小额贷款与创业能力中英文对照外文翻译文献

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　：An empirical investigation of the interplay between microcredit, institutional context, and entrepreneurial capabilities（小额信贷、制度环境与创业能力之间相互作用的实证研究）

　文献作者：Jonathan Kimmitt， Mariarosa Scarlata，Dimo Dimov

　文献出处：《Venture Capital》 ,2016,18(3):257–276

　字数统计：英文 3661 单词，21609 字符；中文 6504 汉字

　外文文献

　An empirical investigation of the interplay between microcredit, institutional context, and entrepreneurial capabilities Abstract Understanding under which conditions microcredit is used by new, growing ventures is becoming increasingly pertinent to scholars. This paper investigates the interplay of the use of microcredit with entrepreneurial capabilities and the moderating role of institutional development in sub-Saharan Africa. Our findings show that higher constraints to entrepreneurial capabilities are associated with higher use of microcredit. In addition, we find that new, growing ventures use microcredit more where either economic or political institutions are less developed. Our findings suggest the importance of the existence of some type of institutional strength that must be in place to form the basis for microcredit activity. This allows for speculation as to whether microcredit works as the literature currently assumes. KEYWORDS: Capabilities; entrepreneurial finance; institutions; microfinance

　1.Introduction

　Entrepreneurial activity is strongly influenced by the context it is embedded in (Baumol 1990, 1993; Autio and Acs 2010; Welter 2011). Particularly in emerging markets, entrepreneurs face a number of challenges, such as the mixed success of innovation (Bradley et al. 2012), weak institutions (Acemoglu 2003), and low human capital levels (Acs and Virgill 2010). One particular challenge for these entrepreneurs is access to finance (Honohan 2007) which can lead them into “poverty traps” (Berthelemy and Varoudakis 1996), ultimately undermining their ability to freely choose among options (Gries and Naudé 2011) and pursue the goals they value (Alkire 2005). A financial sector that is well developed, on the contrary, would give them the instrumental capability to more adequately participate in economic exchange (Sen 1999; Beck, Demirgüç-Kunt, and Levine 2007). To respond to funding challenges that particularly characterize developing economies, the provision of microfinance to entrepreneurs has been regarded as an important part of the strategy through which livelihoods could be improved (Mair and Marti 2006; Peredo and Mclean 2006; Khavul 2010). Microfinance institutions (MFIs) pursue profit-making strategies that facilitate and support the ongoing activity of capital provision to entrepreneurs while also trying to extend their services and drive outreach (Morduch 1999; Fernando 2006). By providing microcredit, savings, insurance, and retirement plans, individuals are able to obtain capital which can be used to finance the creation and the survival of new ventures (Campbell 2010; Khavul 2010). As such, microcredit allows entrepreneurs to build assets and economic resources, while creating employment opportunities and services for local communities (Helms 2006). This can ultimately have an effect on individuals’ capabilities and the contexts entrepreneurs operate in (Mair and Marti 2009). Current debates in the microcredit and microfinance literature have focused on the dynamics through which microcredit is deployed, particularly to women, as well

　as its effectiveness (cfr. among others Mair, Marti, and Ventresca 2012; Milanov, Justo, and Bradley 2015; Chliova, Brinckmann, and Rosenbusch 2015), how microfinance institutions function (cfr. among others, Morduch 1999; Armendariz and Morduch 2007) as well as their level of sustainability (cfr. among others, Gonzalez- Vega 1994; Morduch 2000), and their ability to shape the context they operate in (cfr. among others, Mair and Marti 2006; Khavul, Chavez, and Bruton 2013). Research has also indicated that institutional quality determines the performance of MFIs in periods of financial crisis (Silva and Chávez 2015) and that institutions influence how entrepreneurial finance is channeled to entrepreneurs in developing economies (Eid 2005). However, Beck (2007) and McKenzie and Woodruff (2008) indicate that small and medium-sized businesses, often called “missing middle,” offer high returns on investments in these contexts. Yet, they remain underserved financially and overlooked by researchers. We also know that empirical access to finance is a critical issue for firms in developing economies and microcredit is a particular type of high- risk debt which may not always be sought after (Hulme 2000; George 2005). In addition, if context shapes entrepreneurship and sets the boundaries for entrepreneurial action (Welter 2011), it is not clear (a) whether ventures using microcredit are those whose capabilities are constrained the most by the environment they operate in and (b) under which institutional conditions these ventures actually use microfinance to fund their business needs. The question about when and where entrepreneurs decide to pursue or forgo the option of using microfinance loans still remains unanswered (Khavul 2010). In this paper, we ask the following question: How do formal institutions shape the use of microcredit by firms with varying entrepreneurial capabilities? To answer these questions, our empirical analysis focuses on the use of microcredit by firms in sub-Saharan Africa, characterized as a context with a high level of constrained capabilities. Often viewed as institutionally homogenous (Rivera-Santos et al. 2015), we highlight the institutional heterogeneity of this context and the varying capabilities associated with it. We test predictions using data from the World Bank’s Enterprise Survey, the Economic Freedom of the

