Entrepreneurial values, hybridity and entrepreneurial capital: Insights from Johannesburg's informal sector

Abstract

This study explored entrepreneurial values in Johannesburg's informal sector. Using responses to open-ended questions in a survey of 359 informal traders, the author analysed the way Western and indigenous (African) values mix to form hybrid values. The resulting understanding of hybridity makes it apparent that these traders exhibit both kinds of value in varying forms. In this paper the implications of the emergence of hybrid values, as a form of entrepreneurial capital, are explored using Bourdieu's notion of embodied capital. On this basis it is proposed that hybrid values are of material benefit to traders through conversion into other forms of capital, such as financial capital. More research is required, however, to investigate further how hybrid values translate into material gain in practice.

Keywords:

• entrepreneurial values
• hybridity
• informal sector
• entrepreneurial capital

1. Introduction

The importance of entrepreneurial culture and values in shaping entrepreneurial behaviour is well documented. However, reflections on entrepreneurial values have been limited, to date, by their ‘Western’ bias. This bias is evident in an essentialist tendency to prescribe a Western entrepreneurial value set, without sufficient consideration being given to the influence of ‘indigenous’, or in this instance ‘African’, values on entrepreneurial behaviour. Such essentialism in culturally derived research fails to ‘recognise the creative, changing dimensions of ethnic economic culture’ (Werbner, 1999:549). Little, therefore, has been done to explore entrepreneurial values in a South African context, particularly in terms of local indigenous values.

Moreover, given the essentialist nature of research on entrepreneurial values, little attention has been paid to how (what are thought to be) entirely Western or indigenous values might mix in dynamic ways. In this paper I argue that the notion of hybridity allows for an understanding of values which moves away from the essentialism that sees values from a purely Western or African perspective. I propose that through a mixing of Western and African values informal traders gain acceptance by both the more formal Western economy and the more informal indigenous economy, thus establishing an entrepreneurial advantage. I suggest that the notion of hybridity allows us to consider values as a form of embodied cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1986), and therefore also as a form of entrepreneurial capital (Firkin, 2001, 2003).

This paper addresses some of the shortcomings in the existing research on entrepreneurial values. Using survey data from a pilot study, I consider values ascribed by informal traders to the notion of the ‘entrepreneur’ from both a Western and indigenous (African) perspective and then explore hybrid entrepreneurial values. I use Bourdieu's (1986) notion of embodied cultural capital as an explanatory framework to consider the implications of hybridity and advance an explanation of values as a form of entrepreneurial capital.

2. Towards an understanding of values

Values are considered to be a critical component of entrepreneurial behaviour and are central to seminal Schumpeterian (Schumpeter, 1943) and Weberian (Weber, 1971) conceptualisations of entrepreneurship. Values have been analysed largely through a functionalist doctrine of universality and are therefore problematically understood to be universally programmed or learned orientations that influence behaviour, serving as guiding principles for action (Rokeach, 1973:5; Schwartz, 1992:4; Hofstede, 2001:5; Schwartz et al., 2001:521; Morris & Schindehutte, 2005:454).

Values have been the subject of several studies relating to entrepreneurial behaviour (see Schumpeter, 1943; Weber, 1971; Shane 1994; Davidsson, 1995; Lumpkin & Dess, 1996; Morris & Schindehutte, 2005; Urban, 2006). Most of them are based on preconceived, predominantly Western, notions of universally applicable entrepreneurial values, such as individualism, risk-taking, the need for achievement, hard work and opportunism (Weber, 1971; Morris & Schindehutte, 2005; Urban, 2006). These values have informed generally accepted notions of entrepreneurship, such as identifying opportunities, setting up businesses, creating value, generating profits and taking on risks. Because the underlying belief is that entrepreneurial success may only be attained by adopting these Western values (see Morris & Schindehutte, 2005), researchers to date have largely subscribed to the modernist paradigm which postulates that African development should follow a Western trajectory.

Yet conventional Western conceptualisations of the entrepreneur have limited relevance for those cultures that eschew Western values, yet potentially display entrepreneurial propensity. It is therefore important to understand entrepreneurial behaviour in different contexts on the basis of indigenous values (Dana, 2007; Dana & Anderson, 2007).

