Research Article: 2022 Vol: 25 Issue: 1S
The strategic role of human resources management in performing crisis management: the mediating role of organizational culture and human capital during Covid-19 (An applied study on the Jordanian Ministry of Health)
Abdullah Abbas AL-khrabsheh, AL Balqa Applied University
Sakher A. I. AL-Bazaiah, AL-Balqa Applied University
Abdelruhman Abbas AL-khrabsheh, Independent Researcher
Ahmed Fathi Alheet, Al-Ahliyya Amman
Citation Information: AL-khrabsheh, A. A., AL-Bazaiah, S. A. I., AL-khrabsheh, A. A., & Alheet, A. F. (2022). The strategic role of human resources management in performing crisis management: the mediating role of organizational culture and human capital during Covid-19 (An applied study on the Jordanian Ministry of Health). Journal of management Information and Decision Sciences, 25(S1), 1-18.
Abstract
This work seeks to deliberate the significance of human resource management from a crisis management perspective. Additionally, it evaluates the degree to which organisational culture enables effectiveness; it was achieved by implementing it on the Jordanian Ministry of Health. We used an analytical methodology to describe and define the strategic effects of human resource management to handle crises; moreover, we studied the significance of human capital and organisational culture as mediator variables as relevant for this research work. Sampling for this work considered the six hundred people working with the Jordanian Ministry of Health, associated government hospitals, and health centres. The study samples 234 individuals belonging to the Ministry, government hospitals, and health institutions, comprising about 39% of the population, selected using random sampling. Questionnaires were provided to the respondents using e-mail, considering the present challenges and restrictions associated with the Coronavirus pandemic. This work provided statistically significant outcomes and offered conclusions that might aid the efforts of the Jordanian Ministry of Health, or other nations, to manage crises.
Keywords
Crisis management; Human capital; Organizational culture; Strategic human resource management; Jordanian Ministry of Health.
Introduction
Individuals associated with the Ministry of Health must understand the significance of continuously evolving human resource management practices to enable the health sector. Human resource management framework effectiveness facilitates better health and medical care to people, specifically during crises. Becker and Huselid (2006) asserted that managing human resources should align with the strategic objectives, mission, and culture intrinsic to an organisation. Workers might get frustrated if the organisational environment and human resource management practices do not align well (due to extensive bureaucracy or lack of personnel). It could create situations where employees bypass protocols enforced during crisis management ( Kendrick et al., 2019 ). Based on the crisis, organisations must act rapidly in order to respond to the crisis and ensure continuity. Moreover, businesses must consider the strategic aspects concerning a crisis and associated recovery from a dynamic environment perspective. In this context, human resource management is vital to ensure that the business does not get disrupted after the crisis. It is possible that business processes and the environment might change in response to the situation. Moreover, human resource management and the broader organisational practices might get affected too. Consequently, the management would be required to devise and adapt to new processes and techniques to help employees and businesses. People must be receptive to the recovery roadmap considering the overall processes guided by the organisation. Working techniques might be made more flexible, and innovative performance handling techniques should be expected.
It is critical to create a versatile culture for business so that crises and challenging circumstances drive people to survive, change, transform, and identify better opportunities to drive success ( Wunderlich & Beck, 2017).
Considering this discussion, the present work aims to evaluate the contribution of strategic human resource management during crises and the degree to which culture drives effective resource management by assessing the framework in the context of the Jordanian Ministry of Health. Specifically, the following questions are required for the problem statement:
1. What effects does human capital have on crisis handling at the Jordanian Ministry of Health?
2. What effects does organizational culture have on crisis handling in the context of the Jordanian Ministry of Health?
3. How does human resource management affect crisis management effectiveness?
Significance of the Study
1. This work is significant because it addresses the correlation between human resources and crisis management; moreover, it identifies how human resources and decision-making can be made more effective during crises based on business culture.
2. The study also addresses these dynamics and associations for critical sectors like health care. There is a specific emphasis on the Ministry of Health because the management from this legislative body helps formulate policy and issue directions to enhance human resource performance. The Ministry develops adequate human capital based on the culture existing in several departments and divisions, emphasising crisis handling.
3. This work evaluates the health domain that is critical for society and business. It specifies personnel roles and interaction techniques guided by organisational culture.
4. Presenting research conclusions and offer guidelines to help researchers, administrators, and others interested in this domain.
