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The COVID-19 Impact on the Staff Motivation in Asda Introduction / Background and 

Introduction and Background

The COVID-19 impact on staff motivation is one of the ignored areas in academic

research. Few researchers have investigated how COVID-19 disrupted workplace motivation and

job satisfaction. Motivation is among the primary HR functions in any workplace because of its

role in sustaining behavior, enhancing performance, attracting job candidates, retaining the staff,

and promoting a positive workplace image (Tovmasyan 25). Overwhelming motivation theories,

including the two-factor approach, needs hierarchy models, and theory X and Y, explains why

motivation occurs in the workplace. Naturally, intrinsic or extrinsic factors motivate people.

Intrinsic motivation originates within a person. For example, the passion for succeeding or for

breaking the record reflects intrinsic motivation.

On the other hand, extrinsic motivation originates externally, including reward promises.

Motivation is highly critical for an organization because it is a keystone to performance, staff

attraction, and other organizational functions. The lack of sufficient evidence on the relationship

between motivation and COVID-19 inspired this research (Ahmed et al. 1). This research

explores the impact of COVID-19 on Asda’s staff motivation. In this study, the research narrows

to Asda’s case to collect precise outcomes applicable in Asda. Although the focus is on Asda’s

case, the findings are generalizable and may apply to different companies. The researcher

concentrates on the staff motivation aspect, although the COVID-19 has other implications in the
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workplace (Diab-Bahman et al. 3). Notably, this prevents the researcher from being

overstretched or overambitious to meet the research interests. An investigation on COVID-19

and its role in staff motivation at Asda provides credible evidence that will help to improve

workplace staff motivation at the company. The research also provides insights to employers on

how to revert to normalcy in the post-COVID-19 era.

Literature Review

In recent history, social and economic activities, including socialization, working, and

other activities, came to a halt because of the COVID-19 crisis (Al-Abroow et al. 20). Over the

last few centuries, the world had never seen a pandemic like the COVID-19 flu. Arguably, the

COVID-19 is the catastrophe with the biggest fatalities in the post-war era. COVID-19 began in

December 2020 when Wuhan in Hubei Province, China, reported the first case (Al-Abroow et al.

20; Hamouche 1). Although there is suspicion that COVID-19 emerged from the seafood market,

its genesis remains unknown. Notably, this pandemic led to abrupt disruptions, raging the global

healthcare systems and altering the working practices. The brutal but necessary measures,

including travel restrictions, lockdowns, closure of public places, and physical distancing, left

companies with no option to adjust their operations towards virtual. 

Notably, this pandemic attracts enormous research interests in various disciplines ranging

from economics, business, political science, health, medicines, and other disciplines. For

example, substantial research exists on the COVID-19 crisis's impact on workplace mental

health. DeFillipis et al. recently investigated COVID-19 impact on digital communication

patterns (1). In this study, DeFillipis et al. used an event study concerning at least 16

metropolitan cities in the Middle East, North America, and Europe. Successfully, these authors

showed that online meetings and attendances rose by 12.9% and 12.5% in the COVID-19 crisis
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than during the pre-crisis stage (Ahmed et al. 3). However, the length of these meetings declined

by 20.1%. Therefore, this study was effective in showing how the COVID-19 pandemic

disrupting working practice. It is evident from this study that people turned to virtual meetings

because of policy limitations, including bans of physical gatherings. 

Research on occupational mental health and its relationship with the COVID-19 is yet

another study area attracting considerable research interest (Ahmed et al. 5). Overwhelming,

recent studies confirm that mental health among employees suffered during the pandemic.

Researchers cite various factors that aggravated mental health concerns in their studies, including

depression, loneliness, anxiety, distress, and other conditions. Jobs losses, loss of emotional

touch among employees, workplace violence, and unpreparedness with the virtual working

environment are among the common factors that researchers cited as the leading contributors of

mental health issues (Diab-Bahman et al. 3). Essentially, citing these issues in their studies was

essential for employers to develop and implement radical measures to address occupational

mental health concerns related to COVID-19. Using these insights, employers and HR (human

resource) professionals could implement measures that could promote mental health among the

researchers. 

