Purpose – Although it has been recognised that many entrepreneurs operate in the informal economy, little is so far known about their reasons for doing so. The purpose of this paper is to begin to unravel entrepreneurs’ rationales for trading in the informal economy in order to consider what...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand the psychological contract from the employers' perspective, by examining violations where the employer rather than employee is the victim, an issue that has so far seldom been addressed in extant psychological contract research....

Purpose – Although there is emerging an understanding that many entrepreneurs conduct some or all of their transactions off‐the‐books, there has so far been little attempt to consider what can and should be done about entrepreneurship in the informal economy. The purpose of this paper is...

To explain participation in the self-service economy, competing theorisations have variously depicted participants as rational economic actors, dupes, seekers of self-identity, or simply doing so out of economic necessity or choice. To evaluate motives for self-servicing in the home improvement...

A widespread assumption has been that undeclared work is rife in the European construction industry. Despite this, there have been no European-wide surveys of the prevalence and character of undeclared work in this sector of the economy. To fill this gap, the findings are reported of a 2007...

This paper evaluates critically the ideologically driven representation of the entrepreneur as a heroic figurehead of capitalism pursuing for-profit entrepreneurship in the formal commercial economy. To do this, two separate streams of literature are brought together, which highlight how many...

Purpose – A long‐standing meta‐narrative regarding the future of work is that, over history, economic activity has shifted from the informal into the formal economy and that the informal economy is now a residue existing only in the margins. This paper aims to evaluate critically this...

Purpose – This paper aims to provide a critical overview of the diverse visions of the future of employment. Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual framework is presented for understanding the common narrative structure that underpins a multitude of contrasting visions on how employment...

Purpose: The dominant theorisation of the informal economy views participants as rational economic actors operating in the informal economy when the expected benefits exceed the perceived costs of being caught and punished. Recently, an alternative theory has emerged which views participants as...

Purpose: The temporary enforced closure of businesses in response to the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in governments in Europe and beyond offering short-term financial support to the businesses and workers affected. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate a group of workers unable to...