Objectives of the Study
This work primarily evaluates the strategic aspects governing human resource management performance during crises.
Additionally, this study addresses several other vital requirements:
1. Assess the Jordanian Ministry of Health and evaluate how organisational structure affects crisis handling efficacy.
2. Assess the degree to which human capital makes crisis handling more effective; in this regard, the study assesses several aspects of the Jordanian Ministry of Health.
3. Identifying how human resource management effectiveness enhances crisis handling efficacy.
Study Variables
The study framework comprises three variable categories:
• Independent variable: strategic effects of human resource management;
• Dependent variable: Crisis Handling at the Jordanian Ministry of Health;
• Mediating variables: human capital and organisational culture.
Figure 1 presents the study framework and variables.
Figure 1 Study Model
Source: The study conducted by Mirzapour et al. (2019).
Study Hypotheses
Considering the information mentioned above, the following hypotheses are proposed:
The primary hypothesis is mentioned below:
Human capital and organisational culture have statistically significant effects on collective human resources to address crises at the Jordanian Ministry of Health.
The four secondary hypotheses are mentioned below:
H1: Human resource management and crisis management performance have a statistically significant correlation with human capital in the context of the Jordanian Ministry of Health.
H2: The existing organisational culture at the Jordanian Ministry of Health has a statistically significant correlation with crisis management effectiveness.
H3: In the context of the Jordanian Ministry of Health, the correlation of human capital and crisis handling is statistically significant.
H4: Human resource management is statistically significantly associated with crisis handling.
Theoretical Framework
Previous Studies
Saleh (2020) performed a study titled “The role of human capital in managing security crises, an analytical study of the views of a sample of leaders in the Ministry of Interior – Iraq”. The objective was to assess how human capital aspects (e.g., experiences, information, skills, capabilities, and workshops) and its association with enhanced handling of security incidents (e.g., identifying warnings, ensuring preparedness, preventive measures, damage control, activity recovery, and lessons learnt) based on a set of leaders from the Ministry of Interior. The study sample comprised 160 individuals holding posts like director, general manager, and department heads. The questionnaire was the primary data gathering instrument. This research used the descriptive and analytical scheme. Study outcomes indicated that human capital is positively and significantly associated with security crisis handling at the Ministry of Interior. Human capital aspects like information, training and ability affect security crisis handling. Also, experience and skill did not create a powerful effect on crisis management; hence, operational decisions must be emphasised to enhance recruitment and personnel selection approaches. These approaches help security incident handling with a more significant impact on human capital.
Abo-Murad et al. (2019) assessed how organisational roadblocks impact crisis handling. Hallaj (2018) worked on a study titled “The strategic role of human resources management in managing organisational crises - a field study on city councils in Lattakia Governorate.” It addressed the strategic impact of human resource processes concerning job assessment, design, identification, recruitment, selection, performance assessment, coaching, perks and remuneration structure, labour relations, facilitating organisational issue handling. Moreover, the effects of personal aspects concerning human capital available in City councils, identified through tenacity, leadership, control, emotional maturity, versatility, open-mindedness, and the capability to perform during challenging times for handling organisational problems, must also be evaluated.
The research sample comprised administrative staff (heads of departments and directors) associated with Lattakia governorate city councils. The survey comprised 214 forms distributed to the identified individuals. The outcomes of this research work highlighted the significant and critical role of managing human resources to handle organisational challenges. Moreover, the results suggested that strategic human resource management is significantly and positively correlated to human capital aspects like leadership; moreover, crisis handling for organisations was significantly associated with human resource management approaches.
Al-Malfi (2017) researched and produced a work “Applying crisis management in Jordan public hospitals” to assess the level of crisis handling practices used by administrators, deputies, and heads of departments in public hospitals located in Jordan. This work implemented an analytic and descriptive methodology. A survey instrument was formulated and provided to the sample set comprising 160 individuals holding positions like director, administrator, and department head, associated with Jordanian hospitals. Research outcomes indicate a high degree of crisis handling implementation by managers, deputies, and heads of departments associated with such public hospitals in Jordan. Moreover, crisis handling information did not vary much based on demographic aspects like job role, education, gender, experience, and age. Therefore, the authors suggested performing additional research on a broader set. Moreover, there were recommendations to deploy crisis handling groups to different areas worldwide and learn from experience.
