IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/entreg/v24y2012i9-10p895-915.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Tackling the hidden enterprise culture: Government policies to support the formalization of informal entrepreneurship

Author

Listed:
  • Colin C. Williams
  • Sara Nadin

Abstract

It is now recognized that many entrepreneurs operate wholly or partially in the informal economy. Harnessing this hidden enterprise culture by facilitating its formalization is therefore a potentially effective and innovative means of promoting economic development and growth. To start evaluating how this might be achieved, the aim of this paper is to understand entrepreneurs’ motives for operating in the informal economy so as to identify the public policy interventions required to facilitate the formalization of this hidden enterprise culture. Reporting a survey of 51 nascent entrepreneurs in North Nottinghamshire, of which 43 were operating in the informal economy, the finding is that entrepreneurs’ rationales for working informally differ according to both whether they operate wholly in the informal economy or have registered enterprises but trade partially off-the-books, as well as whether they view themselves as on a journey towards formalization or not. Different policy measures are therefore required to tackle each type of informal entrepreneurship. The outcome is a tentative call for a more nuanced and bespoke policy approach for tackling the different kinds of informal entrepreneurship that comprise the hidden enterprise culture.

Suggested Citation

  • Colin C. Williams & Sara Nadin, 2012. "Tackling the hidden enterprise culture: Government policies to support the formalization of informal entrepreneurship," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(9-10), pages 895-915, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:entreg:v:24:y:2012:i:9-10:p:895-915
    DOI: 10.1080/08985626.2012.742325
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/08985626.2012.742325
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/08985626.2012.742325?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Annette Mummert & Friedrich Schneider, 2002. "The German Shadow Economy: Parted in a United Germany?," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 58(3), pages 286-316, July.
    2. Benno Torgler, 2007. "Tax Compliance and Tax Morale," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 4096.
    3. Colin C. Williams, 2006. "The Hidden Enterprise Culture," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3948.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sam Njinyah & Simplice A. Asongu, 2022. "The relationship between firms that start operating as unregistered and firms’ innovation: the moderating effect of access to finance," Working Papers 22/099, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    2. Williams Colin C., 2015. "Evaluating the Variations in Employment Relations Across Developing! Economies: A Degrees of Informalisation Approach," Journal of Economy and its Applications, Sciendo, vol. 5(1), pages 1-21, December.
    3. Ashenafi Biru & Pia Arenius & Garry Bruton & David Gilbert, 2024. "Firm Formalization Strategy : The Interaction of Entrepreneurs and Government Officials in the Enforcement of Regulation," Post-Print hal-04493248, HAL.
    4. Kareem Elhennawi, 2016. "Factors Affecting Business Informality Among Egyptian Opportunity Entrepreneurs: An Exploratory Study," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 21(04), pages 1-18, December.
    5. Veronica, Scuotto & Manlio, Del Giudice & Shlomo, Tarba & Antonio, Messeni Petruzzelli & Victor, Chang, 2020. "International social SMEs in emerging countries: Do governments support their international growth?," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(5).
    6. Colin C. Williams & Youssef Youssef, 2014. "Classifying Latin American Economies: A Degree of Informalisation Approach," International Journal of Business Administration, International Journal of Business Administration, Sciedu Press, vol. 5(3), pages 73-85, May.
    7. Yulita, & Muhamad, Suriyani & Kulub Abdul Rashid, Noorhaslinda & Hussain, Nor Ermawati & Mohamad Akhir, Noor Haslina & Ahmat, Nizam, 2020. "Resilience as a moderator of government and family support in explaining entrepreneurial interest and readiness among single mothers," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 13(C).
    8. Suwastika Naidu & Anand Chand, 2017. "National Culture, Gender Inequality and Women’s Success in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 130(2), pages 647-664, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lars P. Feld & Benno Torgler, 2007. "Tax Morale after the Reunification of Germany: Results from a Quasi-Natural Experiment," CESifo Working Paper Series 1921, CESifo.
    2. Lars P. Feld & Friedrich Schneider, 2011. "Survey on the Shadow Economy and Undeclared Work in OECD Countries," Chapters, in: Friedrich Schneider (ed.), Handbook on the Shadow Economy, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Schneider, Friedrich, 2012. "The Shadow Economy and Work in the Shadow: What Do We (Not) Know?," IZA Discussion Papers 6423, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Lars P. Feld & Benno Torgler & Bin Dong, 2008. "Coming Closer? Tax Morale, Deterrence and Social Learning after German Unification," CREMA Working Paper Series 2008-09, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    5. Colin C. Williams & Sara J. Nadin & Jan Windebank, 2011. "Undeclared work in the European construction industry: evidence from a 2007 Eurobarometer survey," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(8), pages 853-867, July.
    6. Torgler, Benno & Schneider, Friedrich & Schaltegger, Christoph A., 2007. "With or Against the People? The Impact of a Bottom-Up Approach on Tax Morale and the Shadow Economy," Berkeley Olin Program in Law & Economics, Working Paper Series qt6331x6vz, Berkeley Olin Program in Law & Economics.
    7. Lars P. Feld & Benno Torgler, 2007. "Tax Morale after the Reunification of Germany: Results from a Quasi-Natural Experiment," CREMA Working Paper Series 2007-03, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    8. Friedrich Heinemann & Martin Kocher, 2013. "Tax compliance under tax regime changes," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 20(2), pages 225-246, April.
    9. Ienovan Alexandra Ana, 2018. "The Impact of Public Governance on Corruption," Ovidius University Annals, Economic Sciences Series, Ovidius University of Constantza, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 0(2), pages 263-267, December.
    10. Nino Kokashvili & Irakli Barbakadze & Ketevani Kapanadze, 2017. "How Participating In The Shadow Economy Affects The Growth Of Latvian Firms," University of Tartu - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Working Paper Series 101, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Tartu (Estonia).
    11. Natalia Borzino & Enrique Fatas & Emmanuel Peterle, 2015. "In Gov we trust: Voluntary compliance in networked investment games," Working Paper series, University of East Anglia, Centre for Behavioural and Experimental Social Science (CBESS) 15-21, School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    12. Christoph Bühren & Thorben C. Kundt, 2013. "Worker or Shirker – Who Evades More Taxes? A Real Effort Experiment," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201326, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    13. Williams Colin, 2009. "Evaluating the Extent and Nature of ‘Envelope Wages’ in the European Union: A Geographical Analysis," European Spatial Research and Policy, Sciendo, vol. 16(1), pages 115-129, June.
    14. Nordblom, Katarina, 2017. "Tax Morale and Policy Intervention," Working Papers in Economics 711, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    15. Colin C. Williams & Brunilda Kosta, 2019. "Evaluating Institutional Theories Of Informal Sector Entrepreneurship: Some Lessons From Albania," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 24(02), pages 1-17, June.
    16. Gunter, Samara, 2013. "State Earned Income Tax Credits and Participation in Regular and Informal Work," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 66(1), pages 33-62, March.
    17. Giulia Mascagni, 2018. "From The Lab To The Field: A Review Of Tax Experiments," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 273-301, April.
    18. Casal, Sandro & Mittone, Luigi, 2016. "Social esteem versus social stigma: The role of anonymity in an income reporting game," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 55-66.
    19. Friedrich Schneider & Robert Klinglmair, 2004. "Shadow economies around the world: what do we know?," Economics working papers 2004-03, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    20. Cãƒtãƒlina Cozmei, 2012. "Playing The Fiscal Lottery Game," Proceedings of the INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 6(1), pages 511-521, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:entreg:v:24:y:2012:i:9-10:p:895-915. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/TEPN20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.