ANTECEDENTS OF EMPLOYEE DISENGAGEMENT AMID COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on various aspects of people's lives around the world. It has threatened the general public health, crippled the economies and caused panic all over the world, influenced turnover intentions among employees and caused employee disengagement. Amid the pandemic, some employees have been experiencing longer working hours, increased workload, irregular work shifts, and shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE). Although many researchers have examined the issue of covid-19 pandemic, little attention has been directed towards exploring the concept of employee disengagement amid the era of covid-19. The researcher addresses this gap by identifying and exploring the key antecedents of employee disengagement. The study adopted a quantitative approach, and primary data was collected through a survey technique and then analysed on Smart PLS3. On Smart PLS3, PLS Algorithm and Bootstrapping were utilised to determine the strength of the developed variables of this study, while at the same time assessing the reliability and validity of the constructs. Based on the findings of this study, all proposed hypotheses are proven significant, but with different strengths. The researcher implies that; catering for the health and safety needs of employees during the era of covid-19 is likely to boost employee engagement; while on the other hand; failure to fulfill this obligation may result in employee disengagement. As a new novelty, employers are encouraged to cater for the health and safety needs of employees in order to influence the positive behavioural outcomes among employees; such as engagement, commitment, job satisfaction, enhanced organisational citizenship behaviour and loyalty.