ENTREPRENEURIAL DRIVE AND THE INFORMAL ECONOMY IN CAMEROON

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (04) ◽  
pp. 1450024 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRISTOPHER F. ACHUA ◽  
ROBERT N. LUSSIER
Keyword(s):  
Informal Economy ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Formal Economy ◽  
Curve Effect ◽  
Street Corner ◽  
Do So

There is a growing appreciation for the value and impact of the informal economy on the lives and livelihood of many in developing economies. A key question for researchers has been whether those operating in it do so out of necessity or voluntarily as opportunity seekers? Unlike previous studies that have examined the informal economy as one large block, this paper took a slightly different tangent. First, we analyzed and identified three distinct sub-groups within the informal entrepreneurial sector — the street walker (st. walker), the street corner (st. corner) and store owner (st. owner) — and then examined each group's motives. Reporting the results of face-to-face structured interviews with 200 informal entrepreneurs in Cameroon (West Africa), the finding is that the majority, especially st. walker and st. corner informal entrepreneurs, are predominantly necessity-driven while st. owner entrepreneurs are predominantly opportunity-driven. Our study also revealed a progression pattern whereby st. walkers do progress to st. corner and ultimately to st. owner entrepreneurs. The assumption is that this does create a learning curve effect in the entrepreneurial abilities and effectiveness of store owners. This is an area for future research. There are policy implications for institutional support that can grow the informal economy into the formal economy.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AMONG INFORMAL ENTREPRENEURS: EVIDENCE FROM MEXICO

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (03) ◽  
pp. 2050021
Author(s):  
CRISTIAN E. VILLANUEVA ◽  
ADRIANELA ANGELES ◽  
LUZ CECILIA REVILLA
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Mexico City ◽  
Informal Sector ◽  
Informal Economy ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Formal Economy ◽  
Formal Organizations

Social responsibility (SR) has been widely studied within formal organizations, especially in large companies in developed countries. However, studies about SR in the informal sector is still insufficient. Addressing this gap is relevant for developing countries where informality is becoming extensive and is growing faster than the formal economy. This research has two main objectives: (1) determine whether in an informal economy context, entrepreneurs could perform SR and (2) if it is possible to have SR, to examine critically the way informal entrepreneurs perform it. To achieve these objectives, this study conducted 50 face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with informal entrepreneurs (IEs) in Mexico City. The outcome of this research shows evidence that IEs can perform SR in an implicit form, despite their adverse and vulnerable conditions.

THE NATURE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE INFORMAL SECTOR: EVIDENCE FROM ENGLAND

2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (02) ◽  
pp. 239-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
COLIN C. WILLIAMS
Keyword(s):  
Informal Sector ◽  
Third World ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The Public ◽  
Informal Workers ◽  
Formal Economy ◽  
Informal Entrepreneurship ◽  
Conventional Representation

Mirroring the representation of informal workers in a third world context as displaying entrepreneurial qualities, recent years have witnessed the emergence of a similar view of the informal sector in western nations as a hidden enterprise culture. Until now, however, few attempts have been made to analyze the nature and motives of informal entrepreneurs in western economies. Instead, it has been widely assumed that those engaged in entrepreneurship in the informal sector are those marginalized from the formal economy and driven out of necessity into this endeavor as a last resort. The aim of this paper is to evaluate critically this "marginalization thesis". Reporting the findings of face-to-face structured interviews with 130 informal entrepreneurs in England, the conventional representation of these entrepreneurs as necessity-driven, as well as an emergent depiction of them as opportunity-driven, is transcended. Instead, a richer and more textured understanding of informal entrepreneurship is developed that replaces such either/or thinking by a both/and approach that depicts how the majority are concurrently both necessity- and opportunity-driven. The paper then concludes by exploring the public policy implications of this rereading of the nature of informal entrepreneurship in western economies.

EVALUATING THE MOTIVES OF INFORMAL ENTREPRENEURS IN KOFORIDUA, GHANA

2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (01) ◽  
pp. 1250005 ◽  
Author(s):  
KWAME ADOM ◽  
COLIN C. WILLIAMS
Keyword(s):  
Informal Economy ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Formal Economy ◽  
Majority World ◽  
Informal Entrepreneurship ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Economic Necessity ◽  
Gender Variations

In recent years, there has been growing recognition in the entrepreneurship literature that many entrepreneurs operate in the informal economy and that not all these informal entrepreneurs are doing so out of economic necessity and because of a lack of choice. Instead, it has been asserted that some of these informal entrepreneurs choose to exit the formal economy and trade on an off-the-books basis more as a matter of choice. However, until now most research displaying this has been conducted in advanced western and post-socialist economies. Little has been written on whether this is also the case in third (majority) world countries. This paper starts to fill this gap by evaluating informal entrepreneurs' motives in sub-Saharan Africa. Reporting the results of face-to-face structured interviews with 80 informal entrepreneurs in Ghana, the finding is that the majority, especially the women informal entrepreneurs, are predominantly necessity-driven while those who are principally intentional participants in informal entrepreneurship are men. However, many women who initially entered informal entrepreneurship out of necessity have over time become more opportunity-driven entrepreneurs. The outcome is a call for wider research in other global regions on informal entrepreneurs' motives and whether similar gender variations prevail.