The interplay between indigenous values and entrepreneurial behaviour is discussed in the emerging field of research into indigenous entrepreneurship. This research suggests that conventional notions of entrepreneurship determined according to a Western paradigm do not necessarily apply to indigenous communities (Dana, 1995; Hindle & Lansdowne, 2007). It attempts to explain how indigenous knowledge and values shape atypical understandings of entrepreneurial behaviour in marginalised communities (Hulme & Turner, 1990).

In South Africa, the terms ubuntu (Zulu/Xhosa) or botho (Tswana) represent a discernibly indigenous value system (Mangaliso, 2001; Khoza, 2006). Ubuntu essentially means communalism and humanism, with an emphasis on human relations (Samkange & Samkange, 1980). It is recognised as the African philosophy of humanism, linking the individual to the collective through ‘brotherhood’ or ‘sisterhood’. It makes a fundamental contribution to indigenous ‘ways of knowing and being … it is borne out of the philosophy that community strength comes of community support, and that dignity and identity are achieved through mutualism, empathy, generosity and community commitment’ (Swanson, 2007:55–6).

As Mangaliso further explains, ‘Ubuntu is the foundation for the basic values that manifest themselves in the ways African people think and behave toward each other and everyone else they encounter’ (2001:25). Taken as a guiding principle, ubuntu as a value system should affect the way business is conducted, including entrepreneurial behaviour. To date, research on ubuntu within an economic context has focused largely on leadership theory and managerial behaviour (Bendixen & Burger, 1998; Jackson, 1999; Khoza, 2006). Other than a comparative study by Morris et al. (2002) of coloured and black entrepreneurs in South Africa, not much research how ubuntu influences entrepreneurial behaviour was available at the time of writing.

We should, however, understand that ubuntu is not an exclusively South African or African construct but embodies universal values that are shared by many other cultures. Nor should we idealise and romanticise it. While recognising its foundation in African traditions, we now need to understand how and why this value system has survived, particularly in the post-colonial era.

Table 1 summarises the dichotomy of Western and indigenous values. These archetypes, while commonly accepted, are of course not absolute in reality: Western entrepreneurs differ in the extent to which they are risk-takers, profit-seekers or achievement-chasers, just as indigenous African entrepreneurs exhibit varying degrees of communalism and humanism. Moreover, it would be short-sighted to suggest that Western entrepreneurs would exhibit no indigenous values, and vice versa.

Table 1: Archetypal notions of Western and indigenous/African values

Archetypal Western values	Archetypal indigenous/African values
• Individualism	• Communalism
• Emphasis on risk taking, profit seeking and achievement oriented behaviour	• Emphasis on human relations, with associated values of respect, caring and compassion
• Modernist paradigm promoting a Western trajectory for global development	• African traditional values
• Formality	• Informality

The notion of hybridity, a mix of cultures and values, allows us to move away from the essentialist position that sees values from a purely Western or African perspective (see Figure 1). Put simply, hybridity means a mix of cultures and values. Nevertheless, it is a contested term, seen by some as a counter to colonial hegemony, but by others as a ‘neocolonial discourse complicit with transnational capitalism’ (Kraidy, 2002:316). Arguably, however, the term is useful for referring to the way those on the margin manage to access the centre (by which I mean the prevailing and dominant subjugating authority, largely Western in nature, and represented in this instance by a formalised economy) (Hall & Sakai, 1998; Frello, 2007). Therefore, hybridity might be equated with acceptance, with ‘hybrids’ being allowed access and having a critical insider's perspective of the centre without ever being entirely part of it, while at the same time retaining their traditions.

Figure 1: Hybridity and entrepreneurial values

Chabal & Daloz allude to the notion of hybridity in the African context in talking about the ‘political instrumentalisation of disorder’ (1999:147), and Dworzanowski-Venter & Binikos (2008) argue that Africans take on their own rationality which is both Western (modern) and African (traditional). Indeed, as Chabal & Daloz suggest, ‘on the [African] continent it is both legitimate and advantageous to operate according to different logics of modernity and tradition in all areas of life and work’ (1999:147).

In the following sections I present the research methods used to obtain data from traders in Johannesburg's informal sector, describe the values derived from collecting the traders' definitions of ‘entrepreneur’, offer evidence for hybridity in the respondents' entrepreneurial values, and conclude by discussing the hybridisation of values as a form of entrepreneurial capital.

