Firm registration among White- and Latino-owned employer enterprises

Abstract

This study examines the scope and determinants of firm registration among employer firms of White-owned businesses (WOBs) and Latino-owned businesses (LOBs) in the US. The primary data is derived from the 2020 Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative nationally representative survey of 3,500 WOBs and 4,145 LOBs. The determinants of firm registration are derived from entrepreneur demographics and firm characteristics, utilizing a binomial logistic regression to predict the odds of group membership of (un)registered employer firms. The scope of firm registration reveals about 80% of employer firms are registered. LOBs and immigrant-owned firms outpace registration levels of WOBs and native-owned businesses. Larger employer firms by annual sales and number of employees are more likely to be registered than their smaller business counterparts.

The Impact of Formality, Integration, and Commitment on the Performance of Latino-Owned Small Businesses

“…These variables were selected because they have been shown to significantly impact LOBs. Pisani (2022a) showed that LOB registration is related to the size of the firm and its annual sales revenue, among other things. Pisani and Morales (2020) linked the formal registration of LOBs to several business owner and business characteristics, and Orozco (2020) found a connection between the language used in the business and the business's success.…”

“…Two areas of research into Latino entrepreneurship that provide a foundation for this paper are business informality and the enclave. In a recent paper, Pisani (2022a) found that formal registration of LOBs depends on the age of the firm, education of the owner, the region of the US, number of employees, and the sales revenue of the business. Similarly, Pisani and Morales (2020) examined informality and business performance of LOBs in the US and found that firm registration was linked to education, gender, and clientele ethnicity.…”