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The extensive use of mobile money (MM) has been widely recognized as a digital engine of socioeconomic development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This paper aims to focus on the effects of MM use and stockouts on informal microenterprise performance and investigate whether MM use mitigates the relationship between stockouts and firm performance.

This study utilizes firm-level data from the latest World Bank Informal Sector Enterprise Surveys across six SSA countries. We employ instrumental variable-adjusted and propensity score-weighted regressions to investigate the buffering effect of MM use.

We find a significantly positive effect of MM use and a significantly negative impact of stockouts on informal microenterprise performance. Importantly, we establish that MM use attenuates the negative impact of stockouts on firm performance. We further document that the attenuating effect of MM use is more profound for firms using MM for transactions with supply chain partners, located in communities with high MM use rates, and operating in the retail industry.

Our research generates important managerial and policy implications. Future policies should capitalize on MM to foster an effective financial ecosystem in which informal microenterprises can survive and grow, thereby deepening their contributions to sustainable development.

Whereas the business benefits of MM among small, medium and large firms are well-documented, the role of MM use on informal microenterprise performance is less understood. This study fills the research gap in the literature by focusing on the influence of MM use on the relationships between informal microenterprise operations and performance.

Most of the current literature investigates workplace-based formal and informal learning separately; thus, the relationship between these two types of learning remains unclear. This study aims to fill this research gap, drawing on self-determination theory to bridge teachers’ formal and informal learning and uncover the relationship between the two.

The participants of the study are 1,886 primary and secondary in-service teachers in China. Structural equation modeling and bootstrapping are used to test the proposed model.

The study reveals complicated influencing mechanisms of formal learning on different types of informal learning among in-service teachers. Teachers’ basic psychological needs, satisfaction and challenge-seeking behavior are found to play crucial mediating roles in this process.

First, this study suggests that different configurations of intervention strategies should be formulated depending on the foci for improving teachers’ learning. Second, this study indicates that only highlighting the importance of reflection, which is the approach currently used, is not sufficient to improve teachers’ daily reflective practice. Third, there is an urgent need to design training programs to improve teachers’ abilities to purposefully expand their job boundaries, which could not only benefit teachers’ performance but also contribute to school improvement. For policymakers and school principals, we suggest that more attention be given to the satisfaction of teachers’ basic needs.

This study contributes to the literature on workplace learning by connecting formal and informal learning and elucidating how teachers’ reported formal learning influences their informal learning activities via varied paths. The findings have implications for continuous professional development policy and training programs in the workplace.

The purpose of this paper is to examine curiosity as a distal predictor of knowledge sharing facilitated by informal learning. It also probes the boundary conditions imposed by ebullient supervision in the influence of curiosity on knowledge sharing.

The authors collected data through a two-wave survey of 349 knowledge workers in the IT sector and used structural equation modeling to analyze the data.

The results indicated a positive relationship between curiosity and knowledge sharing. In particular, informal learning was found to mediate the relationship between curiosity and knowledge sharing and ebullient supervision was identified as a significant condition that strengthens the effect of curiosity on informal learning.

Organizations can promote knowledge sharing by harnessing curiosity as an intrinsic motivator for employees to engage in informal learning. Moreover, the findings identified ebullient supervision as an extrinsic motivator within the work environment, suggesting its potential to enhance the impact of curiosity on knowledge sharing.

This paper broadens the limited literature on ebullient leadership by revealing how it strengthens the effects of curiosity and informal learning on knowledge sharing.

This study examines the functions of informal communication in organizations. Informal communication can be characterized as any interaction within an organization in which two or more individuals assume personal roles rather than their professional roles and in which employees do not intend to solve work-related problems. Despite its central role in organizations, a comprehensive understanding of the specific functions of informal communication within workplace dynamics is lacking.

We reviewed existing literature to identify the functions of informal communication and then surveyed employees (N = 1,380). We asked them to indicate their agreement with statements measuring the functions of informal communication that we derived from the literature.

Using exploratory factor analysis, we identified four core functions: stress management and recreation, nurturing private relationships, fostering a sense of belonging and connectedness and facilitating information exchange and coordination. We then examined how these core functions related to job-related and sociodemographic characteristics. Our findings underscore the importance of informal communication in organizations, particularly in facilitating the development and maintenance of social relationships as well as information exchange and coordination, both of which play critical roles in organizational success.

This study is among the first to systematize the functions of informal communication in organizations and to empirically extract core functions that can be used for further research. It is also highly relevant to practitioners of organizational management and organizational communication.

Low-income consumers’ perceptions of access and inclusion in financial services, remain underresearched. To fill this gap, the purpose of this study, is to investigate elements of low-income consumers’ informal and formal financial service experiences, from their personal experience.

Mixed methods using data collected from low-income consumers in Latin America, reveal a spectrum of consumer perceptions making up access, inclusion and social dependence within financial service experiences. Scales, grounded in the consumer experience, are developed, validated and used to test a model of consumers’ service inclusivity perceptions.

Service costs, information and documentation difficulty, convenience and social dynamics influence low-income consumers’ perceptions of financial service inclusivity.

Analysis reveals differentiation in the impact of aspects of low-income consumers’ experiences between formal and informal financial services. Working directly with this unique population exposes the nuance of their financial service experiences.

This research provides a more holistic perspective on low-income consumers’ financial service experience and provides contextually relevant scales with robust psychometric properties. Services marketers can use this research to inform design and evaluation of financial service offerings for low-income consumers.

This research contributes to study of the wellbeing of low-income consumers by providing understanding of their financial service experiences from their point-of-view and providing contextually-relevant, empirically validated tools for future inquiry.

How do informal lending institutions affect entrepreneurship? This paper aims to investigates the role of formal and informal credit market institutions in the decision to become an entrepreneur over the life cycle.