EVALUATING ENTREPRENEURS’ MOTIVES FOR PARTICIPATING IN THE INFORMAL SECTOR IN EUROPE

2021 ◽  
pp. 2150002
Author(s):  
COLIN C. WILLIAMS
Keyword(s):  
Informal Sector ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Liberal Theory ◽  
Economic Decision ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Formal Economy ◽  
Structuralist Theory ◽  
Economic Necessity ◽  
Do So

Informal entrepreneurs have been viewed variously as reluctant participants in such endeavors doing so out of economic necessity because of their exclusion from formal work and welfare (structuralist theory), or as willing entrepreneurs who voluntarily exit the formal economy either as a rational economic decision (neo-liberal theory) or as social actors who do not agree with the formal rules and regulations of the state (neo-institutional theory). The aim of this paper is to evaluate these competing theorizations of entrepreneurs’ motives for participating in the informal sector. Reporting evidence from a 2019 Eurobarometer survey involving 27,565 face-to-face interviews in 28 European countries, the finding is that five percent are reluctant participants, twenty percent are willing participants doing so as a rational economic decision, 21 percent are willing participants doing so because of their disagreement with the rules and 54 percent do so for a mixture of these motives. A logistic regression analysis reveals who is more likely to engage in informal entrepreneurship and who is significantly more likely to do so for each motive. The theoretical and policy implications are then discussed.

scholarly journals Evaluating working conditions in the informal economy: Evidence from the 2015 European Working Conditions Survey

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin C Williams ◽  
Ioana Alexandra Horodnic
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Regression ◽  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Logistic Regression Analysis ◽  
Informal Economy ◽  
Mixed Effects ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Formal Economy ◽  
European Working ◽  
European Working Conditions Survey

Although it is widely held that working conditions in the informal economy are worse than in the formal economy, little evidence has been so far provided. The aim of this article is to fill this lacuna by comparing the working conditions of informal employees with formal employees using the 2015 European Working Conditions Survey. Multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression analysis provides a nuanced and variegated appreciation of which working conditions are worse for informal employees, which are no different, and which are better for informal than formal employees. The article concludes by discussing the theoretical and policy implications.

Informal sellers and formal markets: a habitus gap

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaqueline Pels ◽  
Luis Araujo ◽  
Tomas Andres Kidd
Keyword(s):  
Informal Economy ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Market Access ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Theory Development ◽  
Market Transition ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Informal Markets ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Market Transitions

Purpose In developing economies, 30% of the gross domestic product on average is undertaken by unregistered businesses. The informal economy leads to high opportunity costs by preventing gains from trade with strangers. To overcome this obstacle, sellers who usually operate in the informal economy should strive to move to formal markets. Current theories are drawn from a view of markets as institutions governed by formal and informal rules. In a nutshell, informal-formal market transitions must be met with a regulative solution. However, the overall results have been disappointing. This failure invites a re-diagnosis of the problem that informal sellers face to act in formal markets and suggesting novel solutions. This paper aims to address this gap. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual paper. The authors adopt MacInnis’s (2011) framework to characterize the approach to theory development. Findings The authors argue that extant views of formal/informal markets differences address only one of Scott’s (2014) three pillars (regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive). By drawing on Bourdieu’s legacy, the authors propose a cultural-cognitive reading of institutions and suggest it offers a lens to understand the problem as an access challenge, and thus a marketing problem. This perspective allows us to conceptualize informal/formal markets as two distinct institutional fields and argues that all individuals inhabit a particular habitus and contend that moving between markets requires a habitus shift. Thus, acting in formal markets involves bridging a habitus gap. Finally, the authors argue the need for a market-facing intermediary that takes on a market habitus bridging role. Research limitations/implications The authors suggest future research efforts could benefit from this new conceptual lens as a means of re-diagnosing other forms of market access that have produced disappointing results. Practical implications By looking at differences between formal and informal markets as a habitus gap, the allocation of public funds to support transitions can be better targeted and spent. Social implications The concept of market-facing intermediaries suggests that the beneficiary (e.g. informal seller) and target populations can be different. This insight could catalyze social innovation and trigger novel perspectives to design systemic solutions. Originality/value Conceptualizing the formal-informal market transition as a habitus gap suggests new directions to resolve access challenges and a new mediator solution.

