Role of ICT for workers’ safety at the workplace during pandemics: evidence from global data

Abstract

Purpose – This study contributes to the extant literature on ICT firms by investigating the interrelationship between the health and safety (H&S) measures, market performance, and the coronavirus (COVID-19). Design/methodology/approach – To conduct the confirmatory analysis by testing our hypotheses, data have been collected from Bloomberg of all ICT firms from five countries. The authors gathered from 2010 until 2020 as the research sample to examine the pandemic impact on market performance and H&S measures. Findings – First, our results reveal a significant and positive relationship between market performance (proxied by Tobin’s Q) and the H&S measures of information technology (IT) firms. Second, the authors find that the IT firms have significantly increased the H&S measures during the COVID-19 period and were dynamic in linking employees’ adaptive capabilities to positive attributes. This has contributed to business success, resiliency, and sustainability. Research limitations/implications – The authors used a quantitative method of testing our hypotheses. Future studies may consider checking the robustness using qualitative methods such as structural or semi-structural interviews. Practical implications – The study offers valuable insights to academics, practitioners, stakeholders, policymakers, and international entities by fostering knowledge about responses to crises, integrating digital solutions, and disseminating digital information. The study also has implications on the health, social, business, and economic levels. This study is a call for international and local humanitarian organisations such as United Nations High Commission, Care international and many more to understand the gravity of safety of the workers in the workplace during the pandemic period and introduce a firm-level policy accordingly. Originality/value – This paper is novel considering that the paper is unique in evaluating ICT firms’ market performance and H&S from a global perspective, considering the context of this historical pandemic.

Keywords

• ICT firms
• Market performance
• COVID-19
• Health and safety measures
• Probit model
• Quantile regression