Journal Screenshot

International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

Open Access Journal

ISSN: 2222-6990

Assessing Public Awareness of the Economic, Environmental, and Social Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Malaysia

Nitanan Koshy Matthew, Ahmad Shuib, Velan Kunjuraman, Jeffrey Lawrence D’Silva Alby, Sharifah Intan Sharina Syed Abdullah

http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v11-i11/11270

Open access

Due to the fact that COVID-19 is a novel viral infection, there is no pre-existing immunity in humans, and everyone is presumed to be a susceptible host. Therefore, public awareness of the COVID-19 pandemic's impacts on Malaysia remains unclear for decision-making purposes. Hence, this study sought to ascertain the level of public awareness about the economic, environmental, and social implications of the COVID-19 pandemic. The instrument, a google form questionnaire, was developed in response to previous studies. For data analysis, a total of 437 completed responses were obtained. The data analysis process used both descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. The findings indicated that respondents reported a significant influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on Malaysia's local economy, environment, and social aspects. Additionally, the economic effect varied significantly among age groups, income categories, and residential areas. The socio-economic crisis altered investment patterns and had a profound impact on both the economic and social sectors. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the socio-economic implications of COVID-19 and to develop comprehensive socio-economic preparations to maintain Malaysia's social, environmental, and economic sustainability during and after the pandemic. This study delved into critical COVID-19 responses and society's lessons learned in order to keep Malaysian authorities, businesses, and industry informed.

