What Are We Learning from Business Training and Entrepreneurship Evaluations around the Developing World?
Open accessAbstract
Business training programs are a popular policy option to improve the performance of enterprises around the world, and the number of rigorous impact evaluations of these programs is growing. A critical review reveals that many evaluations suffer from small sample sizes, measure impacts only within a year of training, and experience problems with survey attrition and measurement that limit the conclusions one can draw. Over these short time horizons, there are relatively modest effects of training on the survivorship of existing firms. However, there is stronger evidence that training programs help prospective owners launch new businesses more quickly. Most studies find that existing firm owners implement some of the practices taught in training, but the magnitudes of the improvement to practices is often modest. Few studies find significant impacts on profits or sales, although some studies with greater statistical power have done so. There is little evidence to guide policymakers regarding whether any identified effects are due to trained firms drawing sales from competing businesses rather than through productivity improvements or to guide the development of the provision of training at market prices. We conclude by summarizing some directions and key questions for future studies.
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These training programs have not fully achieved their desired results.
“these training programs have not fully achieved their desired results (McKenzie & Woodruff, 2014)”
From The impact of growth mindset training on entrepreneurial action among necessity entrepreneurs: Evidence from a randomized control trial (2023) · cites this paper as McKenzie & Woodruff, 2014
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“The amount of time devoted to attitudes has been relatively low in the courses studied by economists, but Glaub and Frese (2011) review a number of nonexperimental studies of training programs in developing countries that focus on strengthening psychological factors. Glaub et al. (2012) provide an example of a three-d…”
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- Authors
- McKenzie, D., & Woodruff, C.
- Affiliations
- World Bank (US)
- Oxford University Press (United Kingdom) (GB)
- Corresponding author
- McKenzie, D.
- Venue
- The World Bank Research Observer
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2013-07-22
- Volume
- 29
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 48-82
- ISSN
- 0257-3032 (ISSN-L)
- 1564-6971
- OpenAlex
- W1830434703
- Cited by
- 659
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 38 · 2025: 34 · 2024: 65 · 2023: 41 · 2022: 41 · 2021: 72 · 2020: 47 · 2019: 62 · 2018: 63 · 2017: 47 · 2016: 42 · 2015: 38 · 2014: 42 · 2013: 19 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 105.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Locations
- The World Bank Research Observer (publishedVersion)
- SSRN Electronic Journal (acceptedVersion)
- Warwick Research Archive Portal (University of Warwick) (acceptedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Econstor (Econstor) (submittedVersion)
- University of Warwick (cc-by)
- Funders
- Economic and Social Research Council (ES/H021248/1)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Management of Technology and Innovation › Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Firm Innovation and Growth
- Social Sciences › Education › Vocational and Entrepreneurial Education
- Keywords
- business training, entrepreneurship, impact evaluation, business survival, startups, small business development, firm productivity, developing countries
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