Awwad (2015) evaluated how organisational culture affects crisis handling; their analytical and descriptive study was titled “The extent of the contribution of the organisational culture to managing crises”. The sample-set comprised 71 individuals. Research outcomes indicated that personnel at the Ministry of National Economy scored 97.66% on organisational culture, representing a better-than-average score. Moreover, 41.6% was the relative average concerning actual crisis handling at the Ministry.
Mirzapour et al. (2019) presented a paper titled “The strategic role of human resource management in crisis management considering the mediating role of organisational culture” to determine how strategic human resource management affects crisis handling when influenced by culture and intellectual aspects. This work followed the descriptive and analytical approach; personnel working in the Iranian province Tehran were the study target, and 257 were identified. There were 225 individuals in the study sample. Information was gathered by providing survey questionnaires. Subsequently, data were analysed based on statistical techniques. Hypothesis testing outcomes suggested that strategic human resource management scored 0.21, indicating a significant and direct impact on crisis management. Similarly, intellectual capital and organisational culture scored 0.55 and 0.43, indicating a direct positive impact. Moreover, the mediating aspects played by business culture and intellectual capital were also focused on for crisis handling.
Kendrick et al. (2019) presented research titled “Role of strategic human resource management in crisis management in Australian Greenfield hospital sites: a crisis management theory perspective”. This work assessed how strategic human resource management processes contributed to effective crisis handling at Green Hospital, Australia. The researcher employed a comparison-based case study assessment technique. Formal documents like union documents, first-year hospital annual reports, and transcripts of pertinent parliamentary queries were employed for the study. The outcomes indicate that this hospital proactively managed crises during the first year than other Australian medical institutions. This hospital’s “success” is attributed to the ability of its combined operations. In contrast, the outcomes demonstrated gaps concerning handling human resources, specifically related to cohesiveness towards successfully navigating health-related crises.
Horri and Abdolkarimi (2016) conducted research titled “Studying the Effects of Organizational Culture on Effectiveness of Crisis Management”. Two questionnaires were devised to gather data provided to 385 Red Crescent Society personnel associated with rescue and relief operations. These individuals were identified from a set of 52,000 individuals. The Cochran equation was used to identify the sample size requirement at the 95% confidence level. Research outcomes indicated that ineffective partnership, teamwork, employee participation in processes, and better use of individual effort are significant aspects. This work suggested that this practical objective can be fulfilled using coaching and building human resource capability, team direction, and better human resource effectiveness using organisational culture.
Furthermore, performance enhancement and organisational training are some measures that help build resilience. Also, if the entity requires that its mission and culture significantly influence crisis handling processes, personal understanding and ideas must be emphasised, initiative and novel suggestions implemented. Besides, there is a need to identify individuals to build a crisis management team and equip them with the required skills and training to handle crises effectively.
Channa et al. (2019) conducted research titled “Uncovering the Link between Strategic Human Resource Management and Crisis Management”. Their objective was to discover the correlation between strategic HRM and crisis handling using the regular incident concept. This work assessed correlations using organisational resilience as a mediator variable. This quantitative study identified 176 human resource personnel from Pakistani textile firms using the sample survey approach. PLS-SEM was used for data assessment; the outcomes indicated a positive correlation between human resource management and crisis handling, while organisational resilience was a mediator variable. Overall, the study indicated that resilience had a significant role in building a connection between HRM and crisis management.
Theoretical Background
Human resource management
Human resource aspects have been vastly emphasised since the mid-eighties in the previous century; academicians and enterprises have been attentive to this aspect. Human resource management is a cross-discipline organisational aspect built from concepts and ideas from several domains like psychology, economics, sociology, and management.
Human capital management cannot be standardised or idealised to a single approach that could be used for every organisation. It is the case because people have varying needs and complex characteristics. Human resource management effectiveness is significantly affected by the causes and constraints of an organisational environment. Organisations have three fundamental aspects: structure, human capital, and goals (Horvathova et al., 2020).
HRM is a managerial aspect associated with enrolment, motivation, and regulating personnel behaviour in the organisational context. Human resource management emphasises working individuals. The department creates management frameworks to facilitate the best possible use of human abilities to fulfil business goals in the environment defined by the organisation culture, which is the fundamental identity of the organisation (Aswathapa, 2016 ).
