Journal Articles by Tomasz Mickiewicz
International Small Business Journal, 2025
This article examines the role of parental transmission of entrepreneurship in the sales performa... more This article examines the role of parental transmission of entrepreneurship in the sales performance of small and micro-enterprises. We posit that while the intergenerational transmission of attitudes may be crucial for the entrepreneurial entry decision (as highlighted by the literature), cognitive elements and transmission of knowledge are more important for actual venture performance. Applying social cognitive theory (SCT), we leverage a large World Bank dataset to understand the drivers of small and micro-enterprise performance in the understudied developing economy context of Sri Lanka. The study illuminates how parental transmission is conditioned by cognitive skills. We also highlight that both the education and business-specific managerial experience of founders, as captured by firm age, may substitute for the parental transmission of business knowledge. The research offers theoretical and practical implications, interpreting the human capital drivers of small and micro-enterprise success through the lens of SCT and considering the complementary and compensatory influences on outcomes.
World Development, 2025
Strong kinship structures correspond to important informal institutions that provide some social ... more Strong kinship structures correspond to important informal institutions that provide some social insurance to businesses in developing economies. More specifically, we posit that, during an economic crisis, businesses located in areas characterised by an in-group supporting marriage tradition (cousin marriage) will experience weaker negative effects on their profitability. We speculate that the cousin marriage tradition is associated with dense structures of kinship-based contacts between individuals, which creates the basis for effective social sanctions that support the cooperation needed during crises. Such structures may enhance the resilience of the local social systems; and local businesses may draw on local, socially available resources, which will attenuate the impact of crises on their financial performance. We utilise the data from the 2018-2019 Nigeria Living Standard Survey and find support for our hypotheses.
Regional Studies, 2017
Local governance and business performance in Vietnam: the transaction costs’ perspective. Regiona... more Local governance and business performance in Vietnam: the transaction costs’ perspective. Regional Studies. This paper adopts a transaction costs’ perspective to explain why the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) may
vary across regions of an emerging economy. Furthermore, it is argued that young and small firms gain more from the improvement of local governance than do old and large firms. In addition, depending on the institutional history, SMEs will respond differently to the incentives provided by local governance. Analysing more than 300,000 SMEs in Vietnam during 2006–12, it is shown that higher-quality local governance positively influences local SME revenue growth; this effect is stronger for young and small firms, and matters more where institutional history suggests there is less support
for entrepreneurship.
vary across regions of an emerging economy. Furthermore, it is argued that young and small firms gain more from the improvement of local governance than do old and large firms. In addition, depending on the institutional history, SMEs will respond differently to the incentives provided by local governance. Analysing more than 300,000 SMEs in Vietnam during 2006–12, it is shown that higher-quality local governance positively influences local SME revenue growth; this effect is stronger for young and small firms, and matters more where institutional history suggests there is less support
for entrepreneurship.
Journal of Business Ethics
In order to understand how the environment influences business owner/managers' attitudes towards ... more In order to understand how the environment influences business owner/managers' attitudes towards tax morale, we build a theoretical model based on a neo-in-stitutionalist framework. Our model combines three complementary perspectives on institutions—normative, cultural–cognitive and regulatory–instrumental. This enables a broader understanding of factors that influence business owner–managers' attitudes towards tax evasion. We test the resulting hypotheses using regression analysis on survey data on business owner/managers in Latvia—a transition country, which has undergone massive institutional changes since it was part of the Soviet Union over 25 years ago. We find that legitimacy of the tax authorities and the government (normative dimension), feeling of belonging to the nation (cultural–cognitive dimension) and perceptions of the risk and severity of punishment (regu-latory–instrumental dimension) are all associated with higher tax morale for business owners and managers.
We apply prospect theory to explain how personal and corporate bankruptcy laws affect risk percep... more We apply prospect theory to explain how personal and corporate bankruptcy laws affect risk perceptions of entrepreneurs at time of entry and therefore their growth ambitions. Previous theories have reached ambiguous conclusions as to whether countries with more debtor-friendly bankruptcy laws (i.e. laws that are more forgiving towards debtors in bankruptcy proceedings) are likely to have more entrepreneurs, or whether, creditor-friendly regimes have positive effects on new ventures via enhanced incentives for the supply of credit to entrepreneurs. Responding to this ambiguity, we apply prospect theory to propose that entrepreneurs do not attach the same significance to different elements of bankruptcy codes—and to explain which aspects of debtor-friendly bankruptcy laws matter more to entrepreneurs. Based on this, we derive and confirm hypotheses about the impact of aspects of bankruptcy codes on entrepreneurial activity using the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor combined with data on both personal and corporate bankruptcy regulations for 15 developed OECD countries. We use multilevel random coefficient logistic regressions to take account of the hierarchical nature of the data (country and individual levels). Because entrepreneurs and creditors are sensitive to different elements of the codes, there is scope for optimisation of the legal design of bankruptcy law to achieve both an adequate supply of credit and to encourage high-ambition entrepreneurship.
