Abstract:
The novel coronavirus otherwise known as Covid-19 has opened the
world to new abnormal “realities” that are posing serious business-related
challenges to both national and global economies. This study examines the various
realities--in the form of variables--associated with the Covid-19 pandemic and
determines the influence of these realities on the behavior of micro, small and medium
scale businesses. The data was collected using interview and structured
questionnaire. The questionnaire was administered to 1883 respondents across five
states in Nigeria using convenient sampling. Twenty-four variables were identified
and Exploratory Factor Analysis was used to examine these variables reducing the
number to sixteen influencing variables. Multiple Regression was used to determine
the contributions of these variables to the behavior of micro, small, and medium scale
businesses. The study findings indicate that eleven of these variables were statistically
significant and eight significantly influence the behavior of these businesses.