Typically, managing organisation employees is the fundamental role of human resource management. This process comprises processes, rules, and practices followed to gather, build, utilise, assess, preserve, and retain the appropriate employee count and skills relevant to achieving organisational goals. Human resource management emphasises optimising employee output to maximise productivity and efficacy and simultaneously fulfil individual objectives (like identifying the desired job, securing promotion, getting recognition). Additionally, societal objectives (like social responsibility goals and legal requirements) must be met (Marchand et al., 2015 ).
Strategic human resource management constitutes practices and human resource processes aligned with organisational strategy. It comprises associating the human resource practice with strategic organisational objectives to enhance efficacy. It is critical for the human resources function to facilitate optimal employee training and skill development to fulfil its strategic responsibility as required by organisational objectives. Therefore, HR needs to establish smooth inter-departmental communication and coordination. Therefore, the HR function can work towards the broader organisational goals (Bratton, 2007 ).
HRM has a critical impact on business sustainability, which is among the top strategic organisational objectives to ensure business continuity during ordinary and extraordinary situations or emergencies. Sustainability is not limited to financial stability or technological innovation; instead, it focuses on employee competencies, experience, and qualifications necessary during critical decisions to fulfil strategic objectives, maintain organisational versatility, and sustain business advantage during crises (Jeronimo et al., 2020 ).
Correspondingly, an organisation should regard human resource management as part of the management structure that emphasises human characteristics like performance and work. Hence, decision-making concerning employee relations affects performance and organisational effectiveness. Human capital and management practices are vital for fulfilling strategic business objectives. Moreover, such practices are critical to ensuring employee welfare, consequently enhancing business performance. Several processes are implemented to ensure adequate human resource management (e.g., creating a work strategy, identifying and assessing potential candidates, performance appraisal and perks, among others) (Armstrong, 2017).
Organizational culture
Organisational culture refers to shared values and processes implemented by organisation employees to create a distinct organisational identity. It offers personnel a candid picture of organisational processes. Organisational culture is an individual perspective concerning the official system, informal managerial working style, numerous attitude aspects, values and understanding, and employee motivation intrinsic to an organisation (Warter & Warter, 2017 ).
The cultural aspect is perceived to connect the organisation with its employees and is responsible for several functions. Culture offers employee identity, reinforces commitment, and enhances social stability. Moreover, culture forges business values and perceptions that direct and build employee attitude and guide behaviour (Coman & Bonciu, 2016 ).
Organisational culture refers to collective morals and beliefs influencing employee behaviour. Such behavioural practices direct organisational processes through several aspects that present fundamentals of the organisation's culture, practices formulated and implemented by groups to perceive and understand issues and practice standards to identify acceptable and unacceptable activities. Culture directs desirable behaviour and builds a perception of image and identity that helps build employee commitment. It is analogous to the identity card because it conveys a distinct organisational image for employees and others (Lupascu-Pruna, 2018 ).
Organisational culture and the role of human resource management
Typically, human resource management has a profound role being the “guardian and guide” to enforce business ethics that define organisational culture. HR managers must consider ethical problems after being wholly informed and diligent with organisational processes.
Organisational culture is the tool that allows an entity to make the best use of its human capital; it comprises shared beliefs and values between personnel and offers guidelines on conduct. Such values originate from employee perception concerning opportunities and devising strategies (Vacile & Nicolescu, 2016).
The HR department should understand culture as an organisational “climate” felt by managers, employees, customers, and other stakeholders. Hence, culture influences quality, service levels, organisational efficiency, financial outcomes, and human capital effectiveness during business-as-usual and crises (Vacile & Nicolescu, 2016). Since HR personnel handle recruitment, employee training, and separation processes, they have a critical role in directing, modifying, and building cultural aspects. The HR department affects an organisation profoundly through its impact on culture based on five primary aspects (Hema, 2015).
Wages/Compensation or Bonuses
The HR department of an organisation typically formulates the salary structure for its personnel; this activity is a critical organisation culture driver. If the compensation structure does not consider employee ability and qualifications, it will likely impact culture adversely. Furthermore, remuneration structure and bonus systems should promote competition to attract skilled employees to the organisation. Also, such policies encourage loyalty and enthusiasm. Employees respond positively to, such aspects, enhancing organisational capability and individual relationships with fellow employees, supervisors, and customers.
