Assessing the Impact on SME’s Governance and Resilience in the Period of COVID- 19 Crisis in Kenya

Abstract

The novel 2019 coronavirus (Covid-19) was first appeared in China as a contagious upper respiratory disease. The disease has since spread worldwide showing one of the utmost serious global health crises in history, with high socio-economic costs. While the health effects were directly through contamination, the economic impacts were largely a consequence of the preventive rules adopted by the respective governments to limit the spread including the closing of their borders and partial or total lockdowns of economies which among other things, have seen the temporary closure of businesses, schools and social services. Therefore, these rules have generated important setbacks for Africa’s economies mostly in terms of lost productivity and trade both within and among countries. Precisely, these rules have importantly strained practically all key growth enhancing sectors of many economies, and ultimately, on their overall income. Thus, different institutions in governments of Africa countries have put forward estimates of the anticipated economic losses that could follow the introduction of government measures to restraint the Covid-19 pandemic. Although its impact on the world’s health systems including the rise in mortalities, and the economic toll is still unclear as the world faces an extraordinary global recession. The objective of this study is to look into the factors that influence the resilience of SMEs in Kenya during the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of entrepreneurial characteristics, technology use, government support, and governance factors on risk management, which in turn ensures the resilience of SMEs. As a result, we used the structural equation method and the SMART PLS3 software to conduct a quantitative analysis of 80 Kenya’s SMEs. Our findings indicate a positive and significant relationship between entrepreneurial characteristics, governance factors, and crisis management.