How paying–it–forward expands entrepreneurial functioning in Kenya’s informal settlements

Kuk, G ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1288-3635, Simba, A ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0276-8211 and Giamporcaro, S ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1150-4939, 2022. How paying–it–forward expands entrepreneurial functioning in Kenya’s informal settlements. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2022 (1). ISSN 0065-0668

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Abstract

With over 1 billion of people living in informal settlements, micro–entrepreneurship accounts for a large proportion of business activities, providing necessity services otherwise unreachable through normal means. Understanding the role of micro–entrepreneurship in extreme condition is an important component of the grand humanitarian challenge of how to alleviate poverty. Existing theory has suggested that extreme events such as COVID–19 can induce a poverty–constrained mindset, however during our preparatory field work we found micro–entrepreneurs who were able to sustain their entrepreneurial activities used a paying–it–forward mechanism to expand their own functioning by simultaneously improving others. We tested this counter–factual insight by using panel data covering the trading histories of 2,255 entrepreneurs who lived and traded in Kenya’s informal settlements. Our dynamic regression estimated the interplay between paying–it–forward and emerging network structures. The results confirm that paying–it–forward expands entrepreneurial functioning through two contrasting interaction effects with network structures that either amplify or attenuate the prosocial impact of paying–it–forward on others’ welfare during the COVID–19 pandemic lockdown. These research findings hold practical implications for humanitarian agencies and policy makers who have to juggle between resource allocations and entrepreneurship policies for communities dealing with multiple hardships.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Academy of Management Proceedings
Creators:	Kuk, G., Simba, A. and Giamporcaro, S.
Publisher:	Academy of Management
Date:	August 2022
Volume:	2022
Number:	1
ISSN:	0065-0668
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.5465/ambpp.2022.165 DOI 1620978 Other
Rights:	© 2022 Academy of Management.
Divisions:	Schools > Nottingham Business School
Record created by:	Linda Sullivan
Date Added:	24 Nov 2022 10:00
Last Modified:	24 Nov 2022 10:00
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/47493

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