Teaching personal initiative beats traditional training in boosting small business in West Africa
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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Teaching personal initiative beats traditional training in boosting small business in West Africa. / Campos, Francisco; Frese, Michael; Goldstein, Markus et al.
In: Science, Vol. 357, No. 6357, 22.09.2017, p. 1287-1290.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
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
PY - 2017/9/22
Y1 - 2017/9/22
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
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85029818350&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1126/science.aan5329
DO - 10.1126/science.aan5329
M3 - Journal articles
C2 - 28935805
VL - 357
SP - 1287
EP - 1290
JO - Science
JF - Science
SN - 0036-8075
IS - 6357
ER -