We consider whether the impact of entrepreneurial orientation on business performance is moderate... more We consider whether the impact of entrepreneurial orientation on business performance is moderated by the company affiliation with business groups. Within business groups, we explore the trade-off between inter-firm insurance that enables risk-taking, and inefficient resource allocation. Risk-taking in group affiliated firms leads to higher performance, compared to independent firms, but the impact of proactivity is attenuated. Utilizing Indian data, we show that risk-taking may undermine rather than improve business performance, but this effect is not present in business groups. Proactivity enhances performance, but less so in business groups. Firms can also enhance performance by technological knowledge acquisition, but these effects are not significantly different for various ownership categories.
A B S T R A C T This paper applies property rights theory to explain changes in foreign affiliate... more A B S T R A C T This paper applies property rights theory to explain changes in foreign affiliates' ownership. Post-entry ownership change is driven by both firm-level characteristics and by the differences in the institutional environments in host countries. We distinguish between financial market development and the level of corruption as two different institutional dimensions, such that changes along these dimensions impact upon ownership change in different ways. Furthermore, we argue that changes in ownership are affected by the foreign affiliate's relatedness with its parent's sector, as well as by the affiliate's maturity. We use firm level data across 125 host countries to test our hypotheses. ã 2016 Published by Elsevier Inc.
We advance research on human capital and entrepreneurial entry and posit that, in order to genera... more We advance research on human capital and entrepreneurial entry and posit that, in order to generate value, social entrepreneurship requires different configurations of human capital than commercial entrepreneurship. We develop a multilevel framework to analyse the com-monalities and differences between social and commercial entrepreneurship, including the impact of general and specific human capital, of national context and its moderating effect on the human capital-entrepreneurship relationship. We find that specific entrepreneurial human capital is relatively more important in commercial entrepreneurship, and general human capital in social entrepreneurship, and that the effects of human capital depend on the rule of law.
Entrepreneurs in emerging market economies operate in weak institutional contexts, which can imp... more Entrepreneurs in emerging market economies operate in weak institutional contexts, which can imply different types of government. In some countries (e.g. Russia), the government is predatory, and the main risk faced by (successful) entrepreneurs relates to expropriation. In other countries (like China) this kind of risk is lower; nevertheless the government is intrusive, and the rules of the game remain fluid. The implication of the latter for entrepreneurs is that they are more likely to spend time and resources on influence (rent seeking) activities rather than on productive activities. We illustrate this type of government by focusing on the distribution of subsidies in China. We present a simple formal model that explores not only the direct effects of rent seeking for a company but also externalities under a situation of policy-generated uncertainty in the distribution of subsidies. We explore how these effects differ for the entrepreneurial sector (young, private and small companies) compared with other sectors. We posit that while the performance of private companies is more affected than the performance of state firms, the impact of government-induced uncertainty on young and small companies is actually less pronounced. Our empirical analysis, based on a unique large dataset of 2.4 million observations on Chinese companies, takes advantage of the regional and sectoral heterogeneity of China for empirical tests.
International Small Business Journal, Nov 18, 2014
This article explores the philanthropy of owner–managers of small- and medium-sized enterprises (... more This article explores the philanthropy of owner–managers of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) investigating whether and why more entrepreneurially oriented SMEs are also more likely to engage in philanthropic activities. We find support for a positive link between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and philanthropy in a representative sample of 270 Lithuanian SMEs controlling for alternative explanations. We highlight that philanthropy is relatively common among SME owner–managers and thus complement existing research which views philanthropy as sequentially following wealth generation. In line with our theorizing, further qualitative findings point to drivers of philanthropy beyond those considered in the dominant strategic-instrumental perspective. Building on social-psychological theories of motivation, we argue and confirm that philanthropy can also be an expression of owner–managers’ altruistic values; these values can be compatible
Journal of Baltic Studies 42:3, 359-378, Sep 1, 2011
Applying regulatory focus theory, this paper investigates the impact of both ‘initial confidence’... more Applying regulatory focus theory, this paper investigates the impact of both ‘initial confidence’ and ‘exactness of growth expectations’ on the financial performance of small and medium-sized firms in Latvia. Drawing on a data set based on repeated survey design, we explore the complexity of this relationship empirically. Our overall findings suggest that when controlling for other relevant factors, such as actual growth, entrepreneurs having higher growth expectations perform significantly better in terms of profitability. In addition, education has a strong modifying effect. The impact of high growth expectations on subsequent profit performance is stronger for entrepreneurs with a lower level of education. Moreover, these effects are amplified by ethnicity. They are much stronger for ethnic Russian entrepreneurs compared with ethnic Latvian entrepreneurs.
Papers by Tomasz Mickiewicz
Social Science Research Network, 2005
This project was supported by research grants from the European Commission (Phare ACE Programme P... more This project was supported by research grants from the European Commission (Phare ACE Programme P98-1048-R) and the MC Grabowski Fund. We express our gratitude to the sponsors. We also take exclusive responsibility for all the opinions expressed in this study. We thank the
Routledge eBooks, Oct 18, 2018
Unemployment and Labour Market Policies
Springer eBooks, 2017
After our discussion of the impact of privatisation and restructuring, as well as of new firms’ e... more After our discussion of the impact of privatisation and restructuring, as well as of new firms’ entry and entrepreneurship in Chapter 8, we return to these issues to discuss unemployment. In particular, the reasons why labour market outcomes have been so different in various transition economies are explored.