Training and development
Employees can build a positive work environment by offering training that focuses on building the capability to handle emergencies or unprecedented events appropriately. Training helps employees think in a specific direction and act in ways that benefit the organisation, align with the culture, and agree with the policy.
Employer-Employee relations
Discussions between the HR department and organisation employees significantly affect organisational culture; these effects start when employees onboard an organisation. The presence of potent conflict addressing techniques, open communication channels, and transparent hierarchy are techniques human resource managers can use to enhance employer-employee relations and contribute to organisational culture.
Leadership
The HR division divides responsibilities, creates guidelines and operating processes for employees and assesses behaviour and performance. Hence, human resource managers, especially those occupying leadership positions, significantly impact employee motivation and organisational culture. HR managers can enhance a culture by specifically mentoring employees when they do not meet organisational requirements. However, rewarding outperforming employees help create motivation.
Human capital
The human capital aspect has been emphasised starting early 2000s; publications and research work by Schultz in 1961 and Baker in 1964 initially addressed this term. It was used to project business as a technique for the importance of individual contribution to organisational success ( Gracioli Camfield et al., 2018).
Human capital has several aspects: varying knowledge, unique skills, ability, characteristics, and aspects intrinsic to individuals; these aspects are significant and correlate to productivity. Moreover, human capital relates to personal knowledge, ability, and skills to generate a productive outcome to generate revenue or profits directly or indirectly (Secundo et al., 2017).
Abo Murad et al. (2021) assessed the requirement to regulate and use legislation at business, industry, and national levels to facilitate and incorporate crisis handling processes and prepare for unusual events. Abo-Murad & Abdullah (2019) used a straightforward approach to specify crisis handling processes for hoteliers and legislators.
Considering an updated management standpoint, human capital refers to the set of assets offered by individuals to organisations during their tenure. Such assets include knowledge, education, professional skills, and age. These assets help drive positive outcomes and build professional expertise from an individual standpoint; consequently, the organisation also benefits (Sharma & Dharni, 2017).
The significance of potent human capital during an emergency and unprecedented situations faced by businesses and society are exemplified by (Andreeva & Garanina, 2016)
1. Participating to assess community needs and devise required plans based on capabilities
2. Strong participation to ensure social safety and stability during crises
3. Offering voluntary social support during crises
4. Transitioning knowledge and expertise from other nations’ experience and society situations during crises to identify optimal crises response and service for the community
Crisis management
Crisis management refers to all processes enacted by organisations to handle an unprecedented or dangerous situation having a sudden occurrence. These efforts are made to ensure that the typical business routine can be restored as fast as possible. Hence, businesses must prepare for crises and implement mitigation plans as effectively as possible when such a situation arises. Furthermore, it includes rapid restoration and returning to the regular order of business after the crisis ends (Yu et al., 2015).
Al-Khrabsheh (2018)indicated that crises management must be enacted strategically for the duration of the situation so that teams can work effectively. Also, businesses can enable personnel to work effectively and motivate others to progress further. Abdallah and Alkhrabsheh (2019) suggested that handling challenges at the leadership level help reduce organisational challenges and enhance solution competitiveness.
These are also considered strategic processes to prevent or mitigate undesirable effects and identify realistic solutions to crises (Sarpong, 2018). Crisis handling is efficacious for ascertaining threat categories for organisations because the response and damage control can be quicker. Crisis handling emphasises preparations for adverse events to limit impact and procedures required to continue management during adverse circumstances loaded with confusion and uncertainty regardless of intrinsic or extrinsic circumstances (Cleeren et al., 2013).
Methodology
The Study Population and Sampling
This study considered 600 individuals working at the Jordanian Ministry of Health, associated government hospitals, and other centres. A sample of 234 employees from the Jordanian Ministry of Health and associated institutions, representing about 39% of the study population, were selected using random sampling. The COVID-19 pandemic-led restrictions necessitated questionnaire delivery using e-mail.
Data Collection
a) Secondary sources: associated with the conceptual and scientific information concerning the domain, e.g., periodicals, research works, journals, and books
b) Primary sources: a questionnaire formulated for this study and distributed to the target sample to collect data
Study Tool
A questionnaire was formulated to meet the requirements of the study; the literature was used to prepare the questionnaire that was split into two parts:
The first part: comprised demographic aspects of the assessed population
The second part: used on axis for every study variable associated questions. There were three axes.
