Teaching personal initiative beats traditional training in boosting small business in West Africa

Francisco Campos; Michael Frese; Markus Goldstein; Leonardo Iacovone; Hillary C. Johnson; David McKenzie; Mona Mensmann

doi:10.1126/science.aan5329

Teaching personal initiative beats traditional training in boosting small business in West Africa

Francisco Campos
, Michael Frese
, Markus Goldstein
, Leonardo Iacovone
, Hillary C. Johnson
, David McKenzie
, Mona Mensmann

Weltbank Gruppe

Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung › Begutachtung

232 Zitate (Scopus)

Abstract

Standard business training programs aim to boost the incomes of the millions of self-employed business owners in developing countries by teaching basic financial and marketing practices, yet the impacts of such programs are mixed. We tested whether a psychology-based personal initiative training approach, which teaches a proactive mindset and focuses on entrepreneurial behaviors, could have more success. A randomized controlled trial in Togo assigned microenterprise owners to a control group (n = 500), a leading business training program (n = 500), or a personal initiative training program (n = 500). Four follow-up surveys tracked outcomes for firms over 2 years and showed that personal initiative training increased firm profits by 30%, compared with a statistically insignificant 11% for traditional training. The training is cost-effective, paying for itself within 1 year.

Originalsprache	Englisch
Zeitschrift	Science
Jahrgang	357
Ausgabenummer	6357
Seiten (von - bis)	1287-1290
Seitenumfang	4
ISSN	0036-8075
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aan5329
Publikationsstatus	Erschienen - 22.09.2017

Bibliographische Notiz

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, American Association for the Advancement of Science. All rights reserved.

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Entrepreneurship
Wirtschaftspsychologie

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Psychology beats business training when it comes to entrepreneurship
Frese, M. & Mensmann, M.
21.09.17
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@article{e037fee1dbbd47349af03276ae593446,

title = "Teaching personal initiative beats traditional training in boosting small business in West Africa",

abstract = "Standard business training programs aim to boost the incomes of the millions of self-employed business owners in developing countries by teaching basic financial and marketing practices, yet the impacts of such programs are mixed. We tested whether a psychology-based personal initiative training approach, which teaches a proactive mindset and focuses on entrepreneurial behaviors, could have more success. A randomized controlled trial in Togo assigned microenterprise owners to a control group (n = 500), a leading business training program (n = 500), or a personal initiative training program (n = 500). Four follow-up surveys tracked outcomes for firms over 2 years and showed that personal initiative training increased firm profits by 30\%, compared with a statistically insignificant 11\% for traditional training. The training is cost-effective, paying for itself within 1 year.",

keywords = "Entrepreneurship, Business psychology",

author = "Francisco Campos and Michael Frese and Markus Goldstein and Leonardo Iacovone and Johnson, \{Hillary C.\} and David McKenzie and Mona Mensmann",

note = "Funding Information: We thank three anonymous reviewers for helpful comments, K. Yuki and V. Vargas Sejas for excellent research assistance, and L. Talon, L. Boileau, M. Adzodo, and K. Kounta for great support in the field. We gratefully acknowledge funding from IZA–Institute of Labor Economics, the Women{\textquoteright}s Leadership in Small and Medium Enterprises trust fund, the Umbrella Facility for Gender Equality, and the World Bank{\textquoteright}s Africa Gender Innovation Lab and Trade and Competitiveness Global Practice. We also acknowledge grant administration support from Innovations for Poverty Action. This project would not have been possible without the support of the Ministry of Commerce and of Private Sector Promotion of Togo, the Project Coordination Unit of the Private Sector Development Support Project (in particular, A. Kader Bawa and Y. Amegnizin), and the project{\textquoteright}s partners [WAGES (Women and Associations for Gain both Economic and Social), FUCEC (Fa{\^i}ti{\`e}re des Unit{\'e}s Coop{\'e}ratives d{\textquoteright}{\'E}pargne et de Cr{\'e}dit du Togo), CECA (Cooperative d{\textquoteright}{\'E}pargne et de Cr{\'e}dit des Artisans), APROMA (Action pour la Promotion du Monde Artisanal), DOSI (Delegation a l{\textquoteright}Organisation du Secteur Informel), AFCET (Association des Femmes Chefs d{\textquoteright}Entreprise du Togo), and CRM-Lome (Chambre Regionale de Metiers)]. Several of the authors work for the World Bank Group, but not directly for the International Finance Corporation, which produces the Business Edge training program being evaluated. M.F. was a short-term consultant for the World Bank on this project. The authors declare no other competing interests. Questionnaires, data, and replication code are available at http://microdata.worldbank.org/ index.php/catalog/2860. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2017, American Association for the Advancement of Science. All rights reserved.",

