Small business, big leadership

Business professor publishes research on understanding small retail business continuity during COVID-19

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, small retail businesses became particularly vulnerable to the disruptions caused by the pandemic and made them particularly vulnerable to closing their doors indefinitely. As a result, small business leaders had to quickly take action to find solutions to mandatory quarantining.

Inspired by these small retailers and their owners, Tom Turner, Ph.D., an assistant professor of business, worked with a team of researchers from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville to publish the article, A Contingency Theory Approach to Understanding Small Retail Business Continuity During COVID-19 (view article).

“How were these owners and managers dealing with changes? How were they responding to all the protocols being exerted on retailers? How was their business changing? What were their leadership challenges? These were all questions we wanted to explore,” shared Turner.

Through a qualitative approach, the researchers conducted in-depth interviews from December 2020 through June 2021 with 12 small retail leaders in the southeastern United States. Using the contingency management theory as a lens to review the data, the researchers were interested to see how these leaders responded to internal factors such as employees and finances as well as external factors such as banks, stakeholders and customers.

“Looking at the leadership concept itself, contingency management theory delves into how leaders/organizational leadership are making decisions as things are happening, situational leadership, and then how they can adjust their behavior internally and externally, as the situation presents itself. And in this case, that situation was the start of the pandemic,” Turner said.

Through thematic data analysis, the research findings showed that these leaders displayed a resilient mindset, responding to the crisis by finding creative means to overcome challenges and adversity. The team developed a conceptual model named P.A.I.R., showing that the driving traits of resiliency of these retailers were a centered in actions related to four categories: passion, agility, innovation and relationships (P.A.I.R.).  

“We saw leaders stepping up, leading in multiple ways while juggling responsibilities simultaneously. The real resiliency (of these leaders) comes through in the research data. Turner shared, “None of these leaders, were like, ‘Oh, well, we’re going to fold or just give up and shut down.’ They were all very creative and resourceful in the ways they were making these adjustments in real-time,” Turner said. “Some of these retailers weren’t online or providing curbside options – but they quickly had to change processes while also focusing on their people (employees, customers) and internal finances. They focused on doing whatever they could to keep their employees employed, establishing different relationships with their vendors and suppliers, while maintaining the value of working within the community.”

As the pandemic continues, Turner believes this research will act as a launchpad for future studies. “It will be interesting to see past COVID-19. How are these businesses responding in a new and improved era and what changes are temporary and permanent?” 

Currently, Turner is working on publishing an article related to the “Covid Consumer” based on data collected from consumers in the U.S. during the same time period.