Overcoming poverty and unemployment: The transfer dynamics of entrepreneurship training

Our study examines the training transfer dynamics of action-oriented entrepreneurship training to understand when and how a positive impact on the alleviation of poverty and unemployment among young adults unfolds. We theorize about the training transfer dynamics in terms of absolute changes and developmental trajectories. To test our hypotheses, we conducted field experiments across seven countries with 6,257 university students who we randomly assigned to a training group or a nonintervention control group.We collected data before the implementation of an entrepreneurship training program (T1), directly after the training program (T2), as well as 9–18 (T3) and 19–32 months (T4) after the baseline, with a total number of 15,660 observations. Results from discontinuous growth curve modeling show that action-oriented entrepreneurship training can increase income and employment in the short and long term.We further demonstrate that training transfer dynamics can unfold in the form of a “catch-up” effect, which is characterized by nonsignificant or even negative short-term absolute changes but positive long-term developmental trajectories in economic effectiveness outcomes. Our results contribute to the literature on training transfer and hold important practical implications for policymakers regarding the evaluation of future entrepreneurship training interventions.