Human Values among Brazilian Informal Entrepreneurs

Abstract

Studies on entrepreneurial behaviour are neglecting various psychosocial specificities related to the informal entrepreneurship. Therefore, this study aimed to understand the behaviour of informal entrepreneurs through its values provisions that are underlying. For this, we counted with the participation of 173 informal entrepreneurs from three cities at the state of Alagoas, in which they are 84 (48.6%) men and 89 (51.4%) women, aged 14-70 years (M = 39.83, SD = 0.90). Participants were asked to answer to (1) the Basic Values Questionnaire and (2) the Socio-demographic Questionnaire. Informal entrepreneurs surveyed had value patterns with materialistic motivating and central guiding principle, being the Existence values (m = 6.277) more driven – Survival and Maturity values as priorities –, associated to a strong correlation with the Promotion values (r = 0.446; p = 0.000), which shows up congruent with what the literature attributes to the entrepreneur prototype. The study provided explanations on possible sociological and anthropological explainers for the informal entrepreneurship, about the structural nature of self-employment in Brazil, such as the difficulty in entering the formal labour market, the need for survival and the culture of informality linked to the construct of the Brazilian Jeitinho.