　World Report index (2011), as well as the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report (2008). Our findings indicate that microcredit is indeed used in areas where individuals’ entrepreneurial capabilities are more constrained. At the same time, in these contexts, microcredit tends to be mostly used where there is either a well-developed market or a well-functioning political–judicial system which guarantee a minimal“rule of game”. It is only under those institutional conditions that firms, constrained by their capabilities, are prone to/can use microcredit to finance their business activities.

　2.Theoretical background

　Sen’s (1999, 2005) “capabilities approach” introduced the notion that development should be conceptualized as freedoms, i.e., how and why individuals are able or constrained in their ability to act. Because individuals have ideas about the type of lives they want to live, they act in accordance with such aims (Sen 1999). Following the capabilities approach, antecedents and consequences of individual circumstances can be highlighted using non-monetary indicators: Capability constraints need to be understood with respect to the individual’s freedom, i.e., how and why individuals are able or constrained in their abilities to do or to be (Alkire 2005). In the capabilities approach, a person’s freedom refers to the genuine opportunity to realize whatever it is that they are trying to achieve (Alkire 2005). This, in turn, determines“what they do” (Anand et al. 2009). Building on Sen’s (1999) argument, Nambiar (2013) further reports that capabilities are synonymous with individuals feeling constrained or enabled by their immediate circumstances, whereas Robeyns (2005), Sen (2005) and Nussbaum (2000) indicate that it is an individual’s environment which creates heterogeneities in capabilities. Severely restricted capabilities are therefore associated with an inability to act in accordance with ones’ aims. Prior work shows that context is particularly important in shaping entrepreneurial

　capabilities: By setting boundaries, it can be the space for the emergence of opportunities while also placing limitations upon them (Welter 2011; Estrin, Korostelevab, and Mickiewiczc 2013). Context influences enterprising activities at

　the intersection of different levels of analysis, situating theories, and empirical patterns within their natural settings (Zahra, Wright, and Abdelgawad 2014). Evans (2002) and Sen (1999), among others, indicate that the institutional context indeed influences capability development. Both Sen (2005) and Nussbaum (2000) explain that expanding individual freedoms are central to advancing capabilities; this expansion is guided by institutional frameworks. The proposition here is that institutional development impacts freedoms, such as those related to economic opportunities, property, finance, and other basic services (Stiglitz 1998; Nussbaum 2000), and this impacts capability development. On the one hand, as Robeyns (2005) reports, the capabilities of entrepreneurs require appreciating that there are heterogeneities in their abilities to achieve their aims. On the other hand, institutional failure can increase transaction costs which limit the appropriability of entrepreneurial rents, reducing the perceived attractiveness of entrepreneurial opportunities and leading to suppression of entrepreneurial activity (Baker, Gedajlovic, and Lubatkin 2005). The development of financial institutions, which provide adequate financial services, is categorized by Sen (1999) as an instrumental capability. Contexts where financial institutions are underdeveloped contribute to the creation of“poverty traps” (Berthelemy and Varoudakis 1996) as it reduces the perceived attractiveness of entrepreneurial opportunities. This, in turn, hinders the ability of individuals to adequately participate in economic exchange and overall capabilities (Sen 1999). Microcredit developed in contexts characterized by limited access to resources (Peredo and Chrisman 2006) as a solution for individuals who are constrained by the environment, which inhibits the pursuit of lucrative opportunities (Sen 2005). As such, microcredit acts as a means toward the expansion of entrepreneurs’ capabilities (Ansari, Munir, and Gregg 2012) who can incrementally improve their capabilities of

　achieving small-scale solutions to macro social problems (Moyo 2009). This leads to the formulation of the following hypothesis: Hypothesis 1. New ventures are more likely to use microcredit where capabilities are constrained. Hypothesis 2. New ventures are more likely to use microcredit where economic institutions are less developed. Hypothesis 3. New ventures are more likely to use microcredit where political- judicial institutions are less developed. Hypothesis 4. New ventures are more likely to use microcredit in environments characterized by high constrained capabilities where economic institutions are more (less) developed and political-judicial institutions less (more) developed.

