Do Government Interventions and Transformational Leadership Matter? A Moderation-Mediation Analysis of SME Performance During COVID-19 in Ghana

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused massive economic shocks, hurting companies and disrupting global production and consumption of markets, organizations, and commodities. This study investigates the effect of government intervention and transformational leadership on the relationship between COVID-19 containment measures and the performance of SMEs in Ghana's beverage manufacturing sector. Employing exploratory and cross-sectional design, we gathered empirical data using a quantitative research method. Participants completed research questionnaires independently, without any assistance from researchers, to provide data for the study. The questionnaires were self-administered. The data was collected from 100 SMEs, each with 500 leaders, owners, or CEOs. A structural equation model was used to analyze the data. The results showed that COVID-19 containment measures positively influenced SMEs' beverage businesses and transformational leadership. Results showed that transformational leadership significantly impacted the performance of SME beverage firms. The finding also indicated that government interventions significantly influenced the performance of SME beverage firms. The results showed that the performance of SME beverage firms and COVID-19 containment measures were mediated by transformational leadership style. However, government interventions have had a positive effect but did not moderate COVID-19 containment measures and the performance of SME beverage firms. The study contributes to the body of knowledge in the literature by establishing empirical evidence about how COVID-19 containment measures affect the performance of beverage manufacturing SMEs through the moderating effect of government intervention and the mediating effect of transformational leadership as