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The Relationship Between Formality and Child Work in Base-of-the-Pyramid Family Businesses

Christopher G. Pryor et al.

Family Business Review2026https://doi.org/10.1177/08944865251412572article
AJG 3ABDC A
Weight
0.50

Abstract

For family businesses in the world’s poorest economies, formalization—registering with the government and paying taxes and fees—has been found to lead to better performance. However, formalization may also lead to unexpected negative consequences. Drawing on institutional logics and family embeddedness perspectives and using a sample of family businesses in Eswatini, we find an inverted U-shaped association between businesses’ degree of formality and child work. We find that child work increases, then decreases, as family businesses move from informal, to semi-formal, to formal status. We also explore how entrepreneurs’ gender and family business performance moderate this relationship.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/08944865251412572

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@article{christopher2026,
  title        = {{The Relationship Between Formality and Child Work in Base-of-the-Pyramid Family Businesses}},
  author       = {Christopher G. Pryor et al.},
  journal      = {Family Business Review},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/08944865251412572},
}

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The Relationship Between Formality and Child Work in Base-of-the-Pyramid Family Businesses

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

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