TY - JOUR

T1 - Personal initiative training for small business owners

AU - Frese, Michael

AU - Hass, Lydia

AU - Friedrich, Christian

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - Research shows that personal initiative is important for small business owners’ success (Frese, 2009). An intervention study in Germany evaluated a 3-day personal initiative intervention program for small scale business owners. This intervention consisted of a training that taught a proactive, self-starting approach to planning, innovation, time management and goal-setting and the ability to overcome barriers. A before-and-after design was used for the training group (N=36); the dependent variable was employment growth which we also measured in a comparison group (N=97). Measures were ascertained before the intervention, directly afterwards and 1 year after the training. We found positive changes after the training and the participants of the training group employed about 20% more employees after the training than before or than existed in the comparison group. Positive effects occurred on all four of Kirkpatrick's (1975) evaluation levels: reaction, learning, behavior-based, and success measures.

AB - Research shows that personal initiative is important for small business owners’ success (Frese, 2009). An intervention study in Germany evaluated a 3-day personal initiative intervention program for small scale business owners. This intervention consisted of a training that taught a proactive, self-starting approach to planning, innovation, time management and goal-setting and the ability to overcome barriers. A before-and-after design was used for the training group (N=36); the dependent variable was employment growth which we also measured in a comparison group (N=97). Measures were ascertained before the intervention, directly afterwards and 1 year after the training. We found positive changes after the training and the participants of the training group employed about 20% more employees after the training than before or than existed in the comparison group. Positive effects occurred on all four of Kirkpatrick's (1975) evaluation levels: reaction, learning, behavior-based, and success measures.

KW - Experiment with non-random comparison group

KW - Personal Initiative

KW - Psychological approach

KW - Training of Entrepreneurship

KW - Entrepreneurship

KW - Business psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84982261359&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jbvi.2016.01.001

DO - 10.1016/j.jbvi.2016.01.001

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:84982261359

VL - 5

SP - 27

EP - 36

JO - Journal of Business Venturing Insights

JF - Journal of Business Venturing Insights

SN - 2352-6734

ER -