IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/erjour/v15y2025i1p33-64n1004.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Entrepreneurship Trainings and Human Capital Endowment: When Learning from External Sources Does (Not) Increase Performance

Author

Listed:
  • Storz Cornelia

    (Faculty of Economics and Business, 9173 Goethe University Frankfurt , Theodor-W.-Adorno-Platz 4, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Germany)

  • Amoncio Egbert

    (Faculty of Economics and Business, 9173 Goethe University Frankfurt , Theodor-W.-Adorno-Platz 4, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Germany)

  • Ramachandran Rajesh

    (Department of Economics, School of Business, 65210 Monash University Malaysia , 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia)

Abstract

Bottom-of-the-pyramid (BoP) entrepreneurs have few resources to draw on besides their human capital. We analyze the effects of a training program teaching lean management to BoP entrepreneurs in Zambia by comparing its performance effects across individuals with high and low levels of specific human capital. We find that participation in the entrepreneurship training program positively affects management practices related to lean management as well as cost reduction for all training participants. The program, however, has no uniform effect on profits. The effect is positive only for entrepreneurs equipped with specific human capital. Moreover, we observe that this effect is in particular strong for entrepreneurs with vocational education compared to work experience. This suggests that the value of entrepreneurship training programs is contingent on human-capital endowment and calls into question existing notions of what it means to offer such programs.