scholarly journals Evaluating the Use of Personal Networks to Circumvent Formal Processes: A Case Study of Vruzki in Bulgaria

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin C. Williams ◽  
Junhong Yang
Keyword(s):  
Policy Implications ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Income Groups ◽  
Personal Connections ◽  
Values And Beliefs ◽  
The Unemployed ◽  
Formal Procedures ◽  
Reporting Data

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to evaluate the prevalence and distribution of the use of personal connections to circumvent formal procedures by soliciting favours for and from others, known as vruzki, and how this can be explained and tackled. Reporting data from 2,005 face-to-face interviews conducted in late 2015 in Bulgaria, the finding is that 30 per cent of respondents had used vruzki in the 12 months prior to the survey, particularly when accessing medical services and finding a job. Estimating a logit model and then calculating the marginal effects, the population groups significantly more likely to have used vruzki are those whose norms, values and beliefs are not in symmetry with the formal laws and regulations, perceiving the penalties and detection risks as higher, those reporting their financial situation as very comfortable, and the highest income groups, but also younger people, the unemployed, and those living in larger households. The paper concludes by discussing the theoretical and policy implications along with the future research required.

The fate of indigenous knowledge: The role played by libraries in Tanzania

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 489-502
Author(s):  
Debora Mbilinyi ◽  
Elias M Mwabungulu
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Do So

The study aimed at assessing libraries’ role in sustaining indigenous knowledge (IK) in Tanzania. To do so, an exploratory design that used face to face semi-structured interviews and non-participatory observations were employed to collect data. The study has established that libraries play an insignificant role in collecting IK, especially when it comes to its codification. However, the libraries have also been found to play a good role at preservation of IK and use a number of ways to disseminate and promote IK usage. Unfortunately, these efforts face a number of challenges including insufficiency of funds and lack of interest in IK.

EVALUATING THE IMPACTS OF STARTING UP UNREGISTERED ON FIRM PERFORMANCE IN AFRICA

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (03) ◽  
pp. 1750017 ◽  
Author(s):  
COLIN C. WILLIAMS ◽  
ABBI M. KEDIR
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Productivity Growth ◽  
Informal Economy ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Formal Economy ◽  
World Bank Enterprise Survey ◽  
Enterprise Survey

The aim of this paper is to contribute to an understanding of the entrepreneurship process in Africa by evaluating the link between starting up unregistered and future firm performance. The widespread assumption has been that firms starting up unregistered in the informal economy suffer from poor performance compared to those starting up registered and in the formal economy. To test this poorer performance thesis, World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) data is evaluated from across 41 African countries covering the period from 2006 to 2013. Controlling for a comprehensive set of other determinants of firm performance, the finding is that formal enterprises with five or more employees that started up unregistered have significantly higher annual sales, employment and productivity growth rates compared with those firms that registered their operations at startup. The paper concludes by discussing the theoretical and policy implications of this finding.

scholarly journals What Determines Bond Market Development? New Theoretical Insights

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ameenullah Aman ◽  
Asmadi Mohamed Naim ◽  
Mohamad Yazid Isa
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Capital ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Banking System ◽  
Bond Market ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Market Development ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Secondary Markets ◽  
Financial Factors

Purpose- To diversify financing portfolio and reduce the reliance on the banking system, developing economies have realized the importance of bond market development. Bond markets facilitate economies to be more resilient towards the events of financial crises. Therefore, the share of the bond market in the financial system of the Asian economies has remarkably increased in the last decade. However, the academic literature on the bond market is very limited as compared to bank and equity markets. This was mainly because of the unavailability of vast data due to the absence of secondary markets for bonds in most of the economies. To fill this gap, this conceptual study postulates the theoretical relationships of bond market with various macroeconomic and financial factors. The study also assumes some new dimensions for bond financing and opens discussion for scholarly literature and empirical justifications.  Design/Methodology- Content analysis approach is used to review relevant literature for the possible associations of the bond market with macroeconomic and financial factors.  Practical Implications- The theoretical relationships discussed in the paper need empirical testing in future research to conclude policy implications. If the relationship between foreign capital and bond securities is established with empirical justification, we draw the policy that concerned authorities need to create a suitable environment for the attraction of foreign capital to provide support to the development of domestic debt market.

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