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The Effect of Personalized Feedback on Small Enterprises’ Finances in Uganda

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  • Seitz, Helke
  • Menkhoff, Lukas
  • Grohmann, Antonia

Abstract

This study examines the effect of two different finance trainings on business outcomes. The first training is based on a "rule-of-thumb" approach, teaching simple financial rules. The content of the second training is exactly the same but additionally provides personalized feedback on past financial performance and practices of the entrepreneur. Running a small intervention targeting 500 small and micro entrepreneurs in Kampala (Uganda), we find that the additional personalized feedback significantly improves overall savings by 0.279 standard deviation units. Analysing the specific feedbacks provided we find that not all feedbacks work in the same way to change behavior in the desired direction.

Suggested Citation

  • Seitz, Helke & Menkhoff, Lukas & Grohmann, Antonia, 2019. "The Effect of Personalized Feedback on Small Enterprises’ Finances in Uganda," VfS Annual Conference 2019 (Leipzig): 30 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall - Democracy and Market Economy 203630, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:vfsc19:203630
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    Cited by:

    1. Schoofs, Annekathrin, 2022. "Promoting financial inclusion for savings groups: A financial education programme in rural Rwanda," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C).
    2. Antonia Grohmann & Tabea Lakemann & Helke Seitz, 2020. "Savings Goal Calendars as Soft Commitment Devices: Evidence from Small Business Owners in Uganda," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1919, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial Training; Feedback; Small Business Growth; Economic Development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship

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