You say illegal, I say legitimate: Entrepreneurship in the informal economy", Academy of Management Review 34

The entrepreneurial process drives economic activities in the formal economy; however, little is known theoretically about how the entrepreneurial process works in the informal economy. To address this theoretical gap, we employ amultilevel perspective integrating entrepreneurship theory (microlevel) with institutional (macrolevel) and collective iden-tity (mesolevel) theories to examine the role institutions and collective identity play in the recognition and exploitation of opportunities in the informal economy. Additionally, we explore factors that influence the transition to the formal economy. Societies are composed of groups that often have different opinions about what is socially acceptable (Bickford, 1999; Rokeach, 1973). Contrasting norms, values, and beliefs are the source of these differ-ences. When concerned with salient issues, the groups that form as a result of individuals ’ coales-cence around different norms, values, and beliefs often become large. The Prohibition era and the civi