Suggested Citation

  • Storz Cornelia & Amoncio Egbert & Ramachandran Rajesh, 2025. "Entrepreneurship Trainings and Human Capital Endowment: When Learning from External Sources Does (Not) Increase Performance," Entrepreneurship Research Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 15(1), pages 33-64.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:erjour:v:15:y:2025:i:1:p:33-64:n:1004
    DOI: 10.1515/erj-2023-0186
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/erj-2023-0186
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/erj-2023-0186?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Edmilson Lima & Rose M. Lopes & Vânia Nassif & Dirceu Silva, 2015. "Opportunities to Improve Entrepreneurship Education: Contributions Considering Brazilian Challenges," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(4), pages 1033-1051, October.
    2. Suzuki, Aya & Vu, Hoang Nam & Sonobe, Tetsushi, 2014. "Willingness to pay for managerial training: A case from the knitwear industry in Northern Vietnam," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 693-707.
    3. A. Colin Cameron & Jonah B. Gelbach & Douglas L. Miller, 2008. "Bootstrap-Based Improvements for Inference with Clustered Errors," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(3), pages 414-427, August.
    4. Nicholas Bloom & Benn Eifert & Aprajit Mahajan & David McKenzie & John Roberts, 2013. "Does Management Matter? Evidence from India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(1), pages 1-51.
    5. Cho, Yoonyoung & Honorati, Maddalena, 2014. "Entrepreneurship programs in developing countries: A meta regression analysis," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 110-130.
    6. Ulrich Lichtenthaler & Eckhard Lichtenthaler, 2009. "A Capability‐Based Framework for Open Innovation: Complementing Absorptive Capacity," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(8), pages 1315-1338, December.
    7. Miriam Bruhn & Dean Karlan & Antoinette Schoar, 2018. "The Impact of Consulting Services on Small and Medium Enterprises: Evidence from a Randomized Trial in Mexico," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(2), pages 635-687.
    8. Fiet, James O., 2001. "The theoretical side of teaching entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 1-24, January.
    9. Healey, Mark P. & Bleda, Mercedes & Querbes, Adrien, 2021. "Opportunity evaluation in teams: A social cognitive model," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(4).
    10. Alejandro Drexler & Greg Fischer & Antoinette Schoar, 2014. "Keeping It Simple: Financial Literacy and Rules of Thumb," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 6(2), pages 1-31, April.
    11. Cassar, Gavin, 2014. "Industry and startup experience on entrepreneur forecast performance in new firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 137-151.
    12. Howard Aldrich & Tiantian Yang, 2014. "How do entrepreneurs know what to do? learning and organizing in new ventures," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 59-82, January.
    13. Zhao, Hao & O'Connor, Gina & Wu, Jihong & Lumpkin, G.T., 2021. "Age and entrepreneurial career success: A review and a meta-analysis," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(1).
    14. Sirén, Charlotta & Kohtamäki, Marko, 2016. "Stretching strategic learning to the limit: The interaction between strategic planning and learning," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 653-663.
    15. Simon Quinn & Christopher Woodruff, 2019. "Experiments and Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 11(1), pages 225-248, August.
    16. Toft-Kehler, Rasmus & Wennberg, Karl & Kim, Phillip H., 2014. "Practice makes perfect: Entrepreneurial-experience curves and venture performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 453-470.
    17. Linda Argote & Sunkee Lee & Jisoo Park, 2021. "Organizational Learning Processes and Outcomes: Major Findings and Future Research Directions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(9), pages 5399-5429, September.
    18. Almeida, Paul & Dokko, Gina & Rosenkopf, Lori, 2003. "Startup size and the mechanisms of external learning: increasing opportunity and decreasing ability?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 301-315, February.
    19. Erica Field & Seema Jayachandran & Rohini Pande, 2010. "Do Traditional Institutions Constrain Female Entrepreneurship? A Field Experiment on Business Training in India," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 125-129, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bernd Beber & Tabea Lakemann & Regina Schnars & Jann Lay, 2025. "Employment Effects of Skills Trainings in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review of Recent Randomized Controlled Trials," De Economist, Springer, vol. 173(1), pages 87-120, March.
    2. Gabriela Calderon & Jesse M. Cunha & Giacomo De Giorgi, 2020. "Business Literacy and Development: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Rural Mexico," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 68(2), pages 507-540.
    3. Lars Ivar Oppedal Berge & Kjetil Bjorvatn & Bertil Tungodden, 2015. "Human and Financial Capital for Microenterprise Development: Evidence from a Field and Lab Experiment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(4), pages 707-722, April.
    4. Dunsch, Felipe Alexander, 2022. "Economic Empowerment of Women-led Firms in Developing Countries," SocArXiv gtsn2_v1, Center for Open Science.
    5. Beber, Bernd & Dworschak, Regina & Lakemann, Tabea & Lay, Jann & Priebe, Jan, 2021. "Skills Development and Training Interventions in Africa: Findings, Challenges, and Opportunities," RWI Projektberichte, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, number 247426, March.
    6. Higuchi, Yuki & Nam, Vu Hoang & Sonobe, Tetsushi, 2015. "Sustained impacts of Kaizen training," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 189-206.
    7. David McKenzie & Christopher Woodruff, 2014. "What Are We Learning from Business Training and Entrepreneurship Evaluations around the Developing World?," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 29(1), pages 48-82.
    8. Go Shimada & Tetsushi Sonobe, 2018. "Impacts of Kaizen Management on Workers: Evidence from Central America and the Caribbean Region," Working Papers 173, JICA Research Institute.
    9. David Alfaro‐Serrano & Tanay Balantrapu & Ritam Chaurey & Ana Goicoechea & Eric Verhoogen, 2021. "Interventions to promote technology adoption in firms: A systematic review," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(4), December.
    10. Mckenzie,David J., 2020. "Small Business Training to Improve Management Practices in Developing Countries: Reassessingthe Evidence for 'Training Doesn’t Work'," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9408, The World Bank.
    11. Go Shimada & Tetsushi Sonobe, 2021. "Impacts of management training on workers: Evidence from Central America and the Caribbean region," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 1492-1514, August.
    12. Paul Christian & Steven Glover & Florence Kondylis & Valerie Mueller & Matteo Ruzzante & Astrid Zwager, 2022. "Do private consultants promote savings and investments in rural Mozambique?," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 53(1), pages 22-36, January.
    13. González-Uribe, Juanita & Reyes, Santiago, 2021. "Identifying and boosting “Gazelles”: Evidence from business accelerators," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(1), pages 260-287.
    14. Margaret Miller & Julia Reichelstein & Christian Salas & Bilal Zia, 2015. "Can You Help Someone Become Financially Capable? A Meta-Analysis of the Literature," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 30(2), pages 220-246.
    15. Kjetil Bjorvatn & Alexander W. Cappelen & Linda Helgesson Sekei & Erik Ø. Sørensen & Bertil Tungodden, 2020. "Teaching Through Television: Experimental Evidence on Entrepreneurship Education in Tanzania," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(6), pages 2308-2325, June.
    16. Axel Demenet, 2016. "Does Managerial Capital also Matter Among Micro and Small Firms in Developing Countries?," Working Papers DT/2016/12, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
    17. Marshall Burke & Lauren Falcao Bergquist & Edward Miguel, 2019. "Sell Low and Buy High: Arbitrage and Local Price Effects in Kenyan Markets," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(2), pages 785-842.
    18. Michael Kremer & Jonathan Robinson & Olga Rostapshova, 2014. "Success in Entrepreneurship: Doing the Math," NBER Chapters, in: African Successes, Volume II: Human Capital, pages 281-303, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Jonas Hjort & Golvine de Rochambeau & Vinayak Iyer & Fei Ao, 2020. "Informational Barriers to Market Access: Experimental Evidence from Liberian Firms," NBER Working Papers 27662, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Cho, Yoonyoung & Honorati, Maddalena, 2014. "Entrepreneurship programs in developing countries: A meta regression analysis," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 110-130.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:erjour:v:15:y:2025:i:1:p:33-64:n:1004. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyterbrill.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.