Title: Determinants of entrepreneurs' views on the acceptability of tax evasion and the informal economy in Slovakia and Ukraine: an institutional asymmetry approach

Authors: Nataliia Ostapenko; Colin C. Williams

Addresses: Department of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, Comenius University in Bratislava, Odbojarov 10, P.O. BOX 95,820 05 Bratislava, Slovakia ' Management School, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 1FL, UK

Abstract: In recent years, it has been argued that citizens view tax evasion and the informal economy as socially acceptable when the codified laws and regulations (formal institutions) of a country are not aligned with the norms, values and beliefs of the population (informal institutions). Reporting a 2013 survey of 238 entrepreneurs' views on the acceptability of tax evasion and the informal economy in Slovakia and Ukraine, this paper confirms for the first time this institutional asymmetry thesis with regard to entrepreneurs, revealing that the gap between state morality and entrepreneurial morality has an impact on the acceptability of illegal behaviour. The paper concludes by discussing the theoretical and policy implications.

Keywords: illegitimate behaviour; shadow economy; tax evasion; institutional theory; entrepreneurship; Slovakia; Ukraine; informal economy; institutional asymmetry; state morality; entrepreneurial morality; acceptability; illegal behaviour.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2016.076639

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2016 Vol.28 No.2/3, pp.275 - 289

Received: 22 May 2015
Accepted: 02 Jun 2015
Published online: 18 May 2016 *

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