Socioeconomic Disparities in Malaysia During the Covid-19 Pandemic: An Exploratory Study

Azyyati Anuar, Zuraidah Mohamed Isa, Norhidayah Ali, Dahlia Ibrahim, Suhaida Abu Bakar, Nor Salwati Othman

Abstract


COVID-19 has shocked the world with an overwhelming number of people infected by it. Without a doubt, Malaysia is no exception to this pandemic chaos. Within weeks, Malaysia made the top of the list in Southeast Asia with the most confirmed COVID-19 cases. As a consequence, the Prime Minister had no choice but to call for a sudden Movement Controlled Order (MCO) that affected most of the workers and businesses. Therefore, this study investigated the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on Malaysia's socioeconomic condition. We surveyed the entire Malaysian population from the age group of 18 to 65 years and above, with 516 minimum sample size. A convenience sampling technique where the respondents received a URL link through WhatsApp group and email. The result of the study proved COVID-19 pandemic does influence the socioeconomic of the society where there is a significant association between COVID-19 pandemic and the socioeconomic factors. To conclude, future researchers can further explore the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the socioeconomic of a population. Researchers can include other relevant socioeconomic factors with a more scattered demographic profile of respondents to achieve a more robust and unbiased result.


Full Text:

PDF

References


Ababa, A. (2015). The Social Impact of Ebola and in Particular the Nature of Social Protection Interventions Required. First Meeting of the Specialised Technical Committee On Social Development, Labour and Employment, Ethiopia, African Union.

Abdullateef, U., & Oluwatoyin, A. M. (2011). Socio-Economic Impact of Malaria Epidemics on Households In Nigeria: Microevidence From Kwara State. International Journal of Asian Social Science, 1(5), 188-196.

Ain Umaira, M. S, Syafiqah nur, A. S, Thevadasb, R., Nor Kamariah, N, Azmawani, A.R., Zamberi, S., Aini, I. & Mohamed Thariq, H. S. (2020). COVID-19 Outbreak in Malaysia: Actions taken by the Malaysian. International Journal of Infectious Disease, 97, 108-116.

Amara, M. M., Tommy, F., & Kamara, A. H. (2017). Socio-economic impact of the

Bryman, A., & Bell, E. (2007). Business Research Method. New York: Oxford University Press.

Choong, Jerry (2020). “Report: AirAsia to lay off 250 staff members following COVID-19 downturn”. Malay Mail dated 4th June 2020, malaymail.com.

Cooper, D. R., & Schindler, P. S. (2008). Business research methods. (10th ed.). McGraw Hills. McGraw-Hills Education (Asia).

Coronavirus Resources Center, John Hopkins University. (2020). New Cases of Covid-19 in world countries. https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/new-cases

Ebola Virus Disease. Sierra Leone 2015 Population and Housing Census. Statistics Sierra Leone (SSL).

Fernandes, Nuno, Economic Effects of Coronavirus Outbreak (COVID-19) on the World Economy (March 22, 2020). IESE Business School Working Paper No. WP-1240-E

Hair, J. F. J., Money, A. H., Samouel, P., & Page, M. (2007). Research methods for business. John Wiley & Sons Ltd., The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, England.

Jimoh, A., Sofola, O., Petu, A., & Okorosobo, T. (2007). Quantifying the economic burden of malaria in Nigeria using the willingness to pay approach. Cost effectiveness and resource allocation, 5(1), 6

Kelly, B., Squiers, L., Bann, C., Stine, A., Hansen, H., & Lynch, M. (2015). Perceptions and plans for prevention of Ebola: Results from a national survey. BMC Public Health, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-015-2441-7

Krejcie, R. V, & Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining Sample Size for Research Activities Robert. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 310, 607–610. https://doi.org/10.1177/001316447003000308

Lee, S. A. (2020). Coronavirus Anxiety Scale: A brief mental health screener for COVID-19 related anxiety. Psychiatry Research, 287, 393–401.

Lima, C. K. T., Carvalho, P. M. de M., Lima, I. de A. S., Nunes, J. V. A. de O., Saraiva, J. S., de Souza, R. I., … Neto, M. L. R. (2020). The Emotional Impact Of Coronavirus 2019-Ncov (New Coronavirus Disease). Psychiatry Research, 112915. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2020.112915

Liu, N., Zhang, F., Wei, C., Jia, Y., Shang, Z., Sun, L., … Liu, W. (2020). Prevalence and predictors of PTSS during COVID-19 outbreak in China hardest-hit areas: Gender differences matter. Psychiatry Research, 287. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.112921

Mahidin, M. U. (2020). Current Population Estimates, Malaysia, 2020. Retrieved September 4, 2020, from Department of Statistics Malaysia website: https://www.dosm.gov.my/v1/index.php?r=column/cthemeByCat&cat=155&bul_id=OVByWjg5YkQ3MWFZRTN5bDJiaEVhZz09&menu_id=L0pheU43NWJwRWVSZklWdzQ4TlhUUT09

Malhotra, P., & Singh, B. (2010). An analysis of internet banking offerings and its determinants in India. Internet Research, 20(1), 87–106.

Michaelidou, N., & Dibb, S. (2006). Using email questionnaires for research: Good practice in tackling non-response. Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing, 14(4), 289–296. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jt.5740189

Noor Atiqah, S (2020). “Hilang Punca Rezeki”. My Metro dated 10 April 2020, hmetro.com.my

Onwujekwe, O., Chima, R., & Okonkwo, P. (2000). Economic burden of malaria illness on households versus that of all other illness episodes: a study in five malaria holo-endemic Nigerian communities. Health policy, 54(2), 143-159.

Oosterhoff, B., & Palmer, C. A. (2020). Psychological Correlates of News Monitoring, Social Distancing, Disinfecting, and Hoarding Behaviors among US Adolescents during the COVID-19 Pandemic. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/rpcy4

Richards, P., Amara, J., Ferme, M. C., Kamara, P., Mokuwa, E., Sheriff, A. I., … Voors, M. (2015). Social pathways for Ebola virus disease in rural Sierra Leone, and some implications for containment. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 9(4). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0003567

Taherdoost, H. (2016). Sampling Methods in Research Methodology; How to Choose a Sampling Technique for Research. SSRN Electronic Journal, 5(2), 18–27. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3205035

United Nation. (2020). United Nation Comprehensive response to Covid-19: Saving lives, protecting societies, recovering better. https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/un_comprehensive_response_to_covid-19_jun_2020.pdf.

Worldometer (2020). COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic. https://www.worldometers.info/

Yang, Z. J. (2016). Altruism During Ebola: Risk Perception, Issue Salience, Cultural Cognition, and Information Processing. Risk Analysis, 36(6), 1079–1089.

Zikmund, W. G. (2003). Business research methods. (7th ed.). South-Western. Cengage Learning.

Zubir, S (2020). “Rakyat Malaysia Bakal Hilang Pekerjaan”. Sinar Harian dated 18 Februari 2020, www.sinarharian.com


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


ISSN: 0126-5008

eISSN: 0126-8694