Citation
(2014), "2013 Awards for Excellence", International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, Vol. 20 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-03-2014-003
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
2013 Awards for Excellence
Article Type: 2013 Awards for Excellence From: International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, Volume 20, Issue 1
The following article was selected for this year's Outstanding Paper Award for International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research
“Evaluating competing theories of informal entrepreneurship: some lessons from Ukraine”
Colin C. Williams, Sara Nadin and Peter Rodgers
Management School, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate critically the competing theories of informal entrepreneurship that variously
represent such endeavour as a residue from a previous mode of accumulation (modernisation theory), a direct by-product of
contemporary capitalism and survival strategy for those marginalised from the circuits of the modern economy (structuralism),
an endeavour voluntarily pursued due to over-regulation in the formal economy (neo-liberalism) or a practice chosen for social,
redistributive, political or identity reasons (post-structuralism).
Design/methodology/approach – To evaluate these competing theories, a 2005/2006 survey involving face-to-face interviews with 298 informal entrepreneurs
in Ukraine is analysed.
Findings – Contrary to previous studies which assert that one single theorisation is universally applicable, this study finds that
each theory is valid for different types of informal entrepreneurship, and therefore proposes a typology of informal entrepreneurship
that joins together the contrasting theorisations in order to achieve a more accurate and finer-grained explanation of the
complex and heterogeneous configuration of informal entrepreneurship in contemporary Ukraine.
Research limitations/implications – This paper reveals the need to move beyond treating the competing explanations as mutually exclusive by outlining a typology
that combines the contrasting theorisations in order to more fully understand the heterogeneity of informal entrepreneurship.
Practical implications – By unravelling the heterogeneity of informal entrepreneurship, a more nuanced policy approach is shown to be required which
does not seek to simply either eradicate such endeavour, pursue a laissez-faire approach or harness such entrepreneurship
but instead pursues all these approaches to varying extents in relation to different kinds of informal entrepreneur.
Originality/value – This is one of the first papers to identify and empirically evaluate the competing theories of informal entrepreneurship.
Keywords Economic development, Enterprise culture, Entrepreneurialism, Entrepreneurship, Informal sector, Post-socialist societies, Ukraine, Underground economy
www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/13552551211253919
This article originally appeared in Volume 18 Number 5, 2012, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research
The following article is selected for this year's Highly Commended Award
“Gender and business ownership: questioning ‘what’ and ‘why’”
M. Cristina Díaz-García and Candida Brush
This article originally appeared in Volume 18 Number 1, 2012, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research