Abstract

Purpose: This study examined the effect of situational, transformational, and transactional leadership on the firm survival of restaurants distribution in Thailand during the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the existing literature, situational, transformational, and transactional leadership are the origin of firm performance leading to firm survival. Therefore, situational, transformational, and transactional leadership were the critical factors in creating the firm implementation of restaurants distribution in Thailand. Research design, data, and methodology: The sample consisted of 400 restaurants in Thailand, and the statistical approach for data analysis was an ordinary least-squares regression. The study analyzed the response bias, validity, and reliability. Results: Significantly, these findings firmly revealed that situational, transformational, and transactional leadership primarily positively affected firm performance. However, the uncertain environmental conditions had a moderate impact, resulting in a negative correlation between the three leadership styles and the company's performance. Conclusions: Despite the COVID-19 situation in Thailand, the research findings show no significant positive correlation between the performance of restaurants distribution and their survival as a business due to the COVID-19 pandemic is rare for firms to endure and survive, including restaurants distribution in Thailand. In conclusion, we have presented practical and theoretical ideas and recommendations for future research.