We employed a five-point Likert scale to record perspectives from the sample population.
Validity and Reliability
Cronbach’s Alpha was used to determine questionnaire validity, as specified in Table 1.
| Table 1 Alpha Cronbach’s Test | ||
| Field/Variable | No. of items | α Factor |
| Human resource management | 5 | 248.0 |
| Organizational culture | 9 | 248.0 |
| Human capital | 12 | 24900 |
| Crisis management | 16 | 24899 |
| Total | 42 | 2490 |
Cronbach’s Alpha for all primary aspects of the survey indicates satisfactory reliability (248.0-24900), above the 24.2 threshold. Therefore, reliability and validity were established.
Results and Analysis
Descriptive Statistical Methods
Scientific qualifications
Table 2 indicates the study population based on an educational qualification: Most (90) employees, representing 38.5% of the study population, hold a diploma, followed by 76 individuals (32.5%) having a bachelor’s degree. The sample comprises 68 individuals (29%) with a secondary certificate.
| Table 2 Distribution of the Individuals of the Study Sample According to Scientific Qualifications | ||
| Scientific qualification | No. | % |
| Secondary certificate | 68 | 29 |
| Bachelor | 76 | 32.5 |
| Diploma | 90 | 38.5 |
| Total | 234 | 100 |
Work aspects concerning the Jordanian Ministry of Health
Table 3 presents the study sample distribution based on place of work at the Jordanian Ministry of Health. Here, 72 individuals, representing 32.8% of employees, work at the Ministry’s headquarters. 86 individuals, representing 36.8%, work at dispensaries or clinics. In the third place, 76 individuals, representing 32.4% of employees, are hospital workers.
| Table 3 Distribution of the Individuals of the Study Sample According to Place of work in Jordanian Ministry of Health | ||
| Place of work in Jordanian Ministry of Health | No. | % |
| Head quarter | 72 | 32.8 |
| Clinics/ dispensary | 86 | 36.8 |
| Hospitals | 76 | 32.4 |
| Total | 234 | 100 |
Nature of work
Table 4 presents the data split based on the work performed by employees in the sample set. This set comprises 58 administrative and 176 medical personnel, representing 24.8% and 75.2% of the population.
| Table 4 Distribution of the Individuals of the Study Sample According to Nature of Work | ||
| Nature of work | No. | % |
| Administrative | 58 | 24.8 |
| Medical staff | 176 | 75.2 |
| Total | 234 | 100 |
Age
Table 5 indicates the age distribution of the study set. Here, 95 employees are in the 25-30 years age bracket, representing 40.6% of individuals. Also, 88 employees are over 30 years of age, representing 37.6% of individuals. Further, there are 51 individuals in the 20-24-year range, representing 21.8% of employees.
| Table 5 Distribution of the Individuals of the Study Sample According to Age | ||
| Age | No. | % |
| 20-24 years | 51 | 21.8 |
| 25-30 years | 95 | 40.6 |
| More than 30 years | 88 | 37.6 |
| Total | 234 | 100 |
Gender
Table 6 illustrates the distribution of the individuals of the study sample according to gender. It demonstrates that female employees equal to 128 employees and form the highest percentage of 54.7% while male employees equal to 106 employees with a rate of 45.3%.
| Table 6 Distribution of the Individuals of the Study Sample According to Gender | ||
| Gender | No. | % |
| Male | 128 | 54.7 |
| Female | 106 | 45.3 |
| Total | 234 | 100 |
Individuals enrolled with the crisis management committee at the Ministry
Table 7 shows that 1.76% of the study population had joined crisis management committee at the Ministry compared with a percentage of 9.73% who did not so.
| Table 7 Distribution of the Individuals of the Study Sample According to Joining Crisis Management Committee at The Ministry | ||
| Joining crisis management committee at the Ministry | No. | % |
| Yes | 157 | 67.1 |
| No | 77 | 32.9 |
| Total | 234 | 100 |
Years of Experience
Table 8 shows that 16.7% of the study population had less than 5 years of experience, 18.4% of those with 5 to less than 10 years of experience, 20.9% with 10 to less than 15 years of experience, 20.1% with 15 to less than 15 years’ experience, then 23.9% of those with more than 20 years’ experience.
