The Use of Digital Media as Communication Channel During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Challenges and Prospects for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

The seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic and the lock down measures brought about a lot of changes in the life style of individuals. Online communication amongst businesses and their Customers has become the new normal as consumers can now order and receive their daily needs conveniently at their homes. The major aim of the study was to ascertain whether the MSMEs in the TRNC actually joined people in many other places to ameliorate the pandemic situation by making effective use of the digital media in buying and selling during and after the lock down measures. Five research questions and three hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The study adopted the survey research design using respondents in the whole of TRNC as the population of study. Three out of the five regions were randomly selected from where a sample of n= 397 respondents were also selected using the simple random sampling technique. A self-designed questionnaire in the five-point Likert format was administered on the respondents. The items focused on issues such as the digital communication media mostly used in interacting and the challenges met. The data were collected and analyzed using the test for significant difference. Furthermore, the data obtained was used in making statistical inferences about the population represented by the sample. A reliability test was done to find the reliability Cronbach alpha of the questions asked and the results indicate: α. .90. The ratings are based on the use, opinion, and experiences of the respondents on the digital communication channels used in interacting during the Coronavirus pandemic. Among the discoveries made was that, during the COVID-19 lockdown MSMEs predominately preferred to use digital media as a means of communication in TRNC and others. The study therefore makes recommendation for further studies.