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This paper examines institutional voids as a possible impediment to harnessing and articulating the contributions of social enterprises towards the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in South Africa. It focuses on municipalities as sites for the implementation of development goals and the services of social enterprises. The findings show that institutional voids in the Integrated Development Plan which stem from the Constrained Development Focus of municipalities manifest in a Deficient Sector Engagement and Deficient Accountability for social entrepreneurship. These run counter to the policy and institutional coherence that is needed to successfully implement the SDGs. There is, therefore, a need to rethink the IDP process and incorporate the services of social enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union (EU) integration process of transition economies from Southeast Europe has faced significant political and economic challenges. Two decades in, these challenges persist, leading to slower-than-expected economic development and fostering local frustration, nationalism, populism, and migration flows. This article aims to disentangle the institutional complexities in these regions. Using an exploratory, inductive approach based on 30 qualitative interviews across three Southeast European countries, the research conducts a multi-level analysis. The findings reveal that complex institutional settings are characterised by institutional voids and asymmetries stemming from the transition process and EU integration. The perception of the overall institutional setup is central, negatively influenced by institutional voids and asymmetries but positively impacted by participatory law-making approaches. Additionally, competing institutional logics on the micro-level influence companies' perspective. This article provides insights into the institutional challenges faced by companies in transition economies, crucial for policy formulation and development projects in the context of EU integration. The key takeaway emphasises the importance of well-designed participatory policymaking, highlighting the need for careful preparation and a foundation of trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

U.S. federal policy has created, at best, a gap and, at worst, a hostile environment for nonprofits serving refugees. We rely on frameworks of nonprofit-government relationships (institutional voids, structural holes, instrumental/expressive support) to explore government-nonprofit interactions in the refugee domain, and their impact on 34 refugee-serving nonprofits in the U.S. Findings indicate limited expressive and instrumental support for nonprofits and suggest nonprofits must navigate complex, multilevel, environments. Contributions include the suggestion of “intentional” rather than institutional voids, and a new typology of forms (zero, unclaimed, symbolic, or comprehensive) of government support for nonprofits in a problem domain based on whether government’s instrumental and expressive support for nonprofits is high or low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the impact of China's BRI on foreign institutional investment in Pakistani public firms. The question of interest is whether the BRI attracted foreign institutional investment in Pakistani firms in the presence of low government transparency about the BRI. We find that, on average, Pakistani public firms did not experience significant growth in foreign institutional investment between the pre- and post-BRI periods. However, we find that foreign institutional investment increased for Pakistani firms affiliated with business groups relative to non-affiliated Pakistani firms between the pre- and post-BRI periods. We note that the results become stronger with higher levels of groups diversification. Our finding of increased institutional investment for affiliated Pakistani firms also holds relative to matched Indian affiliated firms. These findings suggest that foreign institutional investors prefer business groups in emerging economies as a source of opportunity to overcome the institutional voids problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies have documented the existence of legitimacy challenges that emerging markets multinational enterprises (EMNEs) face in foreign markets due to their national origin. However, there is limited understanding of the EMNEs' strategic responses to offset these country‐of‐origin related disadvantages. In this study, we conceptualize gender diversity management (GDM) as a strategic response of EMNEs to mitigate the legitimacy challenges in developed countries. Specifically, we argue that emerging markets firms increase women's representation in top management teams to overcome the liability of origin. We use legitimacy perspective to examine the effect of pervasiveness of institutional voids in emerging markets on women's representation in top management teams of EMNEs. Based on subsidiary‐level panel data of EMNEs from 20 emerging markets operating in developed countries from 2010 to 2019, our results show strong and robust evidence indicating that the pervasiveness of institutional voids at home is positively related to women's representation in top management teams of emerging markets firms. Additional analyses demonstrate that duration in the foreign market, market‐seeking intent, and state ownership further magnify this effect. These findings, besides significantly adding to the international human resource management literature, have managerial implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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International social alliances—in which multinational enterprises (MNEs) and social enterprises (SEs) collaborate—are a vital source for the development and scaling up social innovations for value creation. Yet, these alliances face significant legitimacy challenges, which are more glaring in bottom-of-the-pyramid markets (BOPMs) within emerging and developing economies owing to weak and underdeveloped formal institutions. Drawing on the legitimacy, institutional, and social alliances literature, we develop a conceptual framework that explains the importance of developing social, institutional, and commercial legitimacy in international social alliances operating