HMN 2025: How cousin marriage traditions form casual companies in Africa

A brand new study published within the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal examines how long-standing cultural practices, particularly cousin marriage traditions, proceed to affect enterprise outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa’s casual economic system.

Researchers Saul Estrin (London School of Economics), Tomasz Mickiewicz (Aston University), and Peng Zhang (University of Sheffield) analyzed survey knowledge from over 3,000 casual entrepreneurs throughout eight African international locations. They explored how pre-colonial household constructions—particularly the usual procedure of marrying inside the prolonged household—have an effect on key indicators of enterprise efficiency, reminiscent of employment and income.

Cousin marriage, outlined within the study because the practice of marrying inside a kinship group, has deep historic roots in lots of African ethnic communities. The custom reinforces in-group identification and tightly knit social networks, which in flip affect how small companies make choices about hiring and progress.

The researchers discovered that corporations working in areas with a historic custom of cousin marriage have been extra probably to make use of further monetary assets to rent relations or in-group members, resulting in higher employment will increase however smaller good points in income. In distinction, corporations in communities with out such traditions tended to prioritize income progress and acted extra individualistically of their enterprise choices.

“These findings recommend that household techniques and social expectations play a big position in shaping how casual entrepreneurs allocate assets,” mentioned Zhang. “Even when cousin marriage is not broadly practiced, its underlying norms—just like the emphasis on supporting the in-group—can persist and proceed to affect habits.”

The study additionally explores how colonization altered these long-standing household norms. The authors discovered that British colonial rule, with its emphasis on individualistic authorized and administrative constructions, was related to a weakening of the cousin marriage custom in lots of areas. These adjustments, nonetheless, assorted by area and have been influenced by competing cultural forces, together with Islamic and Christian missionary exercise.

The persistence of cultural norms over generations—even after formal practices change—highlights the significance of understanding historic context in enterprise environments. Informal corporations, which make up a big share of the African economic system, typically function with out formal regulation and rely closely on neighborhood and household constructions for assist.

The authors emphasize that the implications prolong past the casual sector. Multinational corporations and policymakers working in sub-Saharan Africa ought to acknowledge that social establishments like cousin marriage traditions might affect the habits and objectives of native enterprise companions and subcontractors.