3. Research methods

As part of a pilot study, an open-ended questionnaire was administered to 472 traders from the Grow Your Business programme, which is run every year by the City of Johannesburg and the University of the Witwatersrand in partnership to offer training in entrepreneurial skills to informal traders from the broader Johannesburg metropolitan area. Traders who are legitimately in South Africa, located in a demarcated trading space and can demonstrate basic English and numerical literacy are selected to participate. The questionnaire asked traders to write down what they considered an entrepreneur to be and why they considered themselves to be entrepreneurial.1 The questionnaires were distributed at the outset of the training programme before any of the content was covered, so as to avoid any overt influence the material might have on their understanding of entrepreneurship. Of the 472 questionnaires that were distributed, 359 were returned that were usable, indicating a response rate of 76%. The traders' suggested definitions were found to be value-laden, so it was possible to distil various entrepreneurial values using simple thematic analysis. The traders' conceptualisations were broadly categorised as stereotypical Western; atypical non-Western, indigenous or African; and hybrid. The traders' responses were used to illustrate the presence of these three types of value, and simple chi-square tests were conducted where applicable. The study findings are presented and discussed below. (Note that where responses are quoted no attempt has been made to standardise the respondents' English.)

4. Findings

In this section I locate the sample by considering the informal sector as an entrepreneurial space, contextualise informal trade in Johannesburg, describe the sample, and then explore the respondents' entrepreneurial values.

4.1 Locating the sample: Understanding the informal sector as an entrepreneurial space

It is important to establish the informal sector as an entrepreneurial space because it is assumed that respondents in this study display entrepreneurial potential. The term ‘informal sector’ was first coined by Hart (1972), who saw the sector as essentially composed of activities that are income generating but ‘illegal’ because they fall outside formal legislation. The sector is nonetheless heterogeneous and comprises retail, service and manufacturing enterprises of varying size and degree of complexity.

That the informal sector exhibits entrepreneurial potential is no longer contested. As Williams says, ‘in a third world context, it has for several decades been recognised that some [traders] operating in the informal economy display entrepreneurial qualities’ (2007:239). While marginalists maintain that the informal sector is characterised by survivalist enterprises, neoliberal structuralists contend that traders in the informal sector exhibit strong entrepreneurial tendencies (Meagher, 1995; Debrah, 2007) and that this gives rise to a ‘hidden enterprise culture’ which should be harnessed and drawn into the formal economy (Williams, 2007). However, not all participants in the informal economy are driven entirely by entrepreneurial tendencies (since not all of them create businesses out of necessity). Rather, there is a mix of the two kinds of motive, to survive or to seize opportunities, although studies of Western economies suggest a stronger preponderance of the latter (Williams, 2007).

The structuralist view has become more firmly entrenched over the last decade. The International Labour Organisation, for instance, has acknowledged that the informal sector serves to nurture and grow businesses which might graduate to the formal economy, but at the same time recognises that informal workers are often innovative, creative and indeed display business savvy (Williams & Nadin, 2010). This view has found widespread support globally (see for instance Snyder, 2004; Williams, 2007; Webb et al., 2009). However, in South Africa the marginalist view seems to prevail, at least at a policy level. Under the Mbeki administration the notion of the ‘second economy’ was introduced into discourse to refer, ostensibly, to the informal sector. Here, the ‘first’ or formal economy is considered to be structurally dislocated from the second or informal economy, notwithstanding overwhelming evidence to suggest that the two economies are linked through dynamic exchanges of labour and other resources as well as through transactions (Devey et al., 2006; Chen, 2007). The second economy contains survivalists who are considered largely unemployable in the first economy (Devey et al., 2006). This absolute separation of economic spaces implies that bourgeois Western ‘higher’ values are represented by the first economy and indigenous ‘lesser’ values by the second (Bourdieu, 1979).

The introduction of the Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (asgiSA) under the Mbeki administration (The Presidency, 2006) and more recently, the New Growth Path (NGP) under the Zuma administration, intended to refocus energies on poverty alleviation in South Africa, have done little to shift perceptions of the informal economy. Indeed, asgiSA talks of ‘eliminating the second economy’, while the NGP is ominously quiet on informality. Both views seem to discount the reality of the informal sector. That said, a great deal of research exists which establishes the entrepreneurial potential of the sector in South Africa (see Morris et al. 1996, 1997; Peberdy, 2000; Mahadea, 2001; Mitchell, 2004).