in BOPMs. We also explored the challenges faced by international social alliances in BOPMs and the factors that enable MNEs and SEs to build different types of legitimacy. We contribute to international business research by providing an understanding of various legitimacy building strategies enacted by international social alliances based in BOPMs for social value creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies suggest an ecosystem view is most appropriate for understanding the impact of institutional voids on entrepreneurial activities. Expanding the focus to the entrepreneurial ecosystem is crucial for tackling complex low‐ and middle‐income countries' (LMICs) environmental challenges, as the transition to circular e‐waste management, which are heavily impacted by the institutional environment. Moreover, most entrepreneurs in LMICs engage in circular practices out of economic necessity, rather than environmental reasons. However, scholars have overlooked the effects of institutional voids on entrepreneurial ecosystems' potential to grow and realize environmental benefits. This study investigates how formal institutional voids impact the evolution of circular ecosystems in necessity‐driven contexts in LMICs. We study the evolution of a circular e‐waste ecosystem in Kenya and uncover two key phases: emergence and growth. We show that formal institutional voids' impact differs across phases; regulatory and contract enforcement voids create opportunities for informal and private actors to establish e‐waste collection, repair, remanufacture, and recycle businesses, thereby facilitating the emergence of the circular ecosystem. However, labor market, capital market, product market, regulatory, and contract enforcement voids hamper its growth. Specifically, the lack of skills, equipment, guidelines, and financial incentives hinders advanced repairs and remanufactures and limits recycling opportunities, while the lack of formal e‐waste infrastructure increases illegal dumping and negatively impacts human health and the environment. We develop propositions and a phase model to explain the impact of formal institutional voids on the evolution of circular e‐waste ecosystems and the realization of environmental benefits in necessity‐driven contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on institutional voids examines how intermediaries, such as business groups and business incubators, address such voids in emerging economies. However, it remains unclear whether and how digital multisided platforms fill these voids given their unique features. This study focuses on mobile money platforms, which allow users without bank accounts or credit cards to perform financial transactions. We propose that these platforms fill institutional voids in three ways by (i) enabling data-based certification, (ii) providing unified access to distributed services, and (iii) scaling through network effects to reach previously excluded market participants. We argue that these novel mechanisms enable mobile money platforms to expand credit access to end users from formal financial institutions and thereby act as stepping stones to financial inclusion. Our analysis is based on a difference-in-difference design that leverages regulatory changes that allowed nonbanks to operate as mobile money operators and data from a representative random sample of 151,771 individuals in 78 countries. We supplement our quantitative analysis with rich, hand-collected qualitative evidence to illustrate the mechanisms underlying our findings. Funding: Financial support from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2022.16562. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The possibility that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) mix and match prediction and non-prediction while making decisions during internationalization remains a highly unaddressed scenario. The rare studies considering it do not go beyond domestic effects when contextualizing the decisions that guide SMEs' foreign expansion. This study links SMEs' decision-making strategies to performance and suggests that such a relationship is moderated by the host market's institutional development and the associated institutional voids. The analysis combines primary survey data from 851 SMEs in Brazil, China, Italy, Poland, and Sweden with secondary data retrieved from the World Bank. Besides supporting both independent and synergistic performance effects of predictive and non-predictive strategies, the results indicate that foreign market institutions affect these effects differently and suggest firm size effects worth consideration. Contributions include the expansion of the debate on the relationship between prediction and non-prediction beyond the either-or reasoning that prevails in existing research and the contextualization of SMEs' decision-making strategies in terms of the institutional dynamics that SMEs encounter abroad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of innovations aimed at tackling grand challenges requires the support of an appropriate innovation ecosystem. However, there is a limited understanding of how such innovation ecosystems emerge in contexts of absolute uncertainty. We addressed this gap by examining the boundary work carried out by key actors in the creation of the biomedical innovation ecosystem in India that supported the development of a successful low‐cost heart valve over the 1976–1995 period. We developed a process model demonstrating how the ecosystem leader co‐created the innovation ecosystem that led to the development of a low‐cost heart valve by engaging in three types of configuration boundary work: establishing ecosystem configuration, modeling ecosystem configuration, and expanding ecosystem configuration. Our study contributes to the literature on innovations for grand challenges, innovation ecosystems, and boundary work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores a unique phenomenon of systemic companies and their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities in a weak institutional environment and extensive institutional voids that push them to take diverse obligations. The paper uses the data from 223 Russian public companies and employs conventional statistical methods to test hypotheses. Our results show that systemic companies are inclined to disclose information