Transición hacia la formalidad de las micro y pequeñas empresasuna aproximación del entorno institucional y sus niveles

Abstract

The main objective of this doctoral thesis, “Transition towards the formality of micro and small companies: an approach of the institutional environment and its levels”, is to deepen the knowledge of how the institutional environment in its different spheres (macro, micro, and meso) affect the decision of the micro and small entrepreneur in the transition to formality in emerging countries. The literature has extensively analyzed the institutional macroenvironment, especially the effect of bureaucracy, and most of the evidence has considered a binary decision to become a formal company. Little attention has been paid to studying levels of formality when, of sure, the process towards formality may be somewhat gradual. In this sense, the perceptions of entrepreneurs about the procedures they have carried out and which they must complete to fully formalize their company are particularly relevant. Concerning the analysis of the microenvironment, which establishes that the formalization decision is determined by the characteristics of the individual and the company, emphasis will be placed on the study of gender, which has hardly been analyzed. In emerging countries, more and more women choose to be entrepreneurs and must decide whether to remain informal or to move to formality. And, from the level of the institutional meso-environment, there is little literature that analyzes the influence of the employer's closest environment on his decision to be formal. There is almost no evidence of the contagion effect that informality can have from nearby regions with high rates of informality and corruption...