TY - JOUR
T1 - The influence of exchange rate fluctuations on Import-Export performance in ghana
T2 - moderated by hedging strategies
AU - Annan, Edward
AU - Marfo, Mensah
AU - Ofei, Eleazer Fianko
AU - Aidoo, Theresa Adusei Peasah
AU - Dei, De Graft Johnson
AU - Anane-Donkor, Linda
AU - Puttick, Constance Phyllis
AU - Hope, Eric
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.
PY - 2026/1
Y1 - 2026/1
N2 - Ghana’s trade competitiveness has increasingly been tested by persistent exchange-rate volatility, yet the extent to which small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can buffer its effects through hedging remains insufficiently understood. Drawing on a two-wave longitudinal survey of 589 SMEs in Accra and Tema, this study employs Smart PLS-SEM 3 to estimate the direct and moderating effects of hedging strategies on the currency–performance links. The results demonstrate that exchange-rate fluctuations exert a negative and statistically significant drag on SMEs’ import-export performance, emphasizing the vulnerability of trade outcomes to currency instability. By contrast, hedging instruments, including forwards, options, swaps, and netting, are found to enhance trade performance directly while also moderating the exchange-rate effect: at high hedging intensity, adverse impacts of volatility are neutralised or reversed, enabling well-hedged firms to convert currency swings into competitive advantage. These findings highlight hedging not only as a financial safeguard but as a strategic capability, consistent with the Resource-Based View (RBV) and Contingency Theory, which explain why some SMEs thrive under turbulence while others falter. The study offers understanding for managers and policymakers by stressing the institutionalisation of risk management systems and the adoption of derivative instruments as pathways to stabilise SME trade performance in volatile currency environments.
AB - Ghana’s trade competitiveness has increasingly been tested by persistent exchange-rate volatility, yet the extent to which small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can buffer its effects through hedging remains insufficiently understood. Drawing on a two-wave longitudinal survey of 589 SMEs in Accra and Tema, this study employs Smart PLS-SEM 3 to estimate the direct and moderating effects of hedging strategies on the currency–performance links. The results demonstrate that exchange-rate fluctuations exert a negative and statistically significant drag on SMEs’ import-export performance, emphasizing the vulnerability of trade outcomes to currency instability. By contrast, hedging instruments, including forwards, options, swaps, and netting, are found to enhance trade performance directly while also moderating the exchange-rate effect: at high hedging intensity, adverse impacts of volatility are neutralised or reversed, enabling well-hedged firms to convert currency swings into competitive advantage. These findings highlight hedging not only as a financial safeguard but as a strategic capability, consistent with the Resource-Based View (RBV) and Contingency Theory, which explain why some SMEs thrive under turbulence while others falter. The study offers understanding for managers and policymakers by stressing the institutionalisation of risk management systems and the adoption of derivative instruments as pathways to stabilise SME trade performance in volatile currency environments.
KW - Contingency theory
KW - Exchange‑Rate volatility
KW - Ghanaian SMEs
KW - Hedging strategies
KW - Import‑Export performance
KW - Resource‑Based view
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105026364392
U2 - 10.1007/s43546-025-01027-y
DO - 10.1007/s43546-025-01027-y
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:105026364392
SN - 2662-9399
VL - 6
JO - SN Business and Economics
JF - SN Business and Economics
IS - 1
M1 - 32
ER -