IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/jecpps/v5y2011i2p145-157.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Entrepreneurship, the informal economy and rural communities

Author

Listed:
  • Colin C. Williams

Abstract

Purpose - This paper aims to evaluate whether early‐stage entrepreneurs and the established self‐employed in rural communities trade off‐the‐books and whether this tendency varies across deprived and affluent rural localities. Design/methodology/approach - Face‐to‐face interviews were conducted with 350 households in both affluent and deprived rural communities in England. Findings - In both the affluent and deprived rural communities surveyed, wholly legitimate enterprises represent just the tip of the iceberg. Beneath the surface is a large hidden enterprise culture of both registered businesses trading off‐the‐books and unregistered wholly off‐the‐books enterprises. However, the preponderance of both early‐stage entrepreneurs, as well as the established self‐employed to trade off‐the‐books is greater in deprived than affluent rural communities, intimating that deprived rural communities are perhaps relatively more enterprising and entrepreneurial than is currently recognised. Research limitations/implications - These findings are based on a small‐scale study of five English rural communities. Further studies are now required to evaluate whether similar findings are replicated elsewhere. Practical implications - The paper reveals that legitimising the hidden enterprise culture in deprived rural communities could be an important but so far untapped means of promoting enterprise and economic development. Originality/value - Evaluates the extent of informal entrepreneurship in rural communities and how this varies spatially.

Suggested Citation

  • Colin C. Williams, 2011. "Entrepreneurship, the informal economy and rural communities," Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 5(2), pages 145-157, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:eme:jecpps:v:5:y:2011:i:2:p:145-157
    DOI: 10.1108/17506201111131578
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/17506201111131578/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/17506201111131578/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/17506201111131578?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. John Round & Colin C. Williams & Peter Rodgers, 2008. "Corruption in the post-Soviet workplace: the experiences of recent graduates in contemporary Ukraine," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 22(1), pages 149-166, March.
    2. Colin C. Williams, 2006. "The Hidden Enterprise Culture," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3948.
    3. Ruta Aidis & Friederike Welter & David Smallbone & Nina Isakova, 2007. "Female entrepreneurship in transition economies: the case of Lithuania and Ukraine," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 157-183.
    4. Virgil Henry Storr & Bridget Colon, 2015. "Subalternity and entrepreneurship: tales of marginalized but enterprising characters, oppressive settings and haunting plots," Chapters, in: Laura E. Grube & Virgil Henry Storr (ed.), Culture and Economic Action, chapter 15, pages 337-354, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Peter Armstrong, 2005. "Critique of Entrepreneurship," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-55495-5, 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. Eunice Maria M. N. Dos Santos & João J. Ferreira, 2017. "Analyzing Informal Entrepreneurship: A Bibliometric Survey," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 22(04), pages 1-20, December.
    2. Serge Francis Simen, 2018. "Dynamique de l'entrepreneuriat informel au Sénégal : caractéristiques et particularités," Post-Print halshs-01782037, HAL.
    3. Eunice Santos & Cristina I. Fernandes & João J. Ferreira & Carla Azevedo Lobo, 2021. "What Is the Impact of Informal Entrepreneurship on Venture Capital Flows?," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 12(4), pages 2032-2049, December.
    4. Xiang Gao & Zhenhua Gu & Shuzhen Niu & Sunghan Ryu, 2022. "Effects of International Tourist Flow on Startup Financing: Investment Scope and Market Potential Perspectives," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(4), pages 21582440221, October.
    5. Esther Salvi & Frank-Martin Belz & Sophie Bacq, 2023. "Informal Entrepreneurship: An Integrative Review and Future Research Agenda," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(2), pages 265-303, March.
    6. Traikova, Diana & Manolova, Tatiana & Möllers, Judith & Buchenrieder, Gertrud, 2014. "Bribing culture and rural start-up plans in transition: evidence from Bulgaria," 2014 International Congress, August 26-29, 2014, Ljubljana, Slovenia 182794, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    7. Ligita Gasparėnienė & Rita Remeikienė & Colin C. Williams, 2022. "Unemployment and the Informal Economy," SpringerBriefs in Economics, Springer, number 978-3-030-96687-4, April.