4.2 Reflecting on Johannesburg as a space for informal entrepreneurial activity

Johannesburg has historically been criticised as being slower than other cities such as Durban and Cape Town to make space for urban entrepreneurialism. Rather than inculcating and supporting a pro-poor enterprise culture, the focus has been on positioning the city globally by concentrating efforts on more established businesses (Rogerson, 2004).

Studies reflecting on Johannesburg's informal sector do, however, establish the space as entrepreneurial (see Peberdy, 2000; Rogerson, 2005). This is not surprising given that Johannesburg is South Africa's ‘largest and economically most vibrant city’ (Rogerson, 2005:1). It is conservatively estimated that there are around 5000 street traders in the city (Van Rooyen & Antonites, 2007), although this number varies at any one time given unemployment trends and the churn between the formal and informal economies. At the same time, the trading space is culturally diverse (Rogerson, 2004; Van Rooyen & Antonites, 2007), and is particularly representative of the influx of asylum seekers and refugees into South Africa as a result of war and famine on the African continent (Landau, 2004). Johannesburg is an attractive destination because it is perceived as the economic heartland of South Africa and the continent's economic powerhouse (CDE, 2002, 2008; Rogerson, 2005).

4.3 Descriptive analysis

The 359 traders who participated in the study represented a diverse range of retail and service enterprises. As observed in previous studies of the sector (see Van Rooyen & Antonites, 2007), the sales and services included fresh produce (12.9%), cooked food (18.7%), groceries (19.0%), clothing (35.7%), electronic equipment (12.9%), crafts and curios (14.4%) linen (2.8%), beauty products and cosmetics (2.5%), grooming and hair care (3.3%), rental of telephones (2.2%), luggage (1.4%), and computer software and internet provision (1.1%).

Rogerson (1996) suggests that the informal sector is largely dominated by women in developing economies because of their socioeconomic marginalisation. The gender distribution in this study showed some preponderance of women, with 54% of the respondents being female and 46% male. The respondents ranged in age from 18 to 70, with 50.6% being under 36 and with a mean age of 36.

The cultural diversity of Johannesburg's informal sector (Landau, 2004; Rogerson, 2004; Van Rooyen & Antonites, 2007) also showed up in this sample, with 61.8% of the respondents coming from South Africa and 38.2% from 15 other African countries: Angola, Burkina-Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, DRC, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Lesotho, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Of these, the DRC was most significantly represented, accounting for 14% of the respondents, followed by Zimbabwe, which accounted for 8.4%.

4.4 Insights into Johannesburg's informal traders: An overview of entrepreneurial values

The traders' value-laden definitions of ‘entrepreneur’ and of themselves as entrepreneurs were divided into the three broad categories mentioned above: Western, atypical non-western/indigenous/African, and hybrid, which was a mix of the first two. A chi-square analysis of the definitions produced a significant relationship (p = 0.000; χ² = 21.1 ) showing concord between the values evident in the traders' definitions of the term ‘entrepreneur’ and of themselves as entrepreneurs. This implied that they attached these values to entrepreneurship in both general and personal terms, and that they were linked, and could be classified as Western, indigenous or hybrid. I was interested next in discovering how these values function as entrepreneurial capital. I attempted this by examining the three categories and ranking them.

4.4.1 Western conceptualisations of entrepreneurial values

A large majority of the sample (91.4%) had a strong sense of what constitutes an entrepreneur in a conventional Western sense, listing strongly westernised entrepreneurial values of individualism, achievement orientation, materialism creativity and risk propensity. For instance, one South African trader defined ‘entrepreneur’ according to the conventional view that being able to harness resources is critical to entrepreneurial activity (cf. Brush et al., 2001):

By entrepreneurship is meant an innovative, results driven individual who is able to combine factors of production such as natural resources, labour and capital to produce goods and service that is beneficial to society and make profit.

In their definition of entrepreneurial behaviour Shane & Venkataraman (2000) mention identifying opportunities as a central theme, and a Congolese trader echoed this:

The word entrepreneur – create, innovation, ability to identify opportunities.

