Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship

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 paper shows that in absence of any physical collateral, sequential group lending with joint-liability fails to guarantee loan repayment by borrowers because of the coordination problem among the borrowers. The model finds that under certain conditions, profits can be higher under joint-liability group lending if one can ensure peer pressure is adequate to guarantee there is no strategic default, i.e., repayment when the borrower has earned enough to be able to repay. From the lender’s point of view, the individual lending contract may turn out to be a better option than joint-liability group lending under certain circumstances.

This research aims to analyze the strategies of immigrant women in the mid-range restaurant industry in Burkina Faso. It is precisely a question of identifying and characterizing the strategic choices that enable these women to establish themselves in this sector of activity. The results show that the restaurateurs studied rely on their (ethnic) culinary capital to serve a non-ethnic clientele; this corresponds to an integration strategy or an intermediate minority attitude. However, these restaurateurs often have to go through the enclave strategy before the integration phase. Highlighting this dynamic approach to entrepreneurial strategies contributes to enriching the literature on immigrant entrepreneurship in general, especially immigrant women’s entrepreneurship.

Although research on entrepreneurship in the micro and small firms has been the subject of much scholarly attention, it has been mostly on the formal rather than informal economy. Drawing on the push and pull theory, this paper uses Principal Component Analysis to examine the motivations influencing entrepreneurs to venture into informal sector entrepreneurship in a specific South African municipal context. Against a background of addressing their constraints to growth, the prospects of formalization were considered, using logistic regression. The results, based on a sample of 160 entrepreneurs, show that even in the informal economy, pull factors are the uppermost motivations, apparently stronger than push factors, in influencing individuals to partake in microenterprise entrepreneurship. The logistic results indicate that even when some internal and external growth constraints are addressed, the likelihood of the entrepreneurs’ formalizing their business is not encouraging. Although alleviation of the growth hurdles may assist in enhancing entrepreneurial competence, it does not necessarily favor formalization, but enables a lock-in contentment effect to the informal sector. Against this inertia, implications for policy makers are presented.

This paper evaluates the effect of unregistered and informal sector business ventures on the growth of formal sector enterprises. The hypotheses tested is that formal sector enterprises that have to compete against unregistered or informal sector business ventures suffer from lower levels of performance, measured by annual sales growth, annual employment growth and annual productivity growth. To evaluate this thesis, data is reported from a World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) of 760 enterprises in Italy collected in 2019. The finding is that formal sector enterprises that report competing against unregistered or informal sector business ventures have significantly lower annual sales growth and annual productivity growth than enterprises that do not. The paper concludes by discussing the theoretical and policy implications, along with the limitations of the study and future research required.

Closing the infrastructural gaps and fostering the entrepreneurial processes are considered the key to reduce African unemployment and boost productivity to achieve inclusive development. Therefore, investment in infrastructure is crucial for creating a conducive entrepreneurial environment. In this paper, we provide a contribution for this purpose, by evaluating the impact of infrastructure on entrepreneurship in a panel of twenty African countries for a period of 2006–2018. Consistent with previous studies, we find that infrastructures play a significant role in improving entrepreneurial development. In specific, we show that transport, electricity, water and sanitation facilities, ICT and broadband infrastructures have a positive and significant effect on entrepreneurial startups in Africa. Our reports show clearly there is a positive association between infrastructures and entrepreneurial startups at a one percent significance level. These findings are robust to alternative estimation. It points out that physical infrastructure is more relevant in the case of less developed countries in promoting entrepreneurial development.

Drawing from Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), the purpose of the study is to enhance understanding of the intention formation mechanism within the context of perceived barriers and self-efficacy (SE). The current study assesses whether SE mediates the relationship between perceived barriers and entrepreneurial intention (EI). The study specifically analyzed the relationship among perceived barriers, SE and EI. In addition, the direct and indirect effects of perceived barriers on intention are examined. Based on a survey of 471 undergraduate students who have taken management courses, our findings suggest the SE level of potential entrepreneurs is not sufficient to determine the intention formation even if the decisive effect of SE on EI is found. Therefore, in contrast to earlier studies, the results obtained from this study reveal the necessity to take into account the deterrent effect of the perceived barriers to evaluating the effect of SE in the formation of EI.