Aims and Objectives

The social-economic life around the world is in a terrible state when the world is

ravaging the world and disrupting the lifestyle. As a result, this informs quantitative research on

the role of COVID-19 on Asda’s staff motivation. The central aim of this research is to

investigate the COVID-19 impact on employee motivation and job satisfaction. Based on this

aim, the following are the chief objectives for this investigation:

 To determine whether COVID-19 undermines staff motivation in Asda

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 To measure the potential decline in staff motivation at Asda during this unprecedented

COVID-19 times

 To compare staff motivation in pre-COVID and COVID-19 era

 To determine how Asda human resource professionals could address staff demotivation

during and after COVID-19 

 To explore the connection between staff engagement and organizational performance 

 To help Asda resolve potential COVID-19 effects on the job motivation

The researcher focuses on the above objectives to help Asda and other like-minded organizations

to improve their human resource practices, including staff empowerment during this COVID-19

era. Collecting on the implications of the COVID-19 on the staff engagement collect reliable and

critical evidence on how to improve the workplace staff performance in the workplace. Today,

evidence-based decision-making is gaining momentum. Without the research to collect relevant

evidence to inform staff motivation, Asda might not implement thoughtful staff motivation when

the world battles the greatest pandemic.

Qualitative Methodology

Qualitative methodology is part of the mixed approach used in this study. A qualitative

approach was necessary to develop a further test the hypothesis using quantitative research

(Silverman 2). In a qualitative method, the researcher could collect deeper insights on staff

motivation amid COVID-19. Another major reason for investing in a qualitative methodology is

understanding values, feelings, and perceptions among employees concerning their experiences

during this COVID-19 pandemic (Silverman 5). A qualitative approach was also vital in

explaining the causal linkages between dependent and independent variables. 

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The researcher targeted a sample of 500 participants. However, the participants that

responded to the survey were 450 individuals. All the participants were Asda employees and

managers. Intentionally, the researcher applied a purposive sampling strategy. Notably,

purposeful sampling allows a researcher to collect precise and most accurate findings because

the study collects information from participants directly affected by the research problem. The

employees and the managers working at Asda are the primary people affected by COVID-19 and

motivation concerns. Therefore, this allows the research to collect mot accurate and reliable

results. 

Primarily, Survey Monkey is the online platform used in collecting qualitative results

using a semi-structured interview. In this interview, the research maintains uniformity of the

questions but does not provide standardized responses to select from (Kent 5). Therefore, a semi-

structured interview is effective in collecting opinions from the respondents. The online survey

was an effective tool for collecting information because it is convenient, cheap, and safe to use

(Silverman 4). In these unprecedented times of the COVID-19, it is safer to use online platforms

to avoid physical contacts that could increase the likelihood of contracting the virus. In addition,

the researcher incentivized the respondents by giving them small tokens, encouraging the

participation rate (Desai 9). Incentivizing participation is an effective strategy to collect robust

information applied in a study. 

The researcher used a descriptive analysis in interrogating the results. Before the

qualitative analysis, the researcher codified the data into the thematic analysis. In data

codification, the researcher applied a manual approach to creating themes (Kent 5). A thematic

approach was essential to understand what demotivates Asda’s employees amid the COVID-19

pandemic.
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Direct recruitment was the method this study used in recruiting the participants. The

researcher sent a request via emails to investigate staff motivation amid the COVID-19

pandemic. After sending a request, the researcher suggests using the Survey Monkey platform in

this research. The researcher also targeted Asda’s employees on social media in collecting

relevant information.

Quantitative Methodology

The quantitative methodology was another element in this method study. An advantage

of this methodology is to collect precise findings. However, the ability to show the causal

relationship between variables was a reason for using this approach (Klein 7). For example, the

researcher could use statistical tools, especially correlation, to show the causal relationship

between staff motivation and intrinsic drivers, inclusion psychological wellbeing. 

The participants in the qualitative study also participated in a quantitative study.

Therefore, there were a total of 450 participants recruited via the direct method and sampled via

a purposive approach. Reasons for using the purposive approach are similar to the ones in the

qualitative study (Klein 7). The quantitative method used the same participants in the qualitative

study because it could time involved in the participation process. In addition, the rapport the

researcher had already developed in the qualitative study made it easier to collect quantitative

findings. 

The quantitative method applied descriptive statistics, especially correlation. Using

inferential statistics allowed the researcher to describe the causal relationship between the

findings (Desai 9). Like quantitative results, the researcher used a textual format in describing

and presenting data. In addition, the researcher developed a structured questionnaire using a

Likert scale to quantify the results.

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Findings, Contribution, Ethics, Limitations and Future Research

The findings encompass numerical and non-numerical results applied in this study. First,

the survey had 90.0% (N= 450) of the participation rate. Second, the study shows that 30% filled

the questionnaire and participated in the online interview. Out of the 450 participants, 23.34%

were employees aged below 24 years. Most informants were employees aged 25- 34. In this

survey, the employees aged 25- 34 years represented 44.31% of the population. The third-largest

employee group included informants aged 35- 44 years at 20.30% of the population. Moreover,

11.12% of the employees were aged 45- 54 years, while those aged above 55 years represented

only 3.4% of the participants. Thus, the participation rate was beyond the researcher’s

expectations.