about their CSR activities, especially, in their social dimension due to their social obligations in the local markets and necessity to gain legitimacy in host markets. Moreover, Russian companies with international activities are more active in CSR disclosure than purely domestic ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discipline of International Entrepreneurship (IE) conceptually rests upon the foundations of entrepreneurship and international business - with theory typically derived from larger corporations and mature markets. Through comparison between IE in emerging and mature contexts, and individual and corporate entrepreneurship, distinctive features of individual IE in emerging markets are identified. A series of case studies conducted in Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam document how incremental innovation underpins IE; how foreignness helps IEs spot opportunities (unrecognized by locals); how simple bureaucracies (commonly found in emerging markets) invigorate IE; how startups in emerging environments embody assimilation (larger international corporations cannot match) - and how this assimilation (combined with being small and nimble) enables IEs to thrive within ambiguity and institutional voids. Most importantly, this study challenges the applicability of institutional and transaction cost theory to explain market entry modes of individual IEs in emerging markets. Contrary to conventional wisdom, institutional voids were not found to deter these IEs. Rather, these IEs' primary concerns relate to pro-business dispositions among authorities, simple bureaucracies, and uncomplicated investment climates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Service‐dominant logic viewpoints can be used to construct a model of value co‐creation in the service ecosystem by focusing on service provider‐beneficiary dyads and inter‐dyad interactions. However, the presence of institutional voids can hamper firm performance, even with an improved service ecosystem and value co‐creation. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the service ecosystem of IT small and medium enterprises of Bangladesh and their firm performance through the mediation of value co‐creation and moderated mediation of institutional void. This study indicated that the service ecosystem positively impacts firm performance and value co‐creation. Additionally, the findings indicated that co‐creation within the service ecosystem leads to improved firm performance. However, the study also found that institutional void can have a significant moderating effect. This research makes a valuable contribution to the literature on service ecosystem and firm performance by examining the role of value co‐creation as a mediator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The methods Western SMEs can use to activate assets of foreignness in compressed developing markets are not well understood. To fill this gap, this study identifies three main mechanisms for such activation: conforming to home-country institutions, creating distancing narratives and accentuating foreignness. It contributes knowledge about SME internationalization into compressed developing markets through two findings. First, SMEs can benefit from contrasting country practices and norms between home and host countries. Second, SMEs can activate institutional resources of their home country, which requires between-market learning because the value of these resources arises from their use in a different context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While few studies have examined the role of institutional pressures on sustainable business practices, there is a dearth of empirical research regarding the influence of internal organisational characteristics on sustainability implementation in developing countries. This paper examines internal organisational features and how they influence multinational companies (MNCs) operating in a resource‐rich developing country to embrace and embed sustainability into corporate policies and practices. The findings show that the history of past sustainable practices, the level of internationalisation and managerial cognition internally drive MNCs to implement sustainability in their host countries. We discuss that managerial cognition drives MNCs to embrace sustainability in non‐enabling institutional environments based on private morality and perceived ethical obligation. Accordingly, we have proposed a holistic theoretical framework for sustainability implementation based on external drivers, institutional voids and complexity and the moderating role of internal organisational features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an emerging market and developing economies, transaction governance structure (TGS) plays a crucial role in determining transaction costs (TC) and transaction efficiency (TE) for small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). The presence of institutional voids (IVs) further complicates the situation by adding uncertainty and complexity to the transactions. Therefore, understanding the interplay between TGS, TC, TE, and IVs is essential for SMEs to thrive and contribute to the overall economic growth of the country. This study investigates the impact of transaction governance structure on transaction efficiency with the moderating effect of institutional voids on small and medium‐sized IT and software firms in Bangladesh. A sample of 131 SMEs was selected using nonprobability convenience and snowball sampling techniques. Data were collected using a self‐administered structured questionnaire with a 5‐point Likert scale and analysed using the PLS‐SEM approach. The study findings reveal that TGS significantly and positively impacts TE, and IV moderates the relationship between TGS and TE positively. The results of the study reveal that TGS plays a crucial role in reducing transaction costs and enhancing transaction efficiency for small and medium‐sized firms in Bangladesh, thus presenting opportunities for inclusive growth and development in the country's software and IT sector. This study provided valuable insights for policymakers and practitioners on the importance of TGS and IV in enhancing transaction efficiency. Additionally, the study acknowledges the significance of meeting social and environmental needs by leveraging corporate assets