08Apr 2020

A COMMITMENT UNDER CHALLENGING CIRCUMSTANCES: ANALYSING EMPLOYEE COMMITMENT DURING THE FIGHT AGAINST COVID-19 IN THE UK

  • Faculty of Business, Law and Tourism, University of Sunderland, Sunderland, United Kingdom.
Crossref Cited-by Linking logo
  • Abstract
  • Keywords
  • References
  • Cite This Article as
  • Corresponding Author

Coronavirus (COVID-19) has changed the worlds economies and brought more anxiety and uncertainty in Employment Relations. In response to the outbreak, governments have directed people to work from home if they can thus, minimum social interaction to reduce the spread of the virus. However, some people could not work from home because of the nature of their job. This study aimed to investigate Employee Commitment (EC) during the COVID-19 outbreak in the UK. Potential participants were invited through social media, and three individuals were selected at random to take part in a video interview via zoom technology. The data was processed into 3 case studies before analysing. The results indicated that employees are currently being pushed to work because they need to pay their household bills. Therefore the employees are displaying continuance commitment because of perceived costs or fear to be in debt if they leave the job. The COVID-19 outbreak has brought emotional challenges among the working population employees who can work are only doing so to support their families financially. Despite a small sample, this study concludes that employees lose their love of job when they are faced with high risks, such as COVID-19 virus. Also, employees during an emergency, such as coronavirus pandemic do not see going to work as an obligation. Therefore EC remains a volatile concept that can be affected by circumstances.