In addition, 56% of the informants were female, while the males account for 43.6%. The

results conducted via the online survey and questionnaire were instrumental in expanding

existing knowledge on staff motivation. (Tomasyan 28). Out of the 450 participants, 45% had 1-

5-year experience working at Asda. Most participants (95%) were Caucasians, followed by 4%

of the Asians and 1% of the Blacks.

Before the pandemic, the average monthly income of the participants was $78,000, but

this was reduced by 25% during the pandemic. Nearly 90% of the participants cited salary

reduction amid the pandemic as a primary reason for the decline in their job satisfaction.

Therefore, this affirmed the common hypothesis that external benefits, including salaries and

fringe benefits, are critical in staff motivation. Notably, this was compatible with the findings in

the earlier literature that found a strong relationship between extrinsic rewards, especially

salaries and fringe benefits, on staff satisfaction.

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Another critical result from this research is that 98.9% of the respondents agreed that

changes in the workplace environment and unpreparedness for this pandemic were the leading

cause of staff dissatisfaction. Overwhelmingly, participants cited social and emotional

detachment as the leading cause of job dissatisfaction and demotivation. Amid COVID-19, Asda

implemented radical working practices compatible with the COVID-19 health protocols

mentioned above. For example, it embraced telecommuting to neutralize the effects of movement

restrictions and lockdowns. Unfortunately, few employees were psychologically prepared for this

abrupt change in work practices. According to 89% of the employees, the sudden change in the

working environment and working practices had psychological effects, including emotional and

social disconnection. Working at home also increased loneliness among employees hurting the

social and emotional wellbeing of the team. Notably, this finding complements earlier researches

on the importance of intrinsic motivation, including mental wellbeing and social support, on job

satisfaction. Undeniably, the mental health among employees suffered during the COVID-19

pandemic, undermining their staff motivation. Therefore, this exhibits the importance of

investing in the employees’ mental wellness to drive their motivation and job satisfaction during

this ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The study also noted that preparedness via training employees on remote working before

a crisis effectively influences staff motivation. From the survey, 85% of the informants claimed

that they were unprepared for remote working. Lack of preparedness increased stress among

employees to cope with new working practices, including virtual working. Employees could

easily adjust and cope with the existing working practices if Asda had prepared them adequately

for virtual working. Therefore, this implies that employees had difficulty adjusting to the new

working environments during COVID-19.

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Interestingly, 90% of the respondents argued that telecommuting is complementary and

not replacing in-person working. Only 10% of the employees agree that they would want to work

full time virtually. Many employees cite loss of personal touch with their colleagues,

disturbances at home, and loneliness are the leading reasons they prefer in-person working

practices. Notably, this finding is compatible with earlier researchers that most employees would

prefer in-person collaboration. Employees would rather want the employer to expand the

working space to meet physical distancing protocol and maintain hygiene to improve workplace

safety and health. Therefore, this could improve occupation health among employees in the

workplace.

Research Limitations and Future Study

Although this research is reliable and effective in meeting the above objectives, it was not

immune to inevitable limitations. For example, a major limitation the researcher faced while

collecting the results was non-response bias, whereby participants completing the survey differed

from those not completing the survey. In response, the researcher used different strategies,

including following the respondents with text messages, emails, and phone calls. Another

strategy the researcher used to reduce non-response bias is to use different scales, including age,

job title, and Likert scale. 

Another major limitation in this study was the need for professional engagement with the

participants before the actual study. Professional engagement consumed more time and hindered

the researcher’s access to more study participants in this investigation. The researcher also

instructed the participants to use a Likert scale in responding to the questions. 

Generalizability may also be biased because this study focused on Asda’s case.

Therefore, a future researcher can broaden the topic. For example, instead of using Asda’s case,
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future researchers could focus on the retail industry. For example, future studies could explore

the impact of staff motivation in the retail industry. Therefore, this could generate results that

could be generalized. 

Finally, this study has not been an ethical issue because the researcher followed all

research ethics, including asking for permission, giving informed consent, and maintaining

participants’ anonymity. Furthermore, before the investigation, the researcher ensured that the

participants were aware of their rights. The researcher also communicated all the risks, including

possible loss of privacy or confidentiality rights if the participants failed to hide their identity.

Fortunately, the researcher had informed the participants on the need for the respondents to hide

their identity to reduce the risk for breach of privacy and confidentiality rights. 

Conclusion

Undeniably, the COVID-19 pandemic eroded staff motivation at Asda. Conclusively,

Asda should invest in the staff motivation consistent with the evidence that shows the need to

focus on the intrinsic and extrinsic motivators, including salaries and psychological wellbeing. It

is interesting for the research to learn that Asda’s employees equally appreciate extrinsic and

intrinsic motivation. The survey findings show that material rewards, including salaries and

fringe benefits, were as beneficial as intrinsic motivation, including staff assurance, flexible

working schedule, equity, and passion. As a result, this should compel Asda to invest in both

extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.