　3.Methodology

　To test our hypotheses, we used data by the World Bank through its annual Enterprise Survey. We focused on countries in sub-Saharan Africa since this has been consistently depicted as one of the areas with seriously restricted capabilities. In particular, the World Bank (2012) reports an increase in sub-Saharan urban population by 114% between 1990 and 2009, and an increase in people living with less than $1 a day by 183%; also, the average life expectancy at birth results to be 52.5 years, compared with 71.5 years for North Africa and 69.2 years for the world. Still, the prevalence of HIV for people aged 15–49 is nearly 7 times the world’s average (World Bank 2012). Twenty-seven sub-Saharan countries were included in the survey. The enterprise surveys collect firm level information on the business environment, how it is perceived by individual firms, how it changes over time, and the various constraints to firm performance and growth (World Bank 2011). Firm-level data are available from

　2002; however, since data prior to 2006 were collected by different units within the World Bank and employed different survey questions for different countries, our analysis focuses on data collected from 2006. In addition, the enterprise survey is addressed to operating businesses that employ a minimum of five employees; this eliminates most of the subsistence-driven and self-employment forms of entrepreneurship, something that Karnani (2007) has defined as “misguiding” in that the focus on subsistence entrepreneurship does not help us in understanding and/or explaining economic development. Similarly, Mead and Liedholm (1998) have shown that within an African context, small and medium-sized enterprises generate significantly more jobs than larger scale enterprises yet remain chronically underfunded. By concentrating on ventures with five or more employees, we are able to focus on the“missing middle” of the microfinance sector which have the greatest potential for driving economic growth and is consistently under-researched (Sleuwaegen and Goedhuys 2002). To date, this is a group of entrepreneurs who have received sparse attention within the microfinance literature, which has

　heavily focused on microfinance institutions themselves rather than on recipients of their services (cfr. among others, Mair and Marti 2006; Moss, Neubam, and Meyskens 2015; Silva and Chávez 2015). For what concerns our conceptualization of entrepreneurship as new ventures, consistent with prior research in both developed and developing countries, we limited our analysis to those firms that were not part of larger firms and were less than 10 years old (Benson 2001; Fadahunsi and Rosa 2002; Reuber and Fischer 2002; Barnir, Gallaugher, and Auger 2003; Park and Bae 2004; Bhagavatula et al. 2010). Based on these parameters, our sample size for analysis was 5255 of the 16847 firms in the original Enterprise Survey data set.

　4.Discussion, limitations, and future research

　Scholars have consistently linked entrepreneurial activity with economic growth.

　However, in developing countries, individuals often lack the capabilities to access the market and obtain capital to fund new business opportunities. Acknowledging these challenges, microcredit developed to provide small amount of loans to allow such individuals to efficiently engage in economic exchange and build their ventures, thus making wider economic contributions (Mcmullen 2011). However, entrepreneurship researchers have argued that contextual factors, both at the individual and institutional level, augment entrepreneurial activity (Baumol 1990; Estrin, Korostelevab, and Mickiewiczc 2013). This paper highlights the contextual conditions under which new, growing ventures use microcredit. These ventures are classified as the“missing middle” and have been overlooked by mainstream academic research and practitioners’ work, where a focus has been on individuals receiving microcredit for subsistence purposes and/or to develop micro-enterprises (Beck 2007). Yet, we know that microcredit developed as a solution to offer individuals the necessary financial instruments that would enable building entrepreneurial capabilities by developing new businesses. As such, this “missing middle” represents smaller firms within developing economies that have limited financial options even though they may offer returns on investments in these contexts (McKenzie and Woodruff 2008) and potentially provide much more significant economic externalities in terms of job and wealth creation (Karnani 2007). Although the term “missing middle” has been used for some time, there is very little research on this group of firms even though they are becoming a more prominent part of the microfinance picture and have a more significant economic impact than their micro counterparts (Khavul, Chavez, and Bruton 2013). Because sub-Saharan Africa is a region characterized by high constraints to individual capabilities and little attention has been paid to heterogeneity of capabilities across the continent (Rivera-Santos et al. 2015), our empirical analysis focuses on the use of microcredit in“missing middle” ventures in such countries. Specifically, we examine the degree to which microcredit is utilized by new ventures as a function of the country’s institutional environment, measured as the development