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Mar 1, 2010
The transition economies have lower rates of entrepreneurship than are observed in most developed... more The transition economies have lower rates of entrepreneurship than are observed in most developed and developing market economies. The difference is even more marked in the countries of the former Soviet Union than those of Central and Eastern Europe. We link these differences partly with the legacy of communist planning, which needs to be replaced with formal market-supporting institutions. But many of these developments have now taken place, yet entrepreneurial activity still remains low in many places. To analyse this longer term issue, we highlight the necessarily slow pace of development of new informal institutions and the corresponding social attitudes, notably rebuilding the generalised trust. We argue that changes are even slower in the former Soviet Union than Central and Eastern Europe because communist rule was much longer, leading to a lack of institutional memory. We posit that changes in informal institutions may be therefore delayed until after full generational change.
The Order of Financial Liberalization
This chapter begins with an overview of the functions of financial Intermediation and possible so... more This chapter begins with an overview of the functions of financial Intermediation and possible sources of inefficiency, as seen in the context of transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe. We discuss the order of financial liberalization. Next, we ask how the transition economics In general, and the more narrowly defined regions within this group, differ amongst themselves and from other comparator economies along basic financial dimensions. We discuss how the financial reforms Implemented in the transition countries affected the characteristics of their financial systems, distinguishing between immediate effects and those that came with a time lag. We then draw some brief conclusions.
Finance and entrepreneurial entry
This paper investigates the determinants of both the volume of finance and the sources of finance... more This paper investigates the determinants of both the volume of finance and the sources of finance of business start-ups in 42 countries. Using the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) surveys for 1998-2003, we jointly examine how the institutional business environment and individual characteristics of entrepreneurs affect the financing of entrepreneurs. We find that the property rights system is the most significant determinant of both the total volume of finance and of the use of external finance for the individual start-up project. In addition, our findings suggest that that the supply of informal finance is associated with the higher share of external sources in start-up finance, whereas the size of the formal financial sector appears to play a more important role for the volume of entrepreneurial self-finance. Our results suggest that the use of external finance by start-ups correlates with the extent of financial restrictions in a country in a non-monotonic way. We find that some financial restrictions may enhance the use of external funds by entrepreneurs, yet the sign of this effect reverses and the coefficient becomes stronger for the high level of financial repression by the government. Finally, our findings imply that the characteristics of the start-up finance are also affected by various individual characteristics of entrepreneurs, their growth intentions and ownership structure.
Outcomes of Reforms: Growth
This chapter asks a fundamental question: why did some countries go through a ten-year long reces... more This chapter asks a fundamental question: why did some countries go through a ten-year long recession, while others emerged from the post-communist recessions after a mere two years? What was the relative impact of stabilisation policies, liberalisation policies and initial conditions? This question is still important today, as it was the negative experience of the 1990s that turned some societies away from the reform path.
Liberalizations, Partial Liberalizations and Recessions
In this chapter, we explore the determinants of the post-communist recessions — i.e. the recessio... more In this chapter, we explore the determinants of the post-communist recessions — i.e. the recessions experienced during the 1990s by the 30 countries that emerged from the Soviet bloc. As will be discussed, most of transition theory focuses on the related but different concept of the ‘transitional recession’ (Komai 1995) — i.e. the recession following the implementation of the liberalization programme. Transitional recession is often assumed without closer empirical scrutiny, yet actual evidence of it is mixed at best. Accordingly, we will stress that analytical focus on transitional recession is misleading: ‘Once one makes allowance for the likelihood that the counter-factual — no reform — produces even worse results in the short run, the consequences of reform actually look pretty good’ (Rodrik 1996: 29). This captures the key Idea of this chapter: to understand what happened In 1990s we need to compare countries that introduced market reforms with those where the reform process was slow or partial.
Public Finance: Size and Efficiency of the Government
Springer eBooks, 2010
As nations like Ukraine are learning hard way during the 2008–2009 economic crisis (and as we wil... more As nations like Ukraine are learning hard way during the 2008–2009 economic crisis (and as we will discuss in the next chapter), a country can pay dearly for poor fiscal policy. Poor fiscal policy is the one based on extensive redistribution by the government, with no smoothing of expenses over time (i.e. with no adequate reserves created during good times), It Is also one, which is characterized by problems with both collecting taxes and with spending money efficiently. Those effects are costly In terms of economic performance, growth and prospects for alleviating poverty. Thus both Inefficient and inflated government spending and inadequate and ill-targeted tax collection result in problems. The latter case relates to a number of nations that regained independence after the Soviet oppression and faced a difficult challenge of building their own government institutions and of stabilizing politically, suppressing ethnic hatred and violence. As an outcome, both tax collection and as a result also government spending virtually collapsed in some of those countries, especially in the Caucasus region, resulting in infrastructure falling apart and wiping out any effective assistance for the poor.