Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to conduct a systematic review of the factors that shape tax morale. A large range of random explanatory variables identified in the literature as determinants of tax morale are synthesised and structured by drawing inspiration from the institutional theory.Design/methodology/approach: To do this, a systematic search has been conducted using a library catalogue which provides access to more than 400 databases.Findings: The finding is that the institutional theory provides a suitable theoretical basis to explore tax morale. Indeed, all the factors until now identified as determinants of tax morale (except the control variables/socio-demographic characteristics) can be categorised either as belonging to formal institutions or to informal institutions. The most salient factor is trust, with both vertical and horizontal trust positively related to tax morale.Research limitations/implications: The outcome is a call for a more nuanced understanding of not only the effect of formal and informal institutions on tax morale but also how formal and informal institutions interact and alter each other and, consequently, affect tax morale.Practical implications: The paper seeks to encourage governments to start recognising that as low tax morale arises when a gap exists between formal and informal institutions, they need to design policy measures aimed to reduce this gap, rather than persisting with deterrence measures.Originality/value: This is the first systematic review of the factors that influence tax morale using an institutionalist lens.

Purpose: To tackle one of the main negative consequences of the sharing economy, namely, the growth of the informal sector, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate for the first time the impacts of the informal sector on the hospitality industry and then to discuss what needs to be done to prevent the further growth of the informal sector in this industry.Design/methodology/approach: To evaluate the impacts of the informal sector on the hospitality industry, data are reported from 30 East European and Central Asian countries collected in 2013 in the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey.Findings: The finding is that 23 per cent of hotels and restaurants in Eastern Europe and Central Asia report competing against unregistered or informal operators, and 13 per cent view these informal competitors as a major or severe obstacle. The larger the business, the greater is the likelihood that the informal sector is considered their biggest obstacle.Practical implications: To prevent the further growth of the informal sector in the hospitality industry, regulation of the sharing economy will be required. To achieve this, it is shown that state authorities need to adopt both direct control measures that alter the costs of operating in the informal sector and the benefits and ease of operating formally, as well as indirect control measures that reduce the acceptability of operating in the informal sector.Originality/value: This is the first paper to evaluate the impacts of the informal sector on the hospitality industry and to outline the policy measures required to prevent its further growth with the advent of the sharing economy.

Purpose: – The purpose of this paper is to advance a new explanation for cross-country variations in the participation of small businesses in the informal economy. Drawing upon institutional theory, it proposes that the greater the asymmetry between the codified laws and regulations of formal institutions (state morality) and the unwritten socially shared rules of informal institutions (civic morality), the greater is the propensity of small businesses to participate in the informal economy. To analyse this, the extent to which small businesses evade payroll taxes by paying employees an undeclared (envelope) wage in addition to their official declared salary is analysed.Design/methodology/approach: – To evaluate this, data are reported from a 2013 Eurobarometer survey involving 5,174 face-to-face interviews with employees in small businesses across the 28 member states of the European Union (EU-28).Findings: – The finding is that small businesses display a greater propensity to engage in this informal wage practice in countries where there is a higher degree of asymmetry between the codified laws and regulations of formal institutions (state morality) and the unwritten socially shared rules of informal institutions (civic morality). A multi-level logistic regression analysis reveals these to be countries which have lower qualities of governance, lower levels of taxation and intervention in the labour market and less effective social transfer systems.Research limitations/implications: – The major limitation of this study is that it has only examined whether employees in small businesses receive informal wages. Future cross-country surveys should analyse a wider range of ways in which small businesses participate in the informal economy such as under-reporting turnover.Originality/value: – This is the first known analysis of cross-country variations in the participation of small businesses in the informal economy.

The purpose of this study is to explore whether research productivity is correlated with extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Even though research productivity and motivation have been analyzed in the economics of science literature, the relationship between the two has received very little attention so far. We have conducted a questionnaire survey among Romanian academics of economics and business administration and merged the responses with the official university records of professorial research output. Using a Tobit regression model on a representative sample we find that intrinsic motivation is positively correlated with research productivity, whereas extrinsic motivation is negatively correlated. These results imply that scientists who take a strong interest in their work are, as a consequence, more productive researchers; scientists who are, in general, extrinsically motivated will however substitute their efforts toward activities that are more financially profitable in an economy undergoing transition.

This article advances understanding of the prevalence and distribution of dependent self‐employment. Analysing the 2015 European Working Conditions Survey of 35,765 employees in 28 European countries, the dependent self‐employed are found to comprise 4.3% (1 in 23) of the EU workforce, 47% of all those reporting themselves as self‐employed without employees and 31% of all self‐employed. The prevalence of dependent self‐employment, however, is found to have decreased since the previous 2010 survey, is not found to be concentrated among marginalised population groups and is significantly more likely in agriculture, forestry and fishing, arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities, and the household services sector. The implications for theorising and tackling dependent self‐employment are discussed.