A Nigerian trader also mentioned this, along with the idea of making a profit:

An entrepreneur means a person that sees and creates business opportunities, manage the business, maximises his/her business potential and makes profit at the end. An entrepreneur also brings innovations that will make the business to yield ever-increasing profits.

Another approach was the normative one, i.e. defining an entrepreneur according to certain values that are attributed to the archetypical entrepreneur, such as McClelland's (1961) ‘need for achievement’. A trader from Burkina Faso offered a definition along these lines:

Being an entrepreneur is being a man of ambition. It's to own your life by dreaming, having a goal. All career come from an ambition.

Several definitions mentioned growth, which has connections with the idea of the entrepreneur being achievement driven. The following are two examples from South African traders:

I think the word entrepreneur mean the person who is no more a trader but who has already started a big business, whose business is already importing and registered.

[The entrepreneur] is a business minded someone who grows from a smaller to bigger business from spaza to supermarket from street vendor to a big shop from learner to a higher level.

I conducted a second chi-square test to compare some respondents' definitions with what they had learnt from prior training, to test whether prior exposure to conventional descriptions of the entrepreneur might have influenced them. While I found no goodness of fit (p = 0.686; χ² = 0.753 ), it was nevertheless not surprising that some 36 of the 39 respondents who said they had attended training (skill specific and business related) offered a conventional Western definition.

When it came to the second question, about how the respondents saw themselves as entrepreneurs, again in the individual values that could be detected in these answers I found a strong bias in favour of Western conceptualisations and thus conventional entrepreneurial values. A propensity to take risks, for instance, was important in one DRC trader's view of himself as entrepreneurial:

What makes [me] an entrepreneur is first of all a mind set tuned up and wired to take risk in this adventure of doing something by me own whatever it costs.

A Mozambican trader likewise saw risk as a central part of what made him an entrepreneur when he suggested that:

It is a means of knowing that I am capable to face all the challenges which goes with the business like going bankrupt sometimes.

A strong desire to succeed was also central in several traders' definitions of themselves as entrepreneurs, suggesting a need for achievement. For instance, one South African trader said:

I want my business to be successful and also open a big market here in South Africa.

Values associated with hard work, diligence, and commitment also came through strongly as defining features of what made individuals entrepreneurial. One South African trader mentioned the following traits:

Creativity, hardworking, commitment, go getters, striving to reach your goals.

While another said:

I am a very hard worker, like I believe I must not wait for someone to do something for me.

A Mozambican trader suggested the following:

What makes me an entrepreneur is to be a business woman, and I don't sleep sometimes thinking about business.

Finally, a sense of individualism and independence was evident in several traders' descriptions of themselves as entrepreneurs, as for example in this South African's statement:

What makes me an entrepreneur is that I like to be my own boss and see myself reaching a high standard of living, owning a big company.

The same independent spirit is evident in this Zimbabwean trader's account:

I became an entrepreneur due the facts that realised I'm capable of earning a living through selling and earns my own profit rather than working under the supervision of someone.

4.4.2 Indigenous conceptualisations of entrepreneurial values

‘Indigenous’ representations of the entrepreneur run counter to Western hegemonic views (Dana, 1995). These were rare, with only 3.7% respondents providing a stereotypically indigenous conceptualisation of the entrepreneur that incorporated a strong sense of communalism (see Takyi-Asiedu, 1993; Morris et al., 2002; Morris & Schindehutte, 2005). For instance, a Burundian trader said:

According to me the word entrepreneur means contribute in development of the community in one or the other way.

A trader from the DRC contributed a similar definition:

[an entrepreneur] is some who start somethings … For the goodness of the community.

A South African trader felt that an entrepreneur was:

someone who would like to uplift him/herself in the development of her community.

Another way of representing this sense of communalism was through the notion of the cooperative, which was proposed as an alternative business model to encourage entrepreneurialism. Here a Cameroonian trader suggested that:

An entrepreneur is a group of traders who come together to manage their own resources.

A similar view was expressed in some of the reflections on self as entrepreneur. Here again the value of communalism was mentioned, as for example in this South African's explanation of what made her an entrepreneur:

I want to develop myself and other near me and my community and thus help the government in creating jobs to reducing poverty.