Adnan, N., & Nordin, S. M. (2021). How COVID 19 effect Malaysian paddy industry? Adoption of green fertiliser a potential resolution. Environment, development and sustainability, 23(6), 8089-8129.
Alam, J. (2020). Buying Behavior Under Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic Situation: A Online Perspective Case in Bangladeshi Shoppers. Chinese Business Review, 19(3), 82–90. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.17265/1537-1506/2020.03.002
Ali, Q., Parveen, S., Yaacob, H., Zaini, Z., & Sarbini, N. A. (2021). COVID-19 and dynamics of environmental awareness, sustainable consumption and social responsibility in Malaysia. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 1-20.
Amon, J. J., & Wurth, M. (2020). A Virtual Roundtable on COVID-19 and Human Rights with Human Rights Watch Researchers. Health and Human Rights, 22(1), 399–413. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.0000/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PMC7348426
Anjum, N. (2020). Good in The Worst: COVID-19 Restrictions and Ease in Global Air Pollution. Preprints, April. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202004.0069.v1
Aw, S. B., Teh, B. T., Ling, G. H. T., Leng, P. C., Chan, W. H., & Ahmad, M. H. (2021). The COVID-19 Pandemic Situation in Malaysia: Lessons Learned from the Perspective of Population Density. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(12), 6566.
Baker, S. R., Farrokhnia, R. A., Meyer, S., Pagel, M., & Yannelis, C. (2020). How does household spending respond to an epidemic? consumption during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. In Review of Asset Pricing Studies (Vol. 10, Issue 4). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/rapstu/raaa009
Barlas, S. (2013). FDA Strategies to Prevent and Respond to Drug Shortages. Pharmacy and Therapeutics, 38(5), 261–263.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3737981/
Bartik, A. W., Bertrand, M., Cullen, Z., Glaeser, E. L., Luca, M., & Stanton, C. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on small business outcomes and expectations. In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (Vol. 117, Issue 30, pp. 17656–17666). National Acad Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2006991117
Bastos, P. (2020). Exposure of belt and road economies to China trade shocks. In Journal of Development Economics (Vol. 145). The World Bank. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2020.102474
Bavel, J. J. V., Baicker, K., Boggio, P. S., Capraro, V., Cichocka, A., Cikara, M., Crockett, M. J., Crum, A. J., Douglas, K. M., Druckman, J. N., Drury, J., Dube, O., Ellemers, N., Finkel, E. J., Fowler, J. H., Gelfand, M., Han, S., Haslam, S. A., Jetten, J., … Willer, R. (2020). Using social and behavioural science to support COVID-19 pandemic response. Nature Human Behaviour, 4(5), 460–471. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-0884-z
Breitenbach, M. C., Ngobeni, V., & Aye, G. C. (2020). The First 100 days of COVID-19 Coronavirus – How Efficient did Country Health systems Perform to Flatten the Curve in the First Wave? Munich Personal RePEc Archive Efficiency, 101440, 1–25. https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/101440/
Briscese, G., Lacetera, N., Macis, M., & Tonin, M. (2020). Expectations, reference points, and compliance with COVID-19 social distancing measures. In National Bureau of Economic Research (Vol. 21, Issue 1). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w26916
Calma, J. (2020). The COVID-19 Pandemic Is Generating Tons of Medical Waste: Sanitation Workers Need Personal Protective Equipment Too. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/26/21194647/the-covid-19-pandemic-is-generating-tons-of-medical-waste
Cascella, M., Rajnik, M., Cuomo, A., Dulebohn, S. C., & Di Napoli, R. (2020). Features, Evaluation and Treatment Coronavirus (COVID-19). In StatPearls. StatPearls and Publishing. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32150360
Cassepp-Borges, V., Balbinotti, M. A., & Teodoro, M. L. (2010). Content translation and validation: A proposal for instrument adaptation. Psychol. Instrum. Fundam. Pract, 2010, 506-520.
Chatzittofis, A., Karanikola, M., Michailidou, K., & Constantinidou, A. (2021). Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of healthcare workers. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(4), 1–8.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041435
Christensen, L. B., Johnson, R. B., & Turner, L. A. (2014). Research Methods, Design, and Analysis. In Pearson (12th ed.). Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
https://www.pearson.com/uk/educators/higher-education-educators/program/Christensen-Research-Methods-Design-and-Analysis-Global-Edition-12th-Edition/PGM1080385.html
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences. In Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203771587
Coibion, O., Gorodnichenko, Y., & Weber, M. (2020). The cost of the covid-19 crisis: Lockdowns, macroeconomic expectations, and consumer spending. National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w27141
Driggin, E., Madhavan, M. V, Bikdeli, B., Chuich, T., Laracy, J., Biondi-Zoccai, G., Brown, T. S., Der Nigoghossian, C., Zidar, D. A., & Haythe, J. (2020). Cardiovascular considerations for patients, health care workers, and health systems during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 75(18), 2352–2371. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2020.03.031