| Table 8 Distribution of the Individuals of the Study Sample According to Years of Experience | ||
| Years of experience | No. | % |
| Less than 5 years | 39 | 16.7 |
| 5- less than 10 years | 43 | 18.4 |
| 10- less than 15 years | 49 | 20.9 |
| 15- less than 20 years | 47 | 20.1 |
| More than 20 years | 65 | 23.9 |
| Total | 234 | 100 |
Types of experience
Table 9 indicates that 30.3% of individuals were previously involved with administrative duties, 35.9% were medical professionals, and 33.8% had a combination of professional and administrative experience.
| Table 9 Distribution of the Individuals of the Study Sample According to Types of Experience | ||
| Types of experience | No. | % |
| Administrative | 39 | 30.3 |
| Medical professional | 43 | 35.9 |
| Both | 49 | 33.8 |
| Total | 234 | 100 |
Hypotheses Testing
The arithmetic mean and standard deviation calculated for the respondent’s answers as follows:
A Likert 5-point scale used according to the following weight scale:
5 for strongly agree
4 for agree
3 for neutral
2 for disagree
1 for strongly disagree
Accordingly, the hypotheses were tested as follows:
First hypothesis
H1: There is a statistically significant impact of human resources management in performance of crises management that depends on the human capital in the Jordanian Ministry of Health.
To test this hypothesis, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was used, and the results were as shown in Table 10.
| Table 10 Results of Testing the First Hypothesis | |||||||||
| Source | Sqr. Sum | Freedom degrees | Mean sqr | F | sig | R2 | Direct impact | Indirect impact | η2 |
| Between groups | 30.992 | 16 | 1.937 | 3.117 | 0.000 | 0.187 | 0.204 | 0.000 | 0.187 |
| Inside groups | 134.865 | 217 | .621 | ||||||
| Total | 165.857 | 233 | |||||||
Table 10 shows that there is a statistically significant effect at the level of significance (α≥0.05) for human resources management on the performance of crisis management depends on the human capital in the Jordanian Ministry of Health, as this result can be inferred from the level of significance (sig) which came less than the significance level (0.05), thus accepting the alternative hypothesis, and by looking at the square value of the correlation coefficient (R2), which amounted to (0.187), it can be said that there is a low positive relationship between both human resources management and human capital. It is also evident from the table that the size of the direct impact of the Human Resources Department on human capital in the Jordanian Ministry of Health has reached (0.204), with a practical significance of (0.187), which is within the medium term.
Second hypothesis
H2: There is a statistically significant impact of the prevailing organizational culture in the Jordanian Ministry of Health on the performance of crisis management.
To test this hypothesis, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was used, and the results were as shown in Table 11.
| Table 11 Results of Testing the Second Hypothesis | |||||||||
| Source | Sqr. Sum | Freedom degrees | Mean sqr | F | sig | R2 | Direct impact | Indirect impact | η2 |
| Between groups | 33.394 | 21 | 1.590 | 4.612 | 0.000 | 0.314 | 0.508 | 0.000 | 0.931 |
| Inside groups | 73.091 | 212 | 0.3450 | ||||||
| Total | 106.485 | 233 | |||||||
Table 11 shows that there is a statistically significant effect at the level of significance (α≥0.05) of the organizational culture prevailing in the Jordanian Ministry of Health on the effectiveness of crisis management performance, as this result can be inferred from the level of significance (sig), which came Less than the significance level (0.05), thus accepting the alternative hypothesis, and by looking at the square value of the correlation coefficient (R2), which amounted to (0.314), it can be said that there is a moderate positive relationship between both the organizational culture and the effectiveness of crisis management performance. It is also evident from the previous table that the size of the direct impact of organizational culture on the effectiveness of crisis management amounted to (0.508), in practical terms of (0.931), which is within the very large range.
Third hypothesis
H3: There is a statistically significant impact of human capital in the Jordanian Ministry of Health on the performance of crisis management.