The author developed a dynamic Roy model in which a decision to become an entrepreneur depends on the access to formal and informal credit markets, nonpecuniary benefits of entrepreneurship, career-specific entry costs, prior work experience, education, unobserved abilities and other labor market opportunities (salaried employment and nonemployment). Using detailed Russian panel microdata (the Russia longitudinal monitoring survey) and estimating a structural model of labor market decisions and borrowing options, the author assesses the impact of the development of informal and formal credit institutions.

The expansion of traditional (formal) credit market institutions positively impacts all workers’ categories, reduces the share of entrepreneurs who borrow from informal sources and incentivizes low-type entrepreneurs to switch to salaried employment. The development of the informal credit market reduces the percentage of high-type entrepreneurs who borrow from formal sources. In the case of default, a higher value of the social network or higher costs of losing social ties demotivate low-type entrepreneurs to borrow from informal sources. The author highlights the practical implications of estimates by evaluating policies designed to promote entrepreneurship, such as subsidies and accessibility regulations in credit market institutions.

This study contributes to the literature in several ways. Unlike other studies that focus on individual characteristics in the selection for self-employment [Humphries (2017), Hincapíe (2020), Gendron-Carrier (2021), Dillon and Stanton (2017)], the paper models labor and borrowing decisions jointly. Previous studies discuss transitions between salaried employment and self-employment, taking into account entrepreneurial earnings, wealth, education and age, but do not consider the availability of financial institutions as a driving factor for the selection into self-employment. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper shows for the first time that the transition from salaried employment to self-employment is standard and consistent with changes in access to financial institutions. Another feature of this study is incorporating both types of credit markets – formal and informal. The survey by the European Central Bank on the Access to Finance of Enterprises (2018) shows 18% of small and medium enterprise in EU pointed funds from family or friends. Therefore, the exclusion from consideration of informal credit markets may distort the understanding of the role of the accessibility of credit markets.

This paper tests if there exists a subjective well-being gap between informal workers in the informal and formal sectors in urban China, and explores the mechanisms behind such differences.

The author develops a simple theoretical model to analyze the effects of the employment sector and work time flexibility on workers' happiness and conducts a descriptive study to examine the relationship between employment type and subjective well-being using the China General Social Survey (CGSS) 2010, 2013, 2015 and 2017 datasets, a nationally representative sample.

The results show that only dependent informal work in the formal sector impairs workers' happiness, while the effect of independent informal work is not statistically significant. The potential mechanisms suggest that independent informal workers have higher working time flexibility and can work more hours to increase their earnings, which increases their subjective well-being. However, it is difficult for dependent informal workers to earn more by working more hours due to poor working time flexibility.

This study indicates that informal workers in the formal sector have lower subjective well-being in urban China and deserve more attention from policymakers. The author also suggests that increasing working time flexibility and encouraging self-employment can contribute to the welfare of informal workers.

This paper explores how risks are managed in project practice beyond formalized risk management processes by applying the lens of actuality research to project risk management.

The paper follows a qualitative multimethod research approach utilizing literature review, interviews, observations and document analysis. The paper is based on three case studies and one interview study in project organizations facing green transition challenges.

Little work exists to reveal how risk management is actually done by project practitioners, and why. Few studies report on contextual variation and consider confounding factors beyond a “one size fits all” formalized explicit risk management process, despite ample evidence that risks are managed outside the formal process. The study documents that informal and/or implicit risk management activities add significantly more value.

The paper contributes a literature review of research into the actuality of project risk management, a sense-making framework of how risks are managed in practice beyond the formal, explicit risk-management process by including informal and/or implicit risk management activities, an empirical study of risk-management practice highlighting that informal and/or implicit risk-management activities dominate in practice, a discussion of why risks are managed outside formalized, explicit process and a research agenda to enable the design of impactful project risk-management practices.

This study aims to explore the direct and indirect relationships among the informal economy, innovation, entrepreneurial and initial public offering (IPO) activity.

This study uses an unbalanced sample of 30 countries over a 15-year period: 2000–2014. The proposed random-effects model is estimated using feasible generalized least squares with robust estimators of variance.

Entrepreneurial activity is positively related to IPO activity. The informal economy negatively moderates the relationships among entrepreneurship, innovation and IPOs.

IPOs are a stage in the entrepreneurial process susceptible of being influenced by country level factors. An appropriate understanding of these factors can contribute to discuss policies that improve the level of IPO activity.

The authors explore the understudied relationship of the informal economy and entrepreneurship. Although entrepreneurial activity can be higher in contexts with more informality, this relationship can turn sour in later stages since it lowers the probability of higher IPO activity by inhibiting formal entrepreneurship and innovation. Hence, the main contribution is to provide evidence of this “hangover” effect.

This study aims to conduct a systematic review of existing literature on ageism among older informal workers, as most studies have focused on formal work settings. Specifically, it seeks to identify the scope and characteristics of ageism that older informal workers encounter and its influence on their work and well-being.

This paper follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) framework to conduct a systematic review. Eleven studies from six databases were included and thematically analysed.

The findings revealed four main themes: the contextual nature of ageism, dimensions of work-related ageism, navigating work-related challenges, and effects on well-being. These themes highlight that, despite being perceived as experienced and reliable, older informal workers face exclusion from work opportunities as they are perceived as unproductive and less capable of acquiring new skills. These negative perceptions significantly impacted their willingness to continue working and overall well-being.

The findings offer an overview of extant research and the direction for future research and policy interventions to address ageism among older informal workers. The findings are crucial for enhancing older workers' quality of life, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, where population ageing is the fastest.

This study is one of the few to systematically explore and evaluate empirical evidence on ageism in the informal work sector. It thus expands existing knowledge and understanding of the phenomenon of ageism in a least explored context.