How do formal and informal institutions influence firm profitability in emerging countries?

Drawing from institutional economics, we examine how the quality of formal institutions (e.g. protection of property rights, efficiency of the judicial system and government regulations) and a particular aspect of informal institutions, trust, influence the profitability of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) vis-à-vis large firms. Our theoretical framework, which is supported by an analysis of over 205,000 observations in 16 emerging countries in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region, explains why informal and formal institutions have a considerably different effect on the profitability of SMEs and large firms, and indicates that while SMEs benefit from formal institutional quality more than large firms do, large firms benefit from trust in society more than SMEs. It further shows that formal institutions and trust substitute each other in influencing firm profitability and that this substitution effect is stronger for large firms.