptance by SME employees and contributes towards enriching the knowledge on technology acceptance perceptions' role in SMEs coping strategies during the COVID-19.