A Burundian trader also focused on community:

Because I opened a business and with this I help the community with my skills and provide to it the necessary thing/service it needs that I can provide according to my skills.

4.4.3 Hybrid conceptualisations of entrepreneurial values

A few of the traders (2%), in answer to one or both of the questions, proposed definitions which reflected a mix or hybridisation of conventional Western and indigenous values.

This hybridity was evident in a paradoxical blending of conventional notions of the entrepreneur with survivalism. This is reminiscent of Bourdieu's (1979) reflection on bourgeois values as being distanced from necessity and thus attaining superiority over those exhibiting ‘lesser’ embodied cultural capital, such as communalists, and indeed survivalists. While a strong distinction is conventionally drawn between those entering the informal sector to subsist and those identifying the space as entrepreneurial, in my data some respondents exhibited a tendency to blur the distinction. For instance, a trader from Ethiopia offered the following definition of the entrepreneur:

I take the opportunity to selling clothing because the people are need to buy clothes and it is better way to survive by this business.

A definition offered by a trader from the DRC blended the Western notion of creativity with a more atypical entrepreneurial notion of survivalism:

Is a person with a creativity, the one who think to do or to start something for her survive.

This blend was echoed by a South African trader who suggested that an entrepreneur:

Is a person who run a small business selling something in the street in order to survive themselves. It can be spaza shops or in the streets.

Some hybrid definitions blended Western values with the values of communalism. For instance, one trader (country unspecified) suggested that the entrepreneur is

Someone who takes risks to invest of start a business hoping to have a profit and grow bigger in the business until he will be able even to create job for others and contribute in development of the country.

Here, conventional Western notions of risk taking, materialism and growth co-exist with a more Africanised notion of caring for others and contributing to the common good. This is evident in a South African trader's definition of an entrepreneur as:

Anyone who does business and service people in order to make money for profit it can either be for himself or helping other.

This hybridisation of values was also apparent in some traders' descriptions of what made them entrepreneurs. For instance, a South African trader showed concern for self as well as others in saying:

I am entrepreneur because I have seen myself improving in whatever I do like giving other people jobs.

A trader from the DRC showed a similar concern for the greater good, while at the same time reflecting conventional values of ambition and creativity:

To be an entrepreneur is to create jobs, services for your community. That make me an entrepreneur is because I can create something new. Your ambition, initiative or plan that is makes you an entrepreneur.

5. Discussion and implications: Hybridisation of values as a form of entrepreneurial capital

In the values exhibited by this sample of traders in Johannesburg's informal sector I distinguished the makings of a continuum of entrepreneurial values. The two ends of this continuum are the Western and indigenous or African stereotypes (see for instance Shane, 1994; Lumpkin & Dess, 1996; Davidsson, 1995; Morris & Schindehutte, 2005; Urban, 2006; Dana, 2007; Dana & Anderson, 2007). Between the two extremes hybrid values emerge, consisting of various blends of modern Western values with traditional indigenous African values (Nederveen Pieterse, 2001). As Chabal & Daloz (1999:147) observe, ‘on the [African] continent it is both legitimate and advantageous to operate according to different logics of modernity and tradition in all areas of life and work’. Of particular significance, however, are the possible reasons for the blends. Frello (2007), for instance, suggests that hybridity is less about the ‘happy mixing of cultures’ and more about purposive behaviour. For her, hybridisation is about ‘positioning’, which is incorporated into Hall's notion of the ‘double exile’ (in Hall & Sakai, 1998). At issue here is the relationship between the centre and the margin, the modern and the traditional, or the West and the ‘other’ (taken here to mean the African). For Hall, the hybridisation allows for a position of privilege because it allows for critical reflection on the centre from an insider-outsider's perspective. By straddling cultures, so to speak, it allows the privileged individual to penetrate the centre while remaining on the periphery, accepted in two different spaces and able to navigate both.

Hybridity also allows for potential ranking of values through ‘acceptance’. In other words, there is a certain status ascribed to different values. The Western bourgeois stereotype has value because it represents and manifests status and power. By blending the indigenous, ‘lesser’ values of the ‘other’ into the Western values they adopt, traders can aspire to a Western ideal and be accepted without losing the indigenous identity that has value in their culture.