　of economic and political institutions, and of the degree of constraints to a firm’s capabilities, measured by the fruitfulness of the commercial environment. We then argue that microcredit is more likely to be used by those ventures that have higher restrictions to their capabilities only when there is some institutional arrangement, either at an economic or political–judicial level that sets “the rules of the game.” Our empirical results suggest that microcredit is indeed used by these new, missing middle ventures in contexts that present challenges both at the firm and institutional level of analysis. The identification of a positive effect between the use of microcredit and the constraints to entrepreneurial capabilities reinforces Sen’s (1999) view and the notion that microcredit facilitates access to capital for those entrepreneurs that operate in regions with the most restricted capabilities. However, our results also show this happens only when there are appropriate supporting institutional mechanisms, further suggesting that contextual features of the institutional environment shape microfinance activity. Particularly, the use of microcredit by the“missing middle” increases in contexts characterized by restricted capabilities and either (a) well (less) developed economic (political–judicial) institutions or (b) less (well) developed economic (political–judicial) institutions. The underdevelopment of economic institutions can prevent entrepreneurs from forming contracts, ultimately increasing business uncertainty and compounding their ability to create wealth (Seelos and Mair 2007). This is theoretically consistent with the Mair and Marti (2009) argument who assert that MFIs act as institutional entrepreneurs in contexts of institutional weakness left open by underdeveloped economic institutions. Similarly, contexts where political–judicial institutions are characterized by high levels of corruption raise the fundamental threat of rent and asset expropriation, generating uncertainty in the business environment. This uncertainty undermines entrepreneurial aspirations of individuals and has a stronger effect on new ventures than on established ones (Kahneman and Tversky 1979). In such contexts, institutions in charge of transferring resources to one party to another, and designed to serve on behalf of the government or the people (including, thus, the government itself ), may

　not be answerable to their principals.

　However, our results also do show that we should consider the interaction between development of economic and political institutions to fully understand the use of microcredit by new, growing firms and that heterogeneity of capabilities drives such relationship. Particularly, microcredit may help shape institutional contexts characterized by heterogeneous capabilities, but foundational institutional support is needed in order to tackle such capability problems. Whereas prior work (Mair and Marti 2006; Mair, Marti, and Ventresca 2012; Khavul, Chavez, and Bruton 2013) has indicated that microcredit is used in contexts where only economic institutions are to be developed, our work shows that there must be some formal institutional political framework in place for entrepreneurs to use microcredit in such contexts. Without it, the developmental role of microcredit may be overstated. At the same time, we also show that microcredit is used in contexts where there is development of economic institutions. Yet, we identify that the use of microcredit

　is to be found in contexts with stronger economic institutions and weak political ones. It is precisely this interaction between developed economic institutions and underdevelopment of political ones that the literature has not addressed this far. Acemoglu and Robinson (2012) draw the distinction between extractive and inclusive institutions, arguing that extractive contexts (e.g., autocratic rule/weak governance) can have strong economic institutions. However, because these are less open politically, they may deter potentially novel businesses that spur economic growth. If microcredit is utilized by capability-constrained firms in potentially extractive contexts, this suggests that the entrepreneurial activity being stimulated, even within the “missing middle”, may be less productive for economic development (Baumol 1990). Our work, therefore, highlights the institutional conditions within which microcredit is used to fund the development of new entrepreneurial opportunities: if less favorable political contexts may lead entrepreneurs to capture opportunities which are less conducive to the overall development of the economy, the impact of microcredit in these nations may be somehow minimalistic. Conversely, in more

