The effect of COVID-19 on human resource management practices and organizational sustainability

The current study tries to identify the impact of COVID-19 on human resource management practices, business processes, and organizational sustainability. Furthermore, it identified the impact of sustainable HRM practices on hypermarkets' sustainability. The outbreaks of COVID-19 have considerably impacted organizations and businesses all over the world. Most companies were not ready to face such force majeure. Moreover, like everywhere else in the world COVID-19 has significantly affected HRM functions and organizational sustainability in the organizations in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. The research is based on a survey of 363 HR practitioners working in hypermarkets in the GCC countries to examine the impact of the pandemic COVID-19 on organizational sustainability. The findings reveal the negative impact of COVID-19 on human resource management practices, business processes, and organizational sustainability. Furthermore, they identify the positive impact of sustainable HRM practices and effective business processes on hypermarkets' sustainability. Finally, the results show that effective business processes and sustainable HRM practices annihilate the negative effect of COVID-19 on organizational sustainability in hypermarkets operating in the GCC countries. This study is unique since it is conducted during the pandemic period and analyses the negative impact of Covid-19 on organizations in the GCC countries. Moreover, it suggests solutions to minimize the negative effect of COVID-19 on organizational sustainability.