The impact of COVID-19 on the perceptions of Human Resources Practices, Organizational Leadership and Work Self-Efficacy in the Private Sector.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the significance of the relationship between human resource practices, organisational leadership, and Work Self-Efficacy (WSE) in the private sector. This study was necessitated by the low performance of organisations in the private sector during Covid-19 pandemic; as employees in these organizations were affected by the changes brought by the pandemic.

The study is based on a cross-sectional survey of 1,733 private-sector employees in South Africa. The survey consisted of predetermined set of questions given to a sample in which participants were required to rate the given statements along a predetermined set of questions. A 5 point Linkert point scale was used in this regard, and a correlation and regression analyses were used to analyse collected data.

In line with previous studies, the study revealed that human resource practices have a positive effect on WSE. Organisational leadership was identified as having a positive moderating effect on the relationship between human resource practices and WSE. The implications of these findings is that private sector managers who wish to improve the levels of employees’ WSE in their organisations should focus on improving both human resource practices and organisational leadership. Though these findings are significant to practicing managers in the private sector, they should be treated with caution due to some limitations of the study. For example, the sample was significantly lower than the private sector work force and the cross-section design meant that effects of intervening factors were ignored. Future studies can build on the current study and improve its validity by increasing sample size and adopting a longitudinal design