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Part Two: Self-Reflect

I was privileged to do mixed research, allowing me to sharpen my qualitative and

quantitative research skills. Furthermore, by participating in this research, I improved my

research skills by applying qualitative and quantitative methods simultaneously. In this self-

reflection report, I recollect, meditate, and refresh my research journey about the above research

topic on COVID-19 impact on Asda’s employee motivation. A personal reflection on my

research journey is essential to recognize my strengths and improvement areas.

In this research, I found that personal reflection about a research journey is crucial to

internalize the findings and research concepts in a study. My research topic and interest were

driven by my career aspiration to become a human resource leader. In my pursuit of the above

research topic, I focused on motivation challenges that I experienced while working in Asda and

similar organizations. I believed that most employees were facing similar experiences as me,

including loneliness and loss of emotional attachment during COVID-19. 

While performing this study, I realized the importance of staying true to research ethics.

Research ethics are the principles that one must follow to ensure that a study does not elicit

integrity questions. For example, it is wrong to use results under research ethics if the researcher

was unethical in collecting the findings. From my learning experience, the results may be

accurate, relevant, and reliable but may not be useful if a researcher violates ethics.

I maintained integrity by seeking permission from Asda’s management before using their

institution as the research site and the target company for research. When seeking permission, I

informed the management in my email that the research is primarily for academic purposes. In

addition, I provided formal and informed consent to the respondents. I described the research
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purpose, nature, and possible risks in the consent forms, including potential breach of privacy.

However, I undertook various steps to avoid any unethical concerns. For example, I emphasized

to the research subjects the need to use anonymous names. In addition, I promised never to

disclose their information to third parties. Therefore, this ensured that the data met the integrity

test.

While collecting the data, I used questionnaires and survey interviews. I administered the

questionnaire online using surveymonkey.com. During the data collection, I had a great online

interaction with the respondents. Interactive engagement with the respondents allowed me to

learn about their mindset and internalize their results. A major problem I faced in the study was

selecting the data analyses approach. I finally settled on the inferential statistics for the

quantitative study and the thematic approach for the qualitative study.

I learned various lessons to apply in my career and research journey in the future. From

my experience, I learned that mixed methods are complementary, enabling the researcher to

collect in-depth and accurate insights about the research problem. Self-reflection was also critical

in improving my self-awareness. As a result, this allowed me to develop emotional stability and

to look at issues neutrally.

In this research, I learned the importance of evidence-based decisions. In an actual sense,

one cannot implement evidence-based decisions without research. Therefore, this is what

informed me to conduct this research and perfect my evidence-based decisions. The research was

also necessary to inform evidence-based decisions. In my view, this research was vital for Asda

and other similar organizations to collect insights on how to improve motivation during this

COVID-19 crisis. Undeniably, this crisis has brought unprecedented challenges to motivation

that were unknown before. Therefore, it was essential to survey the affected persons: employees
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and managers, to understand the specific concerns affecting their motivation. The salient

motivation issues facing employees during this pandemic requires relevant action. Since these

issues are unknown to Asda and other similar companies, their investigation brought to light the

necessary measures to restore staff motivation. 

In addition, I learned from this research that employee motivation is synonymous with

customer experience and organizational performance. From my research experience, employees’

dissatisfaction correlates with customer dissatisfaction. Mainly, the rising customer

dissatisfaction issue at Asda during this COVID-19 arises from low motivation among the staff.

Asda feels dissatisfied because of the disruptive COVID-19 effects, including an expected shift

in labor practices towards online working. In my research experience, Asda must address staff

dissatisfaction to improve customer experience and organizational performance. Dissatisfied

employees are likely to render low-quality services and products in the market.
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Work Cited

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AL‐Abrrow, Hadi, et al. "Understanding employees’ responses to the COVID‐19 pandemic: The

attractiveness of healthcare jobs." Global Business and Organizational Excellence 40.2

(2021): 19-33. DOI: 10.1002/joe.22070

DeFilippis, Evan, et al. Collaborating during coronavirus: The impact of COVID-19 on the

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http://www.nber.org/papers/w27612

Desai, Philly. Methods beyond interviewing in qualitative market research. Vol. 3. Sage, 2002.

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Diab-Bahman, Randa, and Abrar Al-Enzi. "The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on conventional

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%202020.pdf

Hamouche, Salima. "COVID-19 and employees’ mental health: stressors, moderators and agenda

for organizational actions." Emerald Open Research 2 (2020).

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Klein, Sheri, ed. Action research methods: Plain and simple. Springer, 2012.

Silverman, David. Doing qualitative research: A practical handbook. Sage, 2013.

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