and expertise, strengthening a company's competitive strategy, and developing new business opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a response to imbalanced economic development across different regions, this study aims to explore how the Fair Trade nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) promote inclusive growth in areas facing insufficient institutional supports and challenging local conditions in a developing market. Through a 5-year longitudinal case study in the context of small-scale tea supply from rural China, this paper explores and identifies a set of institutional voids blocking economic growth and challenging the realisation of the Fair Trade goals. We systematically describe how the Fair Trade NGOs intervene and integrate with other actors in local supply chains. The results reveal important and complex roles the NGOs play in coping with the institutional voids to stimulate Fair Trade. From an institutional perspective, this paper finds that the Fair Trade NGOs can leverage and shape local institutions through collaboration in market structure building, norm promotion, and cognitive development to achieve inclusive growth. Our findings contribute to the understanding of the crucial roles NGOs may play in Fair Trade, inclusive growth, and poverty alleviation. They offer important and practical guidance for NGOs, small farmers, as well as relevant government agencies in their initiatives to fight poverty and achieve economic equality and inclusive growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study draws upon the institutional‐based view to examine how home country institutional voids affect the corporate social performance (CSP) of emerging market multinational corporations (EMNCs). We propose that home country institutional voids of EMNCs are positively related to CSP. We also argue that EMNCs' internationalization and visibility will further augment the above relationships. We tested our hypotheses using a sample of 89 EMNCs from 10 countries from 2009 to 2018 and found support for our arguments. Our findings show that EMNCs use CSP to overcome the liabilities of origin due to their home‐country institutional voids. Internationalization and visibility increase the challenges of origin liabilities and EMNCs respond by enhancing their CSP. Our research adds to the existing knowledge base on institutional voids within the realm of international business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formal institutions, for example, regulations, are considered crucial determinants of entrepreneurship, but what enables regulatory change when there is a regulatory void, meaning entrepreneurship clashes with existing regulations? Drawing on public choice theory, we hypothesize that regulatory freedom facilitates the introduction of legislation to fill such voids. We test this hypothesis using unique data documenting the time for ridesharing to become legalized at the state level across the United States following its local (and often illegal) rollout. Results suggest states with greater regulatory freedom passed ridesharing legislation quicker, highlighting an underappreciated way that extant regulatory freedom facilitates the accommodation of entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research on the relationship between financial resource availability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) has presented contrasting theoretical arguments and evidence. While the relationship has been theorized to be positive in developed countries, it has been argued to be negative in emerging economies due to institutional differences. However, prior theorization in the context of emerging economies has failed to consider the possibility of a non-monotonic relationship between financial resources and CSR. Although due to the high costs of obtaining external finance in emerging economies, firms may choose to prioritize capital retention over engaging in CSR activities when financial resource availability is low, this behavior is likely to change beyond a point when the level of available financial resources has crossed a reasonable threshold. In this paper, we develop this perspective and predict a U-shaped relationship between financial resource availability and CSR in emerging economies. We test and find support for this prediction on a sample of the top 500 listed firms in India. Further, we also predict and find that three dominant ownership structures (i.e., family ownership, business group affiliation, and state ownership) differentially condition this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this conceptual paper, we respond to the calls for broader theoretical approaches that can coherently demonstrate a high degree of conceptual sensitivity to multiple combinations of institutional factors influencing women's informal entrepreneurship (WIE) and related agency. We do so by integrating constructs of gender and gender inequality with those of institutional logics and institutional voids. We find that a refined understanding of institutional voids is required to pave the way for a meaningful theoretical integration and empirical application of the related conceptualizations. We offer such a revised definition by placing formal and informal logics (rather than institutions) at the heart of it. In our theorizing, we propose that gender interplaying with formal and informal institutional logics create varying degrees of obscure and unique institutional voids that shape WIE prevalence. The proposed harmonized theoretical lens provides researchers with flexible yet consistent guidance for conducting context‐specific empirical work that can coherently advance understanding of underlying logics shaping WIE and related agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I examine the strategic choices of an Italian DMNE Perfetti Van Melle (PVM) in an emerging market using Dunning's OLI paradigm and Ghemawat's AAA framework. I seek to explicate the 'how' and 'why' of the strategic choices made by PVM in a resource-constrained environment marked by institutional voids. I find that PVM gained sustained competitive advantage by leveraging its unique ownership advantages and the locational advantages bestowed by India. In doing so, PVM adapted its business model and aggregated its globally recognized best practices to succeed in a complex