The Role of Positive Work Environments in Enhancing Employee Performance: Post-COVID-19 Myanmar’s Healthcare Sector

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed significant weaknesses in healthcare systems, particularly in maintaining employee performance under conditions of heightened uncertainty, psychological stress, and workforce shortages. In Myanmar, these challenges were intensified by resource constraints and institutional instability, highlighting the need to better understand workplace factors that sustain employee performance. This conceptual paper examines the influence of bonuses, recognition, and job security on healthcare employee performance during the COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of Herzberg’s Motivation–Hygiene Theory. The study adopts a conceptual review approach by synthesizing existing literature and contextual evidence to develop a theoretical framework linking motivational and hygiene factors with employee performance in Myanmar’s healthcare sector. The proposed framework identifies bonuses and recognition as key motivational factors that enhance employee engagement, commitment, and productivity, while job security functions as a hygiene factor that reduces dissatisfaction, strengthens psychological stability, and supports sustained performance. Based on the reviewed literature, three propositions are advanced, suggesting positive relationships between bonuses, recognition, job security, and employee performance. The framework further indicates that recognition is likely to exert the strongest influence on performance, with bonuses reinforcing organizational commitment and job security providing a supportive foundation for workforce resilience. This study contributes to the literature by extending Herzberg’s Motivation–Hygiene Theory to a crisis-affected healthcare context and offers a conceptual framework to guide future empirical research. The findings also provide practical insights for healthcare administrators and policymakers seeking to strengthen employee motivation, organizational resilience, and workforce performance during future public health emergencies.