Dataset of social, personal, and work resources associated with work engagement among knowledge workers in Malaysia during the COVID-19 pandemic
Description
This data was obtained from a cross-sectional survey of 259 knowledge workers in Malaysia during the COVID-19 pandemic. A regression analysis was conducted to assess the link between resilience, supervisor support, family and friend support, psychological empowerment, and facilitating conditions with work engagement using the Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) 26. Specifically, this article provides data about the participants’ demographic characteristics and the descriptive data of participants’ responses. Further, the mean, standard deviation, reliability of the measured constructs and the model summary of regression analysis is provided. The findings indicated a significant influence of psychological empowerment, resilience, and facilitating conditions on employee engagement. This dataset offers suggestions to the top management in deducing ways to increase employees' work engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The online survey was conducted from April 1 to May 30, 2020, during Malaysia's first movement control order to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey was deployed using the Google form, and the link was shared with the potential respondents via email and social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn. We included a cover letter in the survey stating the study's objective and soliciting respondents' voluntary participation with a promise to keep their responses anonymous. The questionnaire design was based on past research and adaptations were made where necessary. The survey consists of seven groups of variables, including; (1) demographic data, (2) nine items measurement scale for work engagement, (3) six items measurement scale for resilience, (4) four items measurement scale for supervisor support, (5) eight items measurement scale for family and friend support, (6) 12 items measurement scale for psychological empowerment, and (7) four items measurement scale for facilitating conditions. Work engagement items were adapted from Schaufeli et al. (2006) with Cronbach’s alpha of 0.924. The respondents were asked to respond to nine questions measuring their level of work engagement, based on a seven-point Likert scale ranging from “0”- never to “6” – always. Resilience items were adapted from Smith et al. (2008) with Cronbach’s alpha of 0.757. The level of respondents agreement to six questions on resilience were assessed using a seven-point Likert scale ranging from “1” - strongly disagree to “7” - strongly agree. Four items were adapted from Rhoades et al. (2001) to measure supervisor support. The respondents were asked to respond to six questions measuring their perception of supervisor support based on a seven-point Likert scale ranging from “1” - strongly disagree to “7” - strongly agree. The Cronbach’s alpha was 0.636. Family and friend support items were adapted from Zimet et al. (1988) with Cronbach’s alpha of 0.903. Respondents were asked to assess their level of agreement to questions on Family and friend support, based on a seven-point Likert scale ranging from “1” - strongly disagree to “7” - strongly agree. Psychological empowerment items were adapted from Spreitzer (1995), with Cronbach’s alpha of 0.916. Respondents were required to respond to 12 questions measuring their level of perceived psychological empowerment using a seven-point Likert scale ranging from “1” - strongly disagree to “7” - strongly agree. Facilitating conditions items were adapted from Venkatesh et al. (2003) with Cronbach’s alpha of 0.858. Four items were used in assessing respondents’ level of arrangement to questions on facilitating, based on a seven-point Likert scale ranging from “1” - strongly disagree to “7” - strongly agree. This study utilized regression analysis using Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) 26.