and hyper-competitive market like India. Further, I also find evidence that PVM successfully recombined its market-seeking ambition with a huge prospective consumer base that sought global brands and quality products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integration of closed‐loop (CL) principles in supply chain management plays an important role for business and society. The CL supply chain can serve as a good example of an environment‐friendly and sustainable solution because it assumes waste reduction and further usage in production. Hence, the notion of the CL supply chain is premised on the design, control and operation of a system that creates extra value using the entire product life cycle and capture value recovery from various returns over time. In practice, a successful integration of CL principles depends on many contextual factors. This study aimed to identify the factors that support and discourage CL supply chain innovations in emerging markets. The study employed institutional theory as theoretical background and conducted an in‐depth case analysis of a Russian waste management company to present empirical evidence. The results showed that cooperation with an experienced and legitimate partner can drive the introduction of a CL initiative. Meanwhile, a low level of knowledge and trust might become a serious impediment. Thus, investment in knowledge dissemination and reputation building are crucial in an emerging market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines forced migrants who fled their homeland due to conflict and later returned to undertake entrepreneurial activity. Drawing on qualitative interviews with returnees to Bosnia & Herzegovina and Kosovo, we contribute to the process-oriented view of entrepreneurship by showing how forced migration leads to historical bonds to the homeland which influence resultant entrepreneurial activity. We extend literature on institutional voids by demonstrating that they can be enabling, with formal voids substituted by informal networks. Returnees rely on informal ties due to mistrust of formal ties, and these are strengthened by shared experiences of conflict and lead to activities which satisfy non-monetary gains rather than profit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to identify the key determinants of the level of informalization of micro-enterprises in Nigeria. We seek to understand the motives of entrepreneurs doing business in different segments of the informal sector and to clarify further the relationship between formal and informal economic activity. To fill the research gap, we developed a theoretical framework that focuses on a decision matrix regarding the level of informality. The quantitative approach involved a sample of 120 entrepreneurs operating in the Nigerian informal economy. Our results show that institutional constraints significantly affect the decision to engage in the informal sector. The institutional constraint is related to ambiguity in tax assessment and business registration policies and procedures, including the mismanagement of those in power. We conclude that the presence of informal firms is not always as harmful as it sometimes is considered to be. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper models and empirically explores the institutional environment in emerging economies concerning public sector corruption. Employing perspectives from institutional theory, the paper develops strategies for reducing the perceived level of corruption by assessing the interaction between regulatory, cognitive, and normative institutional elements. We find that the regulatory, institutional elements, the legal system, and business, and professional associations have a positive linear relationship with reduced perceived level of corruption. In contrast, the freedom of the media does not have a linear relationship with the perceived level of corruption and serves as a moderator. Finally, the interaction effect between the legal system and the media is stronger than the interaction effect between the media and business and professional associations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building upon our experience implementing a mixed method study combining historical and topic modeling techniques to explore how institutional voids are resolved and their relationship to formal/informal markets, we describe the promise of Topic Modeling techniques for historical studies. Recent advancements -– particularly improvements in artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques – have enabled the use of off-the-shelf AI to analyze and process large quantities of data. These techniques reduce research biases and some of the costs previously associated with computational text analysis techniques (i.e. corpus processing time and computational power). We highlight the usefulness of three text analysis techniques – structural topic modeling (STM), dynamic topic modeling (DTM), and word embeddings – and demonstrate their ability to support the generation of novel interpretations. Finally, we emphasize the continuing importance of the author in every step of the research process, especially for abstracting from AI outputs, evaluating competing explanations, inferring meaning, and building theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In weak institutional contexts characterized by institutional voids, firms often struggle to demonstrate their ethical conduct. They are seen as raising the costs of influencing stakeholders and correspondingly the level of investment needed in stakeholder influence capacity in order to achieve corporate financial performance (CFP). We hypothesize and find support for a U-shaped curvilinear relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement level and CFP in the context of India—a country characterized by relatively weak institutions. We also investigate whether family firms can help overcome the drawbacks of weak institutional contexts and thus influence the relationship between CSR and CFP. We adopt a large sample, panel data approach to test our theoretical model. We observe a U-shaped relationship, consistent with earlier findings in developed countries. However, we find that this significant U-shaped relationship is observed only in the case of family firms in our sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]