　politically inclusive economies, microcredit may help spur the creation of more competitive and innovative markets which can help diversify markets beyond the basic services (e.g., food goods, provisions) often provided (Banerjee 2007). As such, the relationship between the nature of the institutional environment and the type of business opportunity pursued in the microfinance industry would be an interesting avenue for further study. Indeed, further study needs to dig deeper into the role of informal institutions in this process. Overall, this encourages us to consider whether the relationship between microcredit, entrepreneurship, and capabilities works as the literature currently assumes – microcredit is used by entrepreneurs in the most resource constrained environments where only economic institutions are to be shaped. As such, our findings suggest a more complex picture than extant research currently suggests and contribute to a better understanding of the use of microcredit at the level of the firm receiving it (Silva and Chávez 2015), with a need to consider institutional heterogeneities both within and across developing countries (Roth and Kostova 2003) and the interaction between a complex constellation of factors of institutions and capabilities (Nambiar 2013). It is therefore of key importance for future work to understand the dynamics through which microcredit is developed in contexts characterized by political institutional weakness. From a political perspective, most research has focused on the role of regulation in the microfinance sector (Cull, Demirgüç-Kunt, and Morduch 2011) without considering the other aspects of political institutions we have theorized, and empirically identified, here. This would help scholars and practitioners alike in gaining a better understanding how microcredit works in varying political environments. From a policy perspective, our findings which suggest that new ventures need some level of institutional support to be able to pursue and fulfill their entrepreneurial aspirations, something that has strong implications given the recent political upheaval in North Africa, the Middle East, and parts of sub-Saharan Africa. In post-conflict contexts, often characterized by the lowest level of capability development, and where

　political institutions (or economic ones) are still in the process of being redefined and shaped, the intervention of MFIs may be of key importance in stimulating entrepreneurial activity and the economy in some of the most challenging contexts. Emerging evidence suggests that many nations in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond are developing the appropriate institutions through which financial institutions can stimulate the private sector (Naudé 2010). Microcredit could be an appropriate tool for augmenting entrepreneurial activity in those environments where individuals lack the basic individual and institutional infrastructure to fulfill their aspirations. As such, the ability of entrepreneurs to have access to improved instrumental capabilities is likely to be shaped by how varying institutional arrangements support them, determining where investors see scalable operations and therefore the diversity of financial services at the disposal of entrepreneurs. Aside from the contribution and further reflection that our results stimulate, there are limitations to our study that need to be considered in any further extrapolation from our results. First, the study was cross sectional in nature and, as such, cannot make a reliable inference on the direction of the interplay between the effectiveness of the provision of microcredit on capabilities or on the institutional development over time. The nature of our data enabled us to study only the use of microcredit as a function of capability constraints, but a promising and much needed extension of the work concerns the reverse relationship, i.e., how the use of microcredit helps in improving entrepreneurial capabilities. Second, while large-scale data are difficult to collect on this topic, the availability of the enterprise survey has enabled us to throw a glimpse at the use of microcredit across a large group of African countries. At the same time, as is true for any secondary data set, the data offer limited insight into the conditions and rationale under which microcredit was (or was not) obtained. We hope that our insights can stimulate further research that would seek to elucidate this mechanism through more suitable research designs.

　中文译文

　小额信贷、制度环境与创业能力之间相互作用的实证研究

　摘要

　学者们越来越多关注，在哪种条件下，小额信贷才会被新的、成长中的企业所使用。本文研究了撒哈拉以南非洲地区小额信贷的使用与创业能力的相互作用，以及对制度发展的调节作用。我们的研究结果表明，对创业能力的更高限制与更多地使用小额信贷有关。此外，我们发现，在经济或政治制度不发达的地方，新的、成长中的企业更多地使用小额信贷。我们的研究结果表明，必须具备某种形式的制度力量，才能形成小额信贷活动的基础。这使得人们可以猜测小额信贷是否如目前的文献所假设的那样起作用。

　关键词：能力；创业金融；制度；小额贷款

　1. 简介

　创业活动受到其所处环境的强烈影响（Baumol，1990，1993；Autio 和Acs，2010；Welter，2011）。特别是在新兴市场，企业家面临着诸多挑战，例如创新成败参半（Bradley 等，2012）、制度薄弱（Acemoglu，2003）和人力资本水平低下（Acs 和 Virgill，2010）。这些企业家面临的一个特别挑战是获得资金的机会(Honohan，2007)，这可能导致他们陷入“贫困陷阱”(Berthelmy 和 Varoudakis，1996)，最终削弱了他们自由选择的能力(Gries 和Naudé，2011)和追求价值目标的能力(Alkire，2005)。相反，一个发展良好的金融部门将使他们有能力更充分地参与到经济交流中 （Sen，1999；Beck、Demirgüç-Kunt 和 Levine，2007）。

　为了应对发展中经济体特有的融资挑战，向企业家提供小额信贷已被视为可以改善生计战略的一个重要组成部分（Mair 和 Marti，2006；Peredo 和Mclean，2006；Khavul，2010）。小额信贷机构（MFIs）追求盈利战略，促进和

