Title: The interplay between institutional factors and experience as determinants of employment growth in South African SMEs

Authors: Boris Urban

Addresses: Wits Business School, University of the Witwatersrand, 2 St., David's Place, Parktown, Johannesburg, 2193, South Africa

Abstract: Past studies report that idiosyncrasies in the institutional arrangements of emerging economies contrast with those of developed market economies. The paper empirically examines the influence of the regulatory, normative and cognitive institutional environments on enterprise employment growth in South Africa (SA). Rather than merely testing the institutional and enterprise growth link, a more nuanced approach is adopted to show how the different institutional dimensions interact with experience to increase overall employment growth. 177 SMEs in SA are surveyed, with a focus on the manufacturing sector, as it holds promise of creating jobs. Results support the hypotheses where each of the institutional dimensions as well as experience, explain a significant amount of variance in employment growth. The study has contextual relevance, as SMEs in SA closely monitor changes in regulations as well as societal values towards entrepreneurship, when growing their enterprises.

Keywords: institutional; regulatory; normative; cognitive; experience; employment growth; job creation; South Africa; SA.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBG.2020.104954

International Journal of Business and Globalisation, 2020 Vol.24 No.1, pp.1 - 18

Received: 30 Sep 2017
Accepted: 11 Oct 2017
Published online: 10 Feb 2020 *

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