IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v161y2020i4d10.1007_s10551-019-04339-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Protecting Environment or People? Pitfalls and Merits of Informal Labour in the Congolese Recycling Industry

Author

Listed:
  • Clément Longondjo Etambakonga

    (Rennes School of Business)

  • Julia Roloff

    (Rennes School of Business)

Abstract

Despite the fact that informal labour is a widespread phenomenon, the business ethics literature tends to describe it as a problem that needs to be overcome, rather than contemplating its merits. Informal labour is linked to poor working conditions, low-income and insufficient protection. However, it is also a survival strategy and upholds essential services, such as waste collection and recycling. Through the lens of postmodern ethics, we analyse 45 interviews with formal and informal waste management workers in Kinshasa. The study explores the functioning and limits of recycling services in a metropolis, focusing on the experience of African workers and entrepreneurs. A complex picture of ethical challenges and individual business and survival strategies emerges from the analysis. Our findings demonstrate that labour decisions of voiceless people cannot be reduced to being rational or desperate choices, but that they reflect a careful elaboration of currently available options and strategies for the future. The study contributes to our understanding of entrepreneurship in a post-conflict context, the role of informal labour in the functioning of formal businesses in Africa and the contribution of postmodern theory to the study of businesses in non-Western societies.

Suggested Citation

  • Clément Longondjo Etambakonga & Julia Roloff, 2020. "Protecting Environment or People? Pitfalls and Merits of Informal Labour in the Congolese Recycling Industry," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 161(4), pages 815-834, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:161:y:2020:i:4:d:10.1007_s10551-019-04339-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-019-04339-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-019-04339-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-019-04339-w?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. Arnold, Denis G. & Valentin, Andres, 2013. "Corporate social responsibility at the base of the pyramid," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 1904-1914.
    2. Peter Lund-Thomsen & Khalid Nadvi & Anita Chan & Navjote Khara & Hong Xue, 2012. "Labour in Global Value Chains: Work Conditions in Football Manufacturing in China, India and Pakistan," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 43(6), pages 1211-1237, November.
    3. Janine Aron, 2003. "Building institutions in post-conflict African economies," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(4), pages 471-485.
    4. repec:ilo:ilowps:376750 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Hazans, Mihails, 2011. "Informal Workers across Europe: Evidence from 30 Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 5871, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Arnold, Denis G. & Bowie, Norman E., 2007. "Respect for Workers in Global Supply Chains: Advancing the Debate Over Sweatshops," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 17(1), pages 135-145, January.
    7. Colin C. Williams & Ioana A. Horodnic, 2015. "Explaining and tackling the shadow economy in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania: a tax morale approach," Baltic Journal of Economics, Baltic International Centre for Economic Policy Studies, vol. 15(2), pages 81-98.
    8. Rafael La Porta & Andrei Shleifer, 2008. "The Unofficial Economy and Economic Development," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 39(2 (Fall)), pages 275-363.
    9. Dima Jamali & Ben Neville, 2011. "Convergence Versus Divergence of CSR in Developing Countries: An Embedded Multi-Layered Institutional Lens," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(4), pages 599-621, September.
    10. John O. Okpara, 2011. "Factors constraining the growth and survival of SMEs in Nigeria," Management Research Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 34(2), pages 156-171, January.
    11. Arnold, Denis G. & Bowie, Norman E., 2003. "Sweatshops and Respect for Persons," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(2), pages 221-242, April.
    12. Raja Usman Khalid & Stefan Seuring, 2019. "Analyzing Base-of-the-Pyramid Research from a (Sustainable) Supply Chain Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(3), pages 663-686, March.
    13. Célestin Banza Lubaba Nkulu & Lidia Casas & Vincent Haufroid & Thierry De Putter & Nelly D. Saenen & Tony Kayembe-Kitenge & Paul Musa Obadia & Daniel Kyanika Wa Mukoma & Jean-Marie Lunda Ilunga & Tim , 2018. "Sustainability of artisanal mining of cobalt in DR Congo," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 1(9), pages 495-504, September.
    14. Zwolinski, Matt, 2007. "Sweatshops, Choice, and Exploitation," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 17(4), pages 689-727, October.
    15. Webb, Justin W. & Bruton, Garry D. & Tihanyi, Laszlo & Ireland, R. Duane, 2013. "Research on entrepreneurship in the informal economy: Framing a research agenda," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 598-614.
    16. Belser, Patrick., 2005. "Forced labour and human trafficking : estimating the profits," ILO Working Papers 993767503402676, International Labour Organization.
    17. Robert Looney, 2006. "Economic Consequences of Conflict: The Rise of Iraq’s Informal Economy," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(4), pages 991-1007, December.
    18. Alessandra Mezzadri, 2014. "Indian Garment Clusters and CSR Norms: Incompatible Agendas at the Bottom of the Garment Commodity Chain," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 238-258, June.
    19. Peattie, Lisa, 1987. "An idea in good currency and how it grew: The informal sector," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 15(7), pages 851-860, July.
    20. Kelemen, Mihaela & Peltonen, Tuomo, 2001. "Ethics, morality and the subject: the contribution of Zygmunt Bauman and Michel Foucault to 'postmodern' business ethics," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 151-166, June.
    21. Zinovijus Ciupijus, 2010. "Ethical Pitfalls of Temporary Labour Migration: A Critical Review of Issues," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 97(1), pages 9-18, 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. Ivan Montiel & Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra & Junghoon Park & Raquel Antolín-López & Bryan W. Husted, 2021. "Implementing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals in international business," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(5), pages 999-1030, July.
    2. Shova Thapa Karki & Mirela Xheneti & Adrian Madden, 2021. "To Formalize or Not to Formalize: Women Entrepreneurs’ Sensemaking of Business Registration in the Context of Nepal," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 173(4), pages 687-708, November.