Duan, L., & Zhu, G. (2020). Psychological interventions for people affected by the COVID-19 epidemic. The Lancet Psychiatry, 7(4), 300–302. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2215-0366(20)30073-0
Dzulkifly, D. (2020). Tourism industry hit hardest by Covid-19, faces RM3.37b loss. Malay Mail. https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/03/13/muhyiddin-tourism-industry-hithard- By-covid-19-to-loserm3.37b-while-gdp-s/1846323
Edoho, J. G., & Mfon, U. Y. (2020). Assessing the socio-economic effect of the coronavirus pandemic. Covid 19. https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/IOM Socio-economic impact of COVID-19.pdf
Everitt, B. S.; Skrondal, A. (2010), The Cambridge Dictionary of Statistics, Cambridge University Press.
Farique, M. A. M., & Fauzi, M. A. M. (2021). Implikasi Pandemik COVID-19 terhadap Ekonomi Global dan Ekonomi Malaysia. International Journal of Interdisciplinary and Strategic Studies, 2(1), 122-129.
Fernandes, N. (2019). Economic Effects of Coronavirus Outbreak ({COVID}-19) on the World Economy. SSRN 3557504, 291–305. https://doi.org/10.31410/tmt.2019.291
Financial Times. (2020). Real-time data show virus hit to global economic activity. Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/d184fa0a-6904-11ea-800d-da70cff6e4d3
Foo, L. P., Chin, M. Y., Tan, K. L., & Phuah, K. T. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on tourism industry in Malaysia. Current Issues in Tourism.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2020.1777951
Gillingham, K. T., Knittel, C. R., Li, J., Ovaere, M., & Reguant, M. (2020). The Short-run and Long-run Effects of Covid-19 on Energy and the Environment. Joule, 4(7), 1337–1341. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2020.06.010
Global Carbon Project. (2019). Global Carbon Budget 2012: An annual update of the global carbon budget and trends. Carbon Budget 2019.
http://www.globalcarbonproject.org/carbonbudget/index.htm
Gunnell, D., Appleby, L., Arensman, E., Hawton, K., John, A., Kapur, N., Khan, M., O’Connor, R. C., Pirkis, J., Caine, E. D., Chan, L. F., Chang, S. Sen, Chen, Y. Y., Christensen, H., Dandona, R., Eddleston, M., Erlangsen, A., Harkavy-Friedman, J., Kirtley, O. J., … Yip, P. S. (2020). Suicide risk and prevention during the COVID-19 pandemic. In The Lancet Psychiatry (Vol. 7, Issue 6, pp. 468–471). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30171-1
Holmes, E. A., O’Connor, R. C., Perry, V. H., Tracey, I., Wessely, S., Arseneault, L., Ballard, C., Christensen, H., Cohen Silver, R., Everall, I., Ford, T., John, A., Kabir, T., King, K., Madan, I., Michie, S., Przybylski, A. K., Shafran, R., Sweeney, A., … Bullmore, E. (2020). Multidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemic: a call for action for mental health science. The Lancet Psychiatry, 7(6), 547–560.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30168-1
Hundleby, J. D., & Nunnally, J. (1968). Psychometric Theory. American Educational Research Journal, 5(3), 431. https://doi.org/10.2307/1161962
International Labor Organization (2020). The Impact of COVID-19 on the Tourism Sector.
Kaplan, J., Frias, L., & Johnson, M. (2020). Our ongoing list of how countries are reopening, and which ones remain under lockdown. Business Insider.
https://www.businessinsider.nl/countries-on-lockdown-coronavirus-italy-2020-3/
Karim, W., Haque, A., Anis, Z., & Ulfy, M. A. (2020). The Movement Control Order (MCO) for COVID-19 Crisis and its Impact on Tourism and Hospitality Sector in Malaysia. International Tourism and Hospitality Journal, 3(2), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.37227/ithj-2020-02-09
Khatib, S. F., & Nour, A. N. I. (2021). The impact of corporate governance on firm performance during the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from Malaysia. Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business, Forthcoming.
Khazaei, H. (2020). Integrating cognitive antecedents to utaut model to explain adoption of blockchain technology among malaysian smes. International Journal on Informatics Visualization, 4(2), 85–90. https://doi.org/10.30630/joiv.4.2.362
Khazaei, H., & Tareq, M. A. (2021). Moderating effects of personal innovativeness and driving experience on factors influencing adoption of BEVs in Malaysia: An integrated SEM–BSEM approach. Heliyon, e08072.
Maharaj, S., & Kleczkowski, A. (2012). Controlling epidemic spread by social distancing: do it well or not at all. BMC Public Health, 12(1), 679. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-12-679
Mark, E., Domingo, J. R. S., & Singh, N. (2021). One Year on, the Centrality of Politics in Malaysia's COVID-19 Crisis. Southeast Asian Affairs, 2021(1), 185-202.
McKibbin, W. J., & Fernando, R. (2020). The Global Macroeconomic Impacts of COVID-19: Seven Scenarios. SSRN Electronic Journal, 20(2), 1–30.
https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3547729
Merchant, R. M., & Lurie, N. (2020). Social Media and Emergency Preparedness in Response to Novel Coronavirus. In JAMA - Journal of the American Medical Association (Vol. 323, Issue 20, pp. 2011–2012). American Medical Association.
https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.4469
Mourad, M. (2016). Recycling, recovering and preventing “food waste”: Competing solutions for food systems sustainability in the United States and France. Journal of Cleaner Production, 126, 461–477. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.03.084
