An Empirical Analysis Of Covid-19 Realities Influencing Small Business Behavior

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.