　支持向企业家提供资本的持续活动，同时努力扩大服务范围，并推动外联 （Morduch，1999； Fernando，2006）。通过提供小额信贷、储蓄、保险和退休计划，个人能够获得资金，用于资助新企业的创建和生存 （Campbell，2010；Khavul，2010）。因此，因此，小额信贷使企业家能够建立资产和经济资源，同时为当地社区创造就业机会和服务（Helms 2006）。这最终可能会对个人能力和企业家的经营环境产生影响（Mair 和 Marti，2009）。

　目前关于小额信贷和小额融资的文献中的辩论侧重于小额信贷的部署动态， 特别是对女性的小额信贷及其有效性（参见 Mair、Marti 和Ventresca，2012；Milanov、Justo 和 Bradley，2015；Chliova、Brinckmann 和 Rosenbusch，2015），小额信贷机构如何运作（参见 Morduch，1999；Armendariz 和 Morduch，2007）小额信贷的可持续发展水平 （参见 Gonzalez-Vega，1994；Morduch，2000），以及小额信贷塑造其运作环境的能力（参见 Mair 和 Marti，2006；Khavul、Chavez 和 Bruton，2013）。研究还表明，制度质量决定了小额金融机构在金融危机期间的业绩(Silva 和Chávez，2015)，制度影响着如何向发展中经济体的企业家提供创业资金(EID，2005)。然而，Beck（2007）、Mc Kenzie 和 Woodruff（2008）指出，通常被称为“缺失中型”的中小型企业在这些背景下的投资回报率很高。然而， 它们仍然缺乏经济上的服务，并且被研究人员所忽视。我们还知道，对发展中国家的企业来说，经验性融资是一个关键问题，而小额信贷是一种特殊的高风险债务，并非总是受到追捧（Hulme，2000；George，2005）。

　此外，如果环境塑造创业精神并设定创业行动的界限(Welter，2011)，则 不清楚（a）使用小额信贷的企业是否是那些能力受其所处环境影响最大的企业， 以及（b）这些企业实际上是在何种制度条件下使用小额信贷来满足其商业需要。关于企业家在何时何地决定寻求或放弃使用小额信贷的问题仍未得到回答 （Khavul，2010）。在本文中，我们提出以下问题：正规机构如何影响具有不同创业能力的公司对小额信贷的使用？为了回答这些问题，我们的实证分析侧重于撒哈拉以南非洲企业对小额信贷的使用情况，其特点是这些企业的创业能力 受到环境的高度约束。我们经常称为制度上的同质性(Rivera-Santos 等，2015)， 我们强调了这一背景下的制度异质性以及与之相关的各种能力。我们使用世界

　银行的“企业调查”、“世界经济自由报告指数”(2011 年)以及“世界经济论坛全球竞争力报告”(2008 年)中的数据来检验预测。我们的研究结果表明，小额信贷确实是个人创业能力受到限制的领域。与此同时，在这种环境中，小额信贷往往主要是在市场发达或政治司法制度运转良好的情况下使用，这种制度保证了最低限度的“游戏规则”。只有在这些制度条件下，受其能力约束的公司才容易/可以使用小额信贷来为其业务活动提供资金。

　2. 理论背景

　Sen（1999，2005）的“能力方法”提出了这样一种观念，即发展应该被概念化为自由，即个人如何以及为何能够或受限于自己的行为能力。因为个人对他们想要的生活类型有自己的想法，所以他们的行动符合这样的目标(Sen，1999)。按照能力方法，可以使用非货币指标突出个人情况的前因后果：

　需要根据个人的自由来了解能力约束，即个人如何以及为什么能够或被限制他们的能力去做或成为（Alkire，2005）。在能力方法中，一个人的自由是指真正有机会实现他们想要达到的目标（Alkire，2005）。反过来，这又决定了“他们做什么”（Anand 等，2009）。在 Sen 的（1999）论证的基础上， Nambiar（2013）进一步指出，能力是个体因其直接环境而感到受限制或使其成为可能的同义词，而 Robeyns (2005)、Sen(2005)和 Nussbaum(2000)则认为是个体的环境创造了能力的异质性。因此，能力受到严重限制，就意味着不能按照自己的目标行事。