  1. Allen, N. J., and Meyer, J. P. (1990) "The measurement and antecedents of? affective,? continuance,? and? normative commitment? to? the organisation" Journal? of? Occupational Psychology, 63(1), pp. 1-18.
  2. Anitha, J., and Begum, F. N. (2016) ?Role of Organisational Culture and Employee Commitment in Employee Retention? ASBM Journal of Management, 9(1), pp. 17-28.
  3. Ayondele, O. K., Adenguga, R. A., and Adenuga, F. T. (2013) ?Organizational Commitment and Turnover Intention among Private Universities Employees in Ogun State, Nigeria? Open Journal of Education, pp. 31-36.
  4. CDC (2019) ?Influenza Historic Timeline? https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/pandemic-timeline-1930-and-beyond.htm [accessed on 16/04/2020].
  5. Executive Order (2003) ?Revised List of Quarantinable Communicable Diseases? (Presidential Document) Federal Register / Vol. 68, No. 68 / Wednesday, April 9, 2003 / Presidential Documents 17255.
  6. Health and Safety at Work Act (1974) http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1974/37/pdfs/ukpga_19740037_en.pdf [accessed on 19/04/2020].
  7. Heydari, M., and Lai, K. K. (2019) ?The Effect Employee Commitment on Service Performance through a Mediating Function of Organizational Citizenship Behaviour Using Servqual and Collaborative Filtering Modeling: Evidence From Chinas Hospitality Industry? Journal of Tourism and Hospitality, 8(2), pp. 1-10.
  8. Kanter, R. M. (1968) "Commitment and social organisation: A study of commitment mechanisms in utopian communities" American Sociological Review, 33, pp. 499-517.
  9. Karasin, A. I., West, K., Carman, S., and Olsen, C. W. (2004) "Characterisation of Avian H3N3 and H1N1 influenza A viruses isolated from pigs in Canada" Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 42(9), pp. 4349-4354.
  10. Lam, M.,?O'Donnell, M.,and?Robertson, D.?(2015) "Achieving employee commitment for continuous improvement initiatives"?International Journal of Operations and Production Management, 35(2), pp. 201-215.
  11. Laude, H., Van Reeth, K., and Pensaert, M. (1993) ?Porcine respiratory coronavirus: Molecular features and virus-host interactions? Veterinary Research, BioMed Central, 24(2), pp. 125-150.
  12. Machokoto, W. (2019) ?Employee Commitment Could Be Enhanced in the Healthcare Sector in the UK? International Journal of Psychology and Cognitive Science, 5(1), pp. 24-29.
  13. Manderson, L., and Levine, S. (2020) ?COVID-19, risk, fear, and fall-out? Medical Anthropology, pp. 1-4.
  14. McGee, G., and Ford, R. (1987) "Two (or more?) dimensions of organisational commitment: re-examination of the affective and continuance scales? Journal of Applied Psychology, 72, pp. 638-642.
  15. Meyer, J. , and Allen, N.? J. (1997) ?Commitment in the workplace:? Theory, research, and application? Thousand Oaks: Sage Publication.
  16. Meyer, J. , and Allen, N. J. (1987) ?Organisational commitment Toward a three-component model? Research Bulletin, No. 660. The University of Western Ontario, Department of Psychology, London.
  17. Meyer, J. P., Becker, T. E., and Vandenberghe, C. (2004) ?Employee Commitment and Motivation: A Conceptual Analysis and Integrative Model? Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(6), pp. 991-1007.
  18. Mugo, M., Njanja, L., and Minja, D. (2016) ?The effect of Successor Commitment on Corporate Growth Strategy in local family businesses in the manufacturing sector in Nairobi County, Kenya? African? Multidisciplinary Journal of Research, 1(1), pp. 153-170.
  19. NHS (2019a) ?SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome)? https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/sars/ [accessed on 16/04/2020].
  20. NHS (2019b) ?Flu? https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/flu/ [accessed on 16/04/2020].
  21. NHS (2019c) ?Overview-Tuberculosis (TB)? https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/tuberculosis-tb/ [accessed on 17/04/2020].
  22. Nwachuku, C., Zufan, P., and Chladkova, H. (2020) ?Employee Commitment to Strategy Implementation and Strategic Performance: Organisational Policy as Moderator? International Journal of Business Excellence, 20(3), pp. 398-418.
  23. Pensaert, M., Callebaut, P., and Vergote, J. (1986) ?Isolation of a porcine respiratory, non-enteric coronavirus related to transmissible gastroenteritis? Vet Q, 8, pp. 257-261.
  24. Potter, C. W. (2001) ?A history of influenza? Journal of Applied Microbiology, 91(4), pp. 572-579.
  25. Saunders, M., Lewis, P., and Thornhill, A. (2019) ?Research Methods for Business Students? 8th Edit, UK: Pearson Education Ltd.
  26. Schwepker, Jr, C.,?Dimitriou, C.,and?McClure, T.?(2019) "Reducing service sabotage and improving employee commitment to service quality"?Journal of Services Marketing, 33(5), pp. 615-625.
  27. Silverman, D. (2017) ?Doing Qualitative Research? 5th Edit, Sage Publications.
  28. Sipulwa, L. A., Ongus, J. R., Coldren, R.L., and Bulimo, W. D.?(2016) ?Molecular characterisation of human coronaviruses and their circulation dynamics in Kenya, 2009?2012??Virology Journal,13(18), pp. 1-9.
  29. The Guardian (2020a) ?Timeline of UKs coronavirus PPE shortage? https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/apr/13/timeline-of-uks-coronavirus-ppe-shortage [accessed on 19/04/2020].
  30. The Guardian (2020b) ?Waterstones closes stores in U-turn over staffs COVID-19 fears? https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/22/waterstones-staff-say-their-health-is-at-risk-as-stores-stay-open [accessed on 19/04/2020].
  31. UK Government (2020a) ?Number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases and risk in the UK? https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public [accessed on 16/04/2020].
  32. UK Government (2020b) ?Check if you can claim for your employees' wages through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme? https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme [accessed on 19/04/2020].
  1. Ulabor, E. A., and Bosede, A. I. (2019) "Employee commitment and organisational performance in selected fast food outlets in Osun State" International Journal of Financial, Accounting, and Management,?1(1), pp. 23-37.
  2. Vassilara, F., Spyridaki, A., Pothitos, G., Deliveliotou, A., and Papadopoulos, A. (2018) ?A rare case of human coronavirus 229E associated with acute respiratory distress syndrome in a healthy adult? Case Reports in Infectious Diseases, pp. 1-5.
  3. Wesley, R. D., Woods, R. D., Hill, K. T., and Biwer, J. D. (1990) ?Evidence for a porcine respiratory coronavirus, antigenically similar to transmissible gastroenteritis virus in the United States? J Vet Diagn Invest, 2, pp. 312-317.
  4. WHO (2020a) ?WHO announces COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic? (12/03/2020), http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/health-emergencies/coronavirus-covid-19/news/news/2020/3/who-announces-covid-19-outbreak-a-pandemic [accessed on 16/04/2020].
  5. WHO (2020b) ?Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) advice for the public? https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public [accessed on 16/04/2020].
  6. WHO (2020c) ?Tuberculosis? https://www.who.int/health-topics/tuberculosis#tab=tab_1 [accessed on 16/04/2020].
  7. WHO (2020d) ?Flooding and communicable diseases fact sheet? https://www.who.int/hac/techguidance/ems/flood_cds/en/ [accessed on 17/04/2020].
  8. WHO (2020e) ?Ebola virus disease? https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ebola-virus-disease [accessed on 17/04/2020].
  9. WHO (2020f) ?Shortage of personal protective equipment endangering health workers worldwide? https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/03-03-2020-shortage-of-personal-protective-equipment-endangering-health-workers-worldwide [accessed on 19/04/2020].
  10. WHO (2019) ?Malaria? https://www.who.int/news-room/facts-in-pictures/detail/malaria [accessed on 17/04/2020].
  11. WHO (2009) ?Pandemic (H1N1) 2009? https://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/ [accessed on 16/04/2020].
  12. Wu, C., and Liu, N. (2014) ?Perceived organisational support, organisational commitment and service-oriented organisational citizenship behaviours" International Journal of Business and Information, 9(1), pp. 61-88.
  13. Zurcher, K., Zwahlen, M., Ballif, M., Rieder, H. L., Egger, M., and Fenner, L. (2016) ?Influenza Pandemics and Tuberculosis Mortality in 1889 and 1918: Analysis of Historical Data from Switzerland??PLoS one, pp. 1-11.

[Washington Machokoto (2020); A COMMITMENT UNDER CHALLENGING CIRCUMSTANCES: ANALYSING EMPLOYEE COMMITMENT DURING THE FIGHT AGAINST COVID-19 IN THE UK Int. J. of Adv. Res. 8 (Apr). 516-522] (ISSN 2320-5407). www.journalijar.com


Washington Machokoto
University of Sunderland

DOI:


Article DOI: 10.21474/IJAR01/10803      
DOI URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.21474/IJAR01/10803