    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. Elisa Giuliani, 2016. "Human Rights and Corporate Social Responsibility in Developing Countries’ Industrial Clusters," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(1), pages 39-54, January.
    2. Brian Berkey, 2021. "Sweatshops, Structural Injustice, and the Wrong of Exploitation: Why Multinational Corporations Have Positive Duties to the Global Poor," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(1), pages 43-56, February.
    3. Michael S. Aßländer, 2021. "Sweated Labor as a Social Phenomenon Lessons from the 19th Century Sweatshop Discussion," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(2), pages 313-328, May.
    4. Jessica Flanigan, 2018. "Sweatshop Regulation and Workers’ Choices," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(1), pages 79-94, November.
    5. Colin C. Williams & Abbi Kedir, 2018. "Explaining Cross-National Variations In The Prevalence Of Informal Sector Entrepreneurship: Lessons From A Survey Of 142 Countries," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(01), pages 1-22, March.
    6. Benjamin Powell & Matt Zwolinski, 2012. "The Ethical and Economic Case Against Sweatshop Labor: A Critical Assessment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 107(4), pages 449-472, June.
    7. Damian Bäumlisberger, 2021. "A Nozickian Case for Compulsory Employment Injury Insurance: The Example of Sweatshops," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 173(1), pages 13-27, September.
    8. Gordon G. Sollars & Fred Englander, 2018. "Sweatshops: Economic Analysis and Exploitation as Unfairness," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(1), pages 15-29, April.
    9. Colin C. Williams & Abbi M. Kedir, 2019. "Explaining cross-country variations in the prevalence of informal sector competitors: lessons from the World Bank Enterprise Survey," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 677-696, September.
    10. Jason Brennan, 2019. "Should Employers Pay a Living Wage?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(1), pages 15-26, June.
    11. Rohit Varman & Per Skålén & Russell W. Belk & Himadri Roy Chaudhuri, 2021. "Normative Violence in Domestic Service: A Study of Exploitation, Status, and Grievability," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(4), pages 645-665, July.
    12. J R Clark & Benjamin Powell, 2013. "Sweatshop Working Conditions and Employee Welfare: Say It Ain’t Sew," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 55(2), pages 343-357, June.
    13. Tae Wan Kim, 2018. "Gamification of Labor and the Charge of Exploitation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(1), pages 27-39, September.
    14. András Miklós, 2019. "Exploiting Injustice in Mutually Beneficial Market Exchange: The Case of Sweatshop Labor," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(1), pages 59-69, April.
    15. Michael E. Cummings & Alan Gamlen, 2019. "Diaspora engagement institutions and venture investment activity in developing countries," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 2(4), pages 289-313, December.
    16. Azunre, Gideon Abagna & Amponsah, Owusu & Takyi, Stephen Appiah & Mensah, Henry & Braimah, Imoro, 2022. "Urban informalities in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): A solution for or barrier against sustainable city development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    17. Friedrich Schneider & Mangirdas Morkunas & Erika Quendler, 2021. "Measuring the Immeasurable: The Evolution of the Size of Informal Economy in the Agricultural Sector in the EU-15 up to 2019," CESifo Working Paper Series 8937, CESifo.
    18. Ivan Montiel & Junghoon Park & Bryan W. Husted & Andres Velez-Calle, 2022. "Tracing the connections between international business and communicable diseases," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(8), pages 1785-1804, October.
    19. Benjamin Powell, 2018. "Sweatshop Regulation: Tradeoffs and Welfare Judgements," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(1), pages 29-36, August.
    20. Mohammad Sohail Yunis & Laila Durrani & Amad Khan, 2017. "Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Pakistan: A Critique of the Literature and Future Research Agenda," Business & Economic Review, Institute of Management Sciences, Peshawar, Pakistan, vol. 9(1), pages 65-88, March.

    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:kap:jbuset:v:161:y:2020:i:4:d:10.1007_s10551-019-04339-w. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.