    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. Colin C. Williams, 2011. "Entrepreneurship, the informal economy and rural communities," Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 5(2), pages 145-157, April.
    2. 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.
    3. Colin C. Williams & Sara Nadin, 2010. "The Commonality And Character Of Off-The-Books Entrepreneurship: A Comparison Of Deprived And Affluent Urban Neighborhoods," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 15(03), pages 345-358.
    4. Colin C. Williams & Sara Nadin, 2012. "Tackling Undeclared Work in the European Union," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 13(02), pages 20-25, July.
    5. Colin C. Williams & Jan Windebank, 2011. "Regional Variations in the Nature of the Shadow Economy: Evidence from a Survey of 27 European Union Member States," Chapters, in: Friedrich Schneider (ed.), Handbook on the Shadow Economy, chapter 5, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Williams Colin & Nadin Sara & Windebank Jan, 2012. "Evaluating the Prevalence and Nature of Self-Employment in the Informal Economy: Evidence From a 27-Nation European Survey," European Spatial Research and Policy, Sciendo, vol. 19(1), pages 129-142, July.
    7. Colin. C. Williams, 2008. "Illegitimate wage practices in Eastern Europe: - The case of 'envelope wages'," Journal of East European Management Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 13(3), pages 253-270.
    8. Abbi M Kedir & Meryem Duygun Fethi & Colin C Williams, 2011. "Evaluating tax evasion in the European Union: a case study of the prevalence and character of ‘envelope wage’ payments," Discussion Papers in Economics 11/33, Division of Economics, School of Business, University of Leicester, revised Jun 2011.
    9. Colin C. Williams & Abbi Kedir & Meryem Fethi & Sara Nadin, 2012. "Evaluating 'Varieties of Capitalism' by the Extent and Nature of the Informal Economy: The Case of South-Eastern Europe," South-Eastern Europe Journal of Economics, Association of Economic Universities of South and Eastern Europe and the Black Sea Region, vol. 10(2), pages 113-130.
    10. Colin C. Williams & Sara Nadin, 2010. "Entrepreneurship And The Informal Economy: An Overview," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 15(04), pages 361-378.
    11. Colin C. Williams & Youssef Youssef, 2014. "Is Informal Sector Entrepreneurship Necessity- or Opportunity-driven? Some Lessons from Urban Brazil," Business and Management Research, Business and Management Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 3(1), pages 41-53, March.
    12. Colin C. Williams, 2014. "Confronting the Shadow Economy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15370.
    13. Tony J. Watson, 2013. "Entrepreneurial action and the Euro-American social science tradition: pragmatism, realism and looking beyond ‘the entrepreneur’," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(1-2), pages 16-33, January.
    14. Colin C. Williams & Youssef Youssef, 2015. "Theorising Entrepreneurship in the Informal Sector in Urban Brazil: A Product of Exit or Exclusion?," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 24(2), pages 148-168, September.
    15. Colin C. Williams & John Round, 2008. "The Hidden Enterprise Culture Of Moscow: Entrepreneurship And Off-The-Books Working Practices," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 13(04), pages 445-462.
    16. Eunice Maria M. N. Dos Santos & João J. Ferreira, 2017. "Analyzing Informal Entrepreneurship: A Bibliometric Survey," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 22(04), pages 1-20, December.
    17. Colin C. Williams & Sara Nadin, 2012. "Tackling Undeclared Work in the European Union," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 13(2), pages 20-25, July.
    18. Colin C. Williams & Sara Nadin, 2012. "Beyond The Commercial Versus Social Entrepreneurship Dichotomy: A Case Study Of Informal Entrepreneurs," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 17(03), pages 1-17.
    19. Colin C. Williams, 2023. "A Modern Guide to the Informal Economy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 18668.
    20. Josip Franic, 2019. "Undeclared Economy in Croatia during the 2004–2017 Period: Quarterly Estimates Using the MIMIC Method," Croatian Economic Survey, The Institute of Economics, Zagreb, vol. 21(1), pages 5-46, June.

    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:eme:jecpps:v:5:y:2011:i:2:p:145-157. 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: Emerald Support (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.