A study on factors affecting stress level among service industry employees in Malaysia during the COVID-19 outbreak / Nur Syazlia Mohd Rosdi and Fatin Nadhirah Azhari

This study focuses on the discussion of the factors affecting stress level among service industry employees in Malaysia during the COVID-19 outbreak. Due to the excessive spread of the COVID-19 virus, the government has implemented the Movement Control Order (MCO), where one of its essences is that all organisations have been required to change their normal operations to work remotely from home. Some issues have developed among service industry workers because the way of working for employees in industrial services involves greater interaction between two people, and the nature of the work will require employees to engage with clients face to face every day. Therefore, a questionnaire was distributed through an online platform to discuss the research question. A cross-sectional design using quantitative methods was used in this study, which will rely on primary data from a survey. A total of 384 respondents that involves service industry employees in Malaysia answered the survey. The study indicated that the trigger of stress, organisational support, and blurred boundaries were the factors affecting stress levels among service industry employees in Malaysia during the COVID-19 outbreak. The study found a significant and positive relationship between the factors affecting stress level among service industry employees in Malaysia during the COVID-19 outbreak and the stress level of service industry employees in Malaysia during the COVID-19 outbreak. A detailed discussion of this is extended in this study.