IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirc/v24y2006i6p799-814.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Burden on Business? Reviewing the Evidence Base on Regulation and Small-Business Performance

Author

Listed:
  • John Kitching

    (Small Business Research Centre, Kingston University, Kenry House, Kingston Hill, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT2 7LB, England)

Abstract

The evidence base regarding the impact of regulation on small-business performance is reviewed. The substantive findings of various studies and their methodological approaches are critiqued. Many studies suffer from inadequate conceptualisation of ‘regulation’ and methodological shortcomings, and fail to investigate the causal mechanisms through which regulation contributes to business-performance outcomes. In some cases, they positively encourage superficial and misleading results. More sophisticated approaches, using qualitative data, demonstrate that regulations generate a variety of consequences and should not be conceptualised solely in terms of costs and constraints. Rather, regulation can impact upon small businesses directly and indirectly, and both constrain and enable and motivate business owners to act. The impact of regulation is contingent upon business owners' adaptations to particular interventions within the broader social contexts within which they operate. The implications for policymakers are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • John Kitching, 2006. "A Burden on Business? Reviewing the Evidence Base on Regulation and Small-Business Performance," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 24(6), pages 799-814, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:24:y:2006:i:6:p:799-814
    DOI: 10.1068/c0619
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/c0619
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/c0619?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. World Bank & International Finance Corporation, 2006. "Doing Business in 2006 : Creating Jobs," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 7421.
    2. Pierre, Gaelle & Scarpetta, Stefano, 2004. "Employment regulations through the eyes of employers - do they matter and how do firms respond to them?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3463, The World Bank.
    3. Giuseppe Nicoletti & Stefano Scarpetta, 2003. "Regulation, productivity and growth: OECD evidence [‘A model of growth through creative destruction’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 18(36), pages 9-72.
    4. Tran-Nam, Binh & Evans, Chris & Walpole, Michael & Ritchie, Katherine, 2000. "Tax Compliance Costs: Research Methodology and Empirical Evidence from Australia," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 53(n. 2), pages 229-52, June.
    5. Tran-Nam, Binh & Evans, Chris & Walpole, Michael & Ritchie, Katherine, 2000. "Tax Compliance Costs: Research Methodology and Empirical Evidence From Australia," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 53(2), pages 229-252, June.
    6. David Collard & Michael Godwin, 1999. "Compliance costs for employers: UK PAYE and National Insurance," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 20(4), pages 423-449, December.
    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. Alexander Libman & Janis N. Kluge, 2017. "Sticks or Carrots? Comparing Effectiveness of Government Shadow Economy Policies in Russia," Working Papers 364, Leibniz Institut für Ost- und Südosteuropaforschung (Institute for East and Southeast European Studies).
    2. Sangheon Lee & Deirdre McCann & Nina Torm, 2008. "The World Bank's “Employing Workers” index: Findings and critiques – A review of recent evidence," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 147(4), pages 416-432, December.
    3. Bruce Cunningham & Leon Colombo & Ulises Garcia, 2015. "Exploratory research into government regulation's impact on business-level employment growth," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 18(3), pages 375-390.
    4. Holz, Michael & Schlepphorst, Susanne & Brink, Siegrun & Icks, Annette & Welter, Friederike, 2019. "Bürokratiewahrnehmung von Unternehmen," IfM-Materialien 274, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.

    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. Sebastian Eichfelder & François Vaillancourt, 2014. "Tax Compliance Costs: A Review of Cost Burdens and Cost Structures," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 210(3), pages 111-148, September.
    2. Bilitis Schoonjans & Philippe Van Cauwenberge & Catherine Reekmans & Gudrun Simoens, 2011. "A Survey of Tax Compliance Costs of Flemish SMEs: Magnitude and Determinants," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 29(4), pages 605-621, August.
    3. Eichfelder, Sebastian & Schorn, Michael, 2009. "Tax compliance costs: a business administration perspective," Discussion Papers 2009/3, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    4. Sacchidananda Mukherjee & Shivani Badola, 2022. "Estimation of VAT compliance costs of unincorporated enterprises in India: unit-level analysis," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 421-441, December.
    5. repec:eur:ejesjr:373 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Barseghyan, Levon & DiCecio, Riccardo, 2011. "Entry costs, industry structure, and cross-country income and TFP differences," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 146(5), pages 1828-1851, September.
    7. Matthias Mors & Anne Bucher & Katri Kosonen & Philippe Cattoir & Wim Koevoets & Werner Vanborren, 2004. "European Tax Survey," Taxation Papers 3, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission, revised Nov 2004.
    8. Schenkel, Andreas, 2015. "Bankenregulierung und Bürokratiekosten: Ein Problemaufriss," Arbeitspapiere 152, University of Münster, Institute for Cooperatives.
    9. James, Simon & Alley, Clinton, 2002. "Tax compliance, self-assessment and tax administration," MPRA Paper 26906, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Eichfelder, Sebastian & Kegels, Chantal, 2014. "Compliance costs caused by agency action? Empirical evidence and implications for tax compliance," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 200-219.
    11. repec:npf:wpaper:08 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. S. Vishnuhadevi, 2021. "Administrative and Compliance Costs of Value Added Tax (VAT): A Review," Review of Development and Change, , vol. 26(2), pages 179-206, December.
    13. Allen Huang & Benjamin Liu, 2013. "The GST and mortgage costs: Australian evidence," Discussion Papers in Finance finance:201302, Griffith University, Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics.
    14. Jaspal Singh & Poonam Sharma, 2010. "Compliance Cost Burden of Individual Income-Tax Assessees in India: An Empirical Study," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 35(1), pages 7-24, February.
    15. Idawati Ibrahim Author_Email: idawati@uum.edu.my & Jeff Pope, 2011. "Compliance Costs Of Electronic Tax Filing For Personal Taxpayers In Malaysia," International Conference on Management (ICM 2011) Proceeding 2011-067-242, Conference Master Resources.
    16. Eliška Vejchodská & Lenka Slavíková & Vítězslav Malý, . "Evaluating the Regulatory Burden: Pollutant Release and Transfer Reporting Costs," Prague Economic Papers, University of Economics, Prague, vol. 0, pages 1-15.
    17. S. Vishnuhadevi & D. Hima Bindu, 2022. "Compliance Costs of GST for Small Business Enterprises in Tamil Nadu," Working Papers 2022-229, Madras School of Economics,Chennai,India.
    18. Levon Barseghyan & Riccardo DiCecio, 2009. "Entry costs, misallocation, and cross-country income and TFP differences," Working Papers 2009-005, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    19. repec:ind:nipfwp:08 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Li, Lixing & Liu, Kevin Zhengcheng & Nie, Zhuo & Xi, Tianyang, 2021. "Evading by any means? VAT enforcement and payroll tax evasion in China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 770-784.
    21. Jan Pavel & Leoš Vítek, 2015. "Vyvolané náklady daňového systému v ČR [Compliance Costs of the Czech Tax System]," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2015(3), pages 317-330.
    22. Kiridaran Kanagaretnam & Jimmy Lee & Chee Yeow Lim & Gerald Lobo, 2018. "Societal trust and corporate tax avoidance," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 1588-1628, December.
    23. Eichfelder, Sebastian & Hechtner, Frank, 2016. "Tax compliance costs: Cost burden and cost reliability," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 212, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre.

    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:sae:envirc:v:24:y:2006:i:6:p:799-814. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.