ENHANCING LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOUR TO IMPROVE EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

ABSTRACT

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected employees across Malaysia to work remotely and in isolation. This crisis has particularly affected employee motivation, which is an important factor in maintaining work performance. The objectives of this study were to investigate the level of employee motivation in the remote working environment in the construction industry during the pandemic crisis, identify the effects of task-oriented and relation-oriented leadership behaviour in motivating employees during the pandemic crisis and determine the moderating role of digital readiness for the relationship between leadership behaviour and employee motivation. A questionnaire survey to 185 respondents was utilised in the data collection exercise. Various statistical analyses were done by using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) software. The findings indicated that task-oriented and relation-oriented leadership behaviour was acquired to maintain employee motivation in a remote working environment during crises. Furthermore, the study confirmed that relation-oriented leadership behaviour influenced employee motivation more than task-oriented behaviour. The employee digital readiness was found to have an insignificant moderating effect between leadership behaviour and employee motivation. The study would contribute to the body of knowledge as there is limited literature on leadership and virtual work regarding leadership behaviour effectiveness and its impact on employee motivation during a pandemic. © 2022, Construction Research Institute of Malaysia. All rights reserved.