year = "2017",

month = sep,

day = "22",

doi = "10.1126/science.aan5329",

language = "English",

volume = "357",

pages = "1287--1290",

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T1 - Teaching personal initiative beats traditional training in boosting small business in West Africa

AU - Campos, Francisco

AU - Frese, Michael

AU - Goldstein, Markus

AU - Iacovone, Leonardo

AU - Johnson, Hillary C.

AU - McKenzie, David

AU - Mensmann, Mona

N1 - Funding Information: We thank three anonymous reviewers for helpful comments, K. Yuki and V. Vargas Sejas for excellent research assistance, and L. Talon, L. Boileau, M. Adzodo, and K. Kounta for great support in the field. We gratefully acknowledge funding from IZA–Institute of Labor Economics, the Women’s Leadership in Small and Medium Enterprises trust fund, the Umbrella Facility for Gender Equality, and the World Bank’s Africa Gender Innovation Lab and Trade and Competitiveness Global Practice. We also acknowledge grant administration support from Innovations for Poverty Action. This project would not have been possible without the support of the Ministry of Commerce and of Private Sector Promotion of Togo, the Project Coordination Unit of the Private Sector Development Support Project (in particular, A. Kader Bawa and Y. Amegnizin), and the project’s partners [WAGES (Women and Associations for Gain both Economic and Social), FUCEC (Faîtière des Unités Coopératives d’Épargne et de Crédit du Togo), CECA (Cooperative d’Épargne et de Crédit des Artisans), APROMA (Action pour la Promotion du Monde Artisanal), DOSI (Delegation a l’Organisation du Secteur Informel), AFCET (Association des Femmes Chefs d’Entreprise du Togo), and CRM-Lome (Chambre Regionale de Metiers)]. Several of the authors work for the World Bank Group, but not directly for the International Finance Corporation, which produces the Business Edge training program being evaluated. M.F. was a short-term consultant for the World Bank on this project. The authors declare no other competing interests. Questionnaires, data, and replication code are available at http://microdata.worldbank.org/ index.php/catalog/2860. Publisher Copyright: © 2017, American Association for the Advancement of Science. All rights reserved.

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N2 - Standard business training programs aim to boost the incomes of the millions of self-employed business owners in developing countries by teaching basic financial and marketing practices, yet the impacts of such programs are mixed. We tested whether a psychology-based personal initiative training approach, which teaches a proactive mindset and focuses on entrepreneurial behaviors, could have more success. A randomized controlled trial in Togo assigned microenterprise owners to a control group (n = 500), a leading business training program (n = 500), or a personal initiative training program (n = 500). Four follow-up surveys tracked outcomes for firms over 2 years and showed that personal initiative training increased firm profits by 30%, compared with a statistically insignificant 11% for traditional training. The training is cost-effective, paying for itself within 1 year.

AB - Standard business training programs aim to boost the incomes of the millions of self-employed business owners in developing countries by teaching basic financial and marketing practices, yet the impacts of such programs are mixed. We tested whether a psychology-based personal initiative training approach, which teaches a proactive mindset and focuses on entrepreneurial behaviors, could have more success. A randomized controlled trial in Togo assigned microenterprise owners to a control group (n = 500), a leading business training program (n = 500), or a personal initiative training program (n = 500). Four follow-up surveys tracked outcomes for firms over 2 years and showed that personal initiative training increased firm profits by 30%, compared with a statistically insignificant 11% for traditional training. The training is cost-effective, paying for itself within 1 year.

KW - Entrepreneurship

KW - Business psychology

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DO - 10.1126/science.aan5329

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VL - 357

SP - 1287

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ER -

Teaching personal initiative beats traditional training in boosting small business in West Africa

Abstract

Bibliographische Notiz

UN SDGs

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ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

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Psychology beats business training when it comes to entrepreneurship

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