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Teaching personal initiative beats traditional training in boosting small business in West Africa
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Campos, Francisco, Frese, Michael, Goldstein, Markus, Iacovone, Leonardo, Johnson, Hillary C., McKenzie, David and Mensmann, Mona (2017) Teaching personal initiative beats traditional training in boosting small business in West Africa. Science, 357 (6357). pp. 1287-1290. doi:10.1126/science.aan5329 ISSN 0036-8075.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aan5329
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.
Item Type: | Journal Article | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School > Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Management Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School |
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Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Small business -- Growth -- Tógó | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Science | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Publisher: | American Association for the Advancement of Science | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ISSN: | 0036-8075 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Official Date: | 22 September 2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 357 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Number: | 6357 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 1287-1290 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
DOI: | 10.1126/science.aan5329 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Reuse Statement (publisher, data, author rights): | This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by permission of the AAAS for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Science on 22/09/2017 Vol. 357, DOI: 10.1126/science.aan5329. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 22 January 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 22 January 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant: |
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