To test this hypothesis, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was used, and the results were as shown in Table 12.
| Table 12 Results of Testing the Third Hypothesis | |||||||||
| Source | Sqr. Sum | Freedom degrees | Mean sqr | F | sig | R2 | Direct impact | Indirect impact | η2 |
| Between groups | 90.308 | 36 | 2.509 | 30.548 | 0.000 | 0.848 | 0.556 | 0.000 | 0.848 |
| Inside groups | 16.177 | 197 | 0.082 | ||||||
| Total | 106.485 | 233 | 106.485 | ||||||
Table 12 shows the existence of a statistically significant effect at the level of significance (α ≥ 0.05) for human capital in the Jordanian Ministry of Health on the effectiveness of crisis management performance, as this result can be inferred through the level of significance (sig), which came Less than the level of significance (0.05), thus accepting the alternative hypothesis, and by looking at the square value of the correlation coefficient (R2), which amounted to (0.848), it can be said that there is a high positive relationship between human capital and the effectiveness of crisis management performance. It is also evident from the previous table that the size of the direct impact of human capital in the Jordanian Ministry of Health on the effectiveness of crisis management reached (0.556), in practical terms of (0.848), which is within a very large range.
Fourth hypothesis
H4: There is a statistically significant impact of human resource management in crisis management.
To test this hypothesis, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was used, and the results were as shown in Table 13.
| Table 13 Results of Testing the Fourth Hypothesis | |||||||||
| Source | Sqr. Sum | Freedom degrees | Mean sqr | F | sig | R2 | Direct impact | Indirect impact | η2 |
| Between groups | 15.463 | 16 | 0.966 | 2.304 | 0.004 | 0.145 | -0.280 | 0.254 | 0.145 |
| Inside groups | 91.023 | 217 | 0.419 | ||||||
| Total | 106.485 | 233 | |||||||
Table 13 shows that there is a statistically significant effect at the significance level (α≥0.05) for the human resources management in the Jordanian Ministry of Health on the effectiveness of crisis management performance, as this result can be inferred through the level of significance (sig), which came Less than the level of significance (0.05), thus accepting the alternative hypothesis, and by looking at the square value of the correlation coefficient (R2), which amounted to (0.145), it can be said that there is a low positive relationship between both human resources management and the effectiveness of crisis management. It is also evident from the previous table that the size of the direct impact of the Human Resources Department in the Jordanian Ministry of Health on the effectiveness of crisis management amounted to (-0.280), while the indirect impact of it reached (0.254), in practical terms of (0.145) and it is within the large range.
Conclusion
This work discussed the strategic role of human resource management and its effects on crisis handling performance, considering human capital and prevailing organisational culture as mediating variables. Moreover, the degree of human capital and organisational culture effects on human resource efficacy in the Jordanian Ministry of Health context is specified from a crisis handling perspective. The outcomes of statistical assessment of the research sample indicated the following:
The outcomes suggest that 44% of the sample population has work experience between 15 and 20 years, indicating that these individuals garnered extensive experience and faced several situations during work at the Ministry. This experience is discussed in the context of potential crises precipitating at the Ministry or State. These experiences could have strengthened employee competencies and ability to start effective crisis response because of previous experience. Most individuals from the identified research sample participated in the crisis handling groups, demonstrating a propensity to play an active role as human capital in the context of the Jordanian Ministry of Health. The Ministry issues comprehensive guidelines and processes for every worker. Personnel are committed to following the Ministry's recommendations and procedures, regardless of their experience in the organisation. It indicates that employees' work is completed in compliance with the labour laws and prevailing policies because it is easy to understand regulations.
Hypothesis testing indicated acceptance of the first hypothesis which states “the presence of a statistically significant effect at the α ≥ 0.05 significance level for human resource management in crisis handling depends on human capital at the Jordanian Ministry of Health.” The second hypothesis states: “The organisational culture at the Jordanian Ministry of Health significantly affects crisis handling performance at the α ≥ 0.05 significance level. The third hypothesis was validated “Human capital is statistically significantly associated with crisis handling performance at the Jordanian Ministry of Health”. Similarly, the fourth hypothesis stating, “Human resource management is statistically significantly associated with crisis handling,” was also validated.
Study outcomes indicated a positive and high correlation between human capital and crisis handling performance at the Jordanian Ministry of Health. Ministry employees have appreciable confidence to complete and deliver business outcomes during crises without hesitation. The Ministry facilitates such propensity by equipping personnel with the skills required to handle and mitigate the crisis by involving employees in regular training sessions. The outcomes highlighted the Ministry’s propensity to provide gradual improvement concerning performance processes to enhance efficiency. The Ministry uses educational and training mechanisms among the critical investment areas to enhance human capital, facilitating adequate and crisis management performance as required for crisis response.
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