Fear of Covid-19: A Conceptual Model for Behavior and Employee Performance in Service and Manufacturing Industries

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has been going for more than one year since the first time discovered in Wuhan, China in December 2019. As of February 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic has reached more than 109 million confirmed cases and more than 2 million death cases worldwide. Many areas in life are badly affected by the pandemic such as health, economics, business, education, political, international relations and social life. Business is one of areas that is most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many companies and organizations adjust their working schedule and doing anything to survive from running out of business. They keep going despite the circumstances which means their employees are working during the pandemic. Working from office (WFO) during pandemic is risky because highly transmittable virus and unavailability vaccine and medicine. Even though preventive measurement has been applied, the feeling of fear and anxiety in employee could not be avoided. This study we will investigate correlation between fear of COVID-19, behavior and employee performance in service and manufacturing industries, that are connected to Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) and Theory Planned Behavior (TPB). An online questionnaire is created by collecting variables and constructs from previous studies. Then interviewing some experts to evaluate and validate them. In the future, a Structural Equation Modelling Partial Least Square (SEM-PLS) will be used to examine correlation and relationship of variables and constructs.