Najah, A., Teo, F. Y., Chow, M. F., Huang, Y. F., Latif, S. D., Abdullah, S., ... & El-Shafie, A. (2021). Surface water quality status and prediction during movement control operation order under COVID-19 pandemic: Case studies in Malaysia. International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 18(4), 1009-1018.
Obi, S. E., Yunusa, T., ?z?ogu?ri-Oy?wol?, A. N., Sekpe, S. S., Egwemi, E., & Isiaka, A. S. (2020). The Socio-Economic Impact of Covid-19 on The Economic Activities of Selected States in Nigeria. Indonesian Journal of Social and Environmental Issues (IJSEI), 1(2), 39-47.
Patrício Silva, A. L., Prata, J. C., Walker, T. R., Duarte, A. C., Ouyang, W., Barcelò, D., & Rocha-Santos, T. (2021). Increased plastic pollution due to COVID-19 pandemic: Challenges and recommendations. In Chemical Engineering Journal (Vol. 405, p. 126683). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2020.126683
Perroca, M. G., & Gaidzinski, R. R. (1998). A system of patient classification: construction and validation of an instrument. Revista da Escola de Enfermagem da USP, 32(2), 153-168.
Ramli, M. W., & Jamri, M. H. (2021). The impact of COVID-19 pandemic: A closer look at the night market traders’ experience in Penang, Malaysia. International Journal of Academic Research in Business & Social Sciences, 11(1), 741-760.
Rasheed, R., Rizwan, A., Javed, H., Sharif, F., & Zaidi, A. (2021). Socio-economic and environmental impacts of COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan—an integrated analysis. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 28(16), 19926-19943.
Rousseau, S., & Deschacht, N. (2020). Public Awareness of Nature and the Environment During the COVID-19 Crisis. Environmental and Resource Economics, 76(4), 1149–1159. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10640-020-00445-w
Seth, S., & Housseini, B. (2014). Robustness Analysis and Statistical Inference.
Schanes, K., Dobernig, K., & Gözet, B. (2018). Food waste matters - A systematic review of household food waste practices and their policy implications. Journal of Cleaner Production, 182, 978–991. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.02.030
Shah, A. U. M., Safri, S. N. A., Thevadas, R., Noordin, N. K., Rahman, A. A., Sekawi, Z., Ideris, A., & Sultan, M. T. H. (2020). COVID-19 outbreak in Malaysia: Actions taken by the Malaysian government. International Journal of Infectious Diseases, 97, 108–116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2020.05.093
Shammi, M., Bodrud-Doza, M., Islam, A. R. M. T., & Rahman, M. M. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic, socio-economic crisis and human stress in resource-limited settings: a case from Bangladesh. Heliyon, 6(5), e04063.
Singh, V., & Mishra, V. (2021). Environmental impacts of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Bioresource Technology Reports, 100744.
Smith, E. (2020). Global stocks head for worst week since financial crisis on coronavirus fears. 2020. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/28/global-stocks-head-for-worst-week-since-financial-crisis-on-coronavirus-fears.html
Straka, W., Kondragunta, S., Wei, Z., Zhang, H., Miller, S. D., & Watts, A. (2021). Examining the economic and environmental impacts of covid-19 using earth observation data. Remote Sensing, 13(1), 5.
Sumner, A., Hoy, C., & Ortiz-Juarez, E. (2020). Estimates of the Impact of COVID-19 on Global Poverty. United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research. https://doi.org/10.35188/unu-wider/2020/800-9
Tahajuddin, S., & Sulaiman, N. N. (2021). Malaysian government choice of fiscal and monetary policies during covid-19 pandemic: Preliminary insight. Int J Advance Engineer Manage, 3(1), 248-53.
The World Tourism Organization (2020). Impact Assessment of the COVID-19 Outbreak on International
Todorovic, J., Piperac, P., & Terzic-Supic, Z. (2020). Emergency management, mitigation for COVID-19 and the importance of preparedness for future outbreaks. International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 35(5), 1274–1276. https://doi.org/10.1002/hpm.3011
Tourism. Available online: https://www.unwto.org/impact-assessment-of-the-covid-19-
Urban, R. C., & Nakada, L. Y. K. (2021). COVID-19 pandemic: Solid waste and environmental impacts in Brazil. Science of the Total Environment, 755, 142471.
WHO. (2020). Implications for infection prevention precautions. Transmission of SARS-CoV-2. https://www.who.int/news-room/commentaries/detail/transmission-of-sars-cov-2-implications-for-infection-prevention-precautions.
Xu, X. W., Wu, X. X., Jiang, X. G., Xu, K. J., Ying, L. J., Ma, C. L., Li, S. B., Wang, H. Y., Zhang, S., Gao, H. N., Sheng, J. F., Cai, H. L., Qiu, Y. Q., & Li, L. J. (2020). Clinical findings in a group of patients infected with the 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-Cov-2) outside of Wuhan, China: Retrospective case series. The BMJ, 368, m606.
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m606
Zambrano-Monserrate, M. A., Ruano, M. A., & Sanchez-Alcalde, L. (2020). Indirect effects of COVID-19 on the Environment. Science of the Total Environment, 728, 138813. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138813
Zubair, F., & Shamsudin, M. F. (2021). Impact of Covid-19 on Tourism and Hospitality Industry of Malaysia. Journal of Postgraduate Current Business Research, 6(1), 6-6.

In-Text Citation: (Matthew et al., 2021)
To Cite this Article: Matthew, N. K., Shuib, A., Kunjuraman, V., Alby, J. L. D., & Abdullah, S. I. S. S. (2021). Assessing Public Awareness of the Economic, Environmental, and Social Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Malaysia. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 11(11), 433 – 466.