The notion of hybridity makes it possible, with the aid of Bourdieu's (1986) notion of capitals, to see values as a form of entrepreneurial capital. In reflecting on social structure, and in particular how success and advantage are determined, Bourdieu identifies three forms of capital: economic capital, i.e. financial assets, which is the most tangible and practically useful form of capital; cultural capital, which takes the form of educational qualifications and is similar to human capital; and social capital, which consists of social connections (1986:47). He further considers the convertibility of both cultural and social capital into economic capital (or money).

Applying Bourdieu's notion of capitals, Firkin sees entrepreneurial capital as a composite of economic capital, human capital, social capital, physical capital and cultural capital, which are used to generate resources for material advantage (2003:57–66). For Firkin, human capital is Bourdieu's ‘institutionalised’ form of cultural capital and consists of formal education, prior work experience and job-specific knowledge and skills; social capital consists of networks forged by entrepreneurs and leveraged to ensure entrepreneurial success; and physical capital, as a subset of Bourdieu's economic capital, consists of the tangible assets a business needs if it is to grow and expand.

It is the notion of cultural capital that particularly resonates with this research. Bourdieu (1986) distinguishes three forms: embodied, institutionalised and objectified cultural capital. Institutionalised cultural capital represents human capital and objectified capital consists of cultural artefacts such as works of art. Of particular relevance to this study is the notion of embodied capital, which means ‘long lasting dispositions of the mind and body’ and can include values, use of language and the like (Bourdieu, 1986:47).

From an entrepreneurial perspective, research has made little of embodied cultural capital. Indeed, Firkin remarks that ‘unlike other forms of capital, cultural capital [in its embodied form] does not have a strong presence in the entrepreneurial literature’ (2003:64). Rather more emphasis has been placed on other more tangible forms, such as human, social or economic capital. A possible reason for this can be found in the notion of convertibility, which is key to understanding Bourdieu's (1986) notions of capital.

‘Convertibility’ implies that all forms of capital can be transformed into another form, but particularly into economic capital. This notion of convertibility is of particular significance when we look at how entrepreneurs my generate entrepreneurial capital: they may leverage and convert their various capitals to derive an optimal mix of capitals, thus maximising entrepreneurial value (or success) (Firkin, 2003). Arguably, tangible forms of capital such as human, financial and social capital are readily converted into other forms (for instance, financial into social capital through networks, human into financial capital through education and skills and the like). What is less obvious is how values and therefore cultural capital might be converted and entrepreneurial capital accordingly generated.

Hybridity provides a potential answer (see Figure 2). Traders exhibiting blends of both Western and indigenous values are more able to access the centre, while retaining important links with their own communities. This is akin in some respects to the notion of ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ network ties, with the ability to navigate the centre through the possession of Western values translating into Granovetter's (1973) notion of the strength of weak ties. By including weak as well as strong ties, traders can benefit from network diversity. The traditional values translate into strong ties through relationships with the community and family, which in turn provide easier access to resources, particularly economic capital.

Figure 2: Hybridity as a form of cultural capital

6. Conclusion

Using survey data from 359 traders, this research attempted to provide a nuanced explanation of how archetypal Western values coexist with indigenous African values, and how these values combine to form hybrids. Through an understanding of hybridity, it is possible to challenge essentialist notions of entrepreneurial behaviour, whether Western or indigenous. Informal traders might in varying forms, and to different extents, simultaneously exhibit Western and indigenous values while laying claim to the identity of entrepreneur.

This research further suggests that hybridity provides material benefit to traders. Here, Bourdieu's (1986) capitals were used to illustrate how values might be construed as entrepreneurial capital in the form of cultural capital. Using his notion of convertibility, we can see values being used to leverage other resources in the form of stronger networks, and finance, by adopting archetypal Western values to gain acceptance in formal institutions.

More research is required, however, to understand the complexities of hybridisation, particularly in entrepreneurial spaces. While this research proposes ways that hybridity might lend itself to entrepreneurial advantage, more extensive data are required to understand how the blending of values converts into other forms of entrepreneurial capital. It is further necessary to consider the hybridisation of different African values, and the concomitant impact of values drawn from various western contexts in both the past and the present.

Notes

¹The two key questions were 1. What do you think is meant by the word ‘entrepreneur’? and 2. What do you think makes you an entrepreneur?