Renewable energy sources and the shadow economy: Social responsibility against tax evasion

Informal Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play a key role in their respective economies over the world particularly in the African continent. This paper reviews various theories on SMEs towards understanding the potential of the informal sector in the context of African countries. The paper uses a theoretical approach for the purpose of assessing the challenges that have affected the development of the informal SMEs sector over the years in both the developing and developed world. Economically developing countries in Africa pose unique challenges to informal SMEs development compared to the developed countries. The paper reviews the theories that define the rise to informality in Africa by identifying the key determinants for the emergence of informal SMEs. A conceptual framework for assessing informal SME’s potential for Africa is developed. The conceptual framework is based on the Fishbone diagram developed by Kaoru Ishikawa (1986). This paper discusses the intricacies of the applicability of the proposed conceptual framework to assess the potential of the informal SMEs in Africa and the way forward for the formalization debate.

Dynamic capabilities theory has become one of the most widely accepted theories of business strategy. The study aims to determine the degree of development of the dynamic capabilities theory. A meta-analysis was carried out through a bibliometric analysis and a systematic literature review. Documents published in Scopus and Web of Science between 1997–2023 were analyzed using VOSviewer software. 49 documents met the analysis requirements, with a maximum of 11 published in 2022. Keyword co-occurrences were also analyzed. 222 were found, and 26 were selected with at least two co-occurrences. The documents were grouped into six clusters by these keywords and analyzed to determine the degree of development of the theory. The results have shown popularity among researchers in different science branches, indicating a high degree of development. However, the study noted a lack of theoretical consistency in elaborating constructs for measuring variables in empirical investigations. As a result, this leads to a lack of consistency and generalization of the results. Hence, the theory is not considered fully developed in terms of lack of internal coherence, falsifiability, and predictability. Tools for the empirical measurement of variables need to be theoretically and empirically validated to ensure their application in different contexts. The confrontation of results from validated measurement tools in diverse environments will contribute to developing dynamic capabilities theory.

Acknowledgment
We appreciate the support granted through the Postdoctoral Stays program by CONAHCYT.

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a meta-analysis of the relationship between determinant factors and tax evasion based on deterrence approach. Using the meta-analysis method, each statistical result of empirical studies is converted into r-pearson as standardized effect size, and then synthesized into a mean effect size in order to increase power and to resolve uncertainty. Theoretically, increasing audit, tax rate and tax penalty will decrease tax evasion. However, the results show that only tax rate has a significant impact on tax evasion. Synthesizing totally 478 outcomes from articles published between 1978 and 2018, there is a robust conclusion that decreasing tax rate is an effective tool in combating tax evasion. On the other hand, audit and penalty are not significant in influencing tax evasion. In addition, the results of heterogeneity analysis suggest that national culture and income level of the country are useful in explaining the impact of audit, tax rate and tax penalty on tax evasion. These findings should be of interest to policymakers. First, instead of sacrificing more resources in conducting audit or imposing more penalty, tax authorities should consider setting the tax rate as low as possible to diminish tax evasion. Second, considering that culture and income level influence the impact of audit and penalty on tax evasion, policymakers should consider national cultural values and income level condition when designing audit techniques and setting penalty structures.