　先前的研究表明，环境对塑造创业能力特别重要：通过设定边界，环境可以成为机会出现的空间，同时也对机会施加限制 （Welter，2011；Estrin、Korostelevab 和 Mickiewiczc，2013）。环境在不同层次的分析、情境理论和经验模式的自然环境中影响着创业活动 （Zahra、Wright 和 Abdelgawad，2014）。

　Evans（2002）和 Sen（1999）等人指出，制度环境确实影响了能力的发展。Sen（2005）和 Nussbaum（2000）都解释说，扩大个人自由对提升能力至关重要；这种扩大是以制度框架为指导的。这里的论点是，制度发展影响自由，例如与经济机会、财产、金融和其他基本

　服务有关的自由（Stiglitz，1998；Nussbaum，2000），这会影响能力发展。一方面，正如 Robeyns（2005）所报告的那样，企业家的能力要求认识到他们实现目标的能力具有异质性。另一方面，制度失灵会增加交易成本，从而限制企业租金的专用性，降低创业机会的吸引力，并导致创业活动受到抑制 （Baker、Gedajlovic 和 Lubatkin，2005）。

　Sen(1999)将提供充分金融服务的金融机构的发展归类为一种工具性能力。金融机构不发达的环境助长了“贫困陷阱”的产生(Berthelmy 和Varoudakis，1996)，因为它降低了创业机会的吸引力。这反过来又阻碍了个人充分参与经济交流和整体能力的能力（Sen 1999）。小额信贷是在资源获取有限的情况下发展起来的（Peredo 和 Chrisman，2006），这是为受环境制约的个人提供的一种解决办法，抑制了追求利润丰厚的机会（Sen 2005）。因此，小额信贷可以作为扩大企业家能力的一种手段（Ansari、Munir 和 Gregg，2012），这些企业家能够逐步提高他们实现宏观社会问题的小规模解决方案的能力 （Moyo，2009）。这导致了以下假设的提出：

　假设 1.在能力受到限制的环境中，新企业更有可能使用小额信贷。假设 2.在经济机构不发达的环境中，新企业更有可能使用小额信贷。

　假设 3.在政治-司法机构不发达的环境中，新企业更有可能使用小额信贷。

　 假设 4.在经济制度较不发达、政治-司法制度较不发达的能力高度受限的环境中，新企业更有可能使用小额信贷。

　3. 方法

　为了验证我们的假设，我们使用了世界银行通过其年度企业调查提供的数据。我们把重点放在撒哈拉以南的非洲国家，因为这个地区一直被描述为能力受到严重限制的地区之一。特别值得一提的是，世界银行(2012 年)报告称， 1990 年至 2009 年，撒哈拉以南城市人口增加了 114%，每日生活费不足 1 美元

　的人口增加了 183%；而且，出生时的平均预期寿命为 52.5 岁，而北非为 71.5 岁，世界为 69.2 岁。不过，15-49 岁人群的艾滋病毒流行率几乎是世界平均水平的 7 倍(世界银行，2012)。

　这次调查包括 27 个撒哈拉以南的非洲国家。企业调查收集企业层面的信息， 包括商业环境、企业对企业的看法、企业如何随时间变化，以及企业绩效和增 长的各种制约因素（世界银行，2011）。企业层面的数据可从 2002 年开始收集；然而，由于 2006 年以前的数据是由世界银行内的不同单位收集的，并对不同国家采用了不同的调查问题，因此我们的分析侧重于从 2006 年收集数据。此外， 企业调查针对的是雇用最少五名员工的经营企业；这就消除了大多数靠生计驱动和自营职业的创业方式，Karnani(2007)将这种形式定义为“误导”，因为对 生计创业的关注无助于我们理解和/或解释经济发展。同样，Mead 和Liedholm（1998）表明，在非洲范围内，中小型企业创造的就业机会远远多于 规模较大的企业，但资金长期不足。通过针对拥有五名或更多雇员的企业，我 们能够将重点放在小额信贷行业的“缺失中型”的中小企业上，这些企业对推 动经济增长的潜力最大，而且一直没有得到充分的研究（Sleuwaegen 和Goedhuys，2002）。迄今为止，这是一群在小额信贷文献中受到极少关注的企业家，这些文献主要关注小额信贷机构本身，而不是其服务的接受者（参见 Mair 和 Marti，2006；Moss、Neubam 和 Meyskens，2015；Silva 和 Chávez，2015）。

　 对于我们将创业概念化为新企业的问题，与发达国...