Publication: The Lasting Impact of Personal Initiative Training
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Date
2025-06-04
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Published
2025-06-04
Author(s)
Campos, Francisco
Frese, Michael
Johnson, Hillary C.
Mensmann, Mona
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Abstract
A large share of jobs in low-income countries are found in self-employment and small firms. Standard business training programs aim to increase the incomes in these firms by teaching a set of business practices. However, such efforts have had relatively limited impacts, with meta-analysis finding a 5-12% increase in sales and profits. It is also unclear how long such impacts last, and whether owners keep using the practices taught. Personal initiative training is a promising alternative approach which uses insights from psychology to develop a proactive, entrepreneurial mindset. We tested this approach in a World Bank project in Togo, comparing it to traditional business training, and followed firms for 7.5 years to test whether impacts persist.
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“Campos, Francisco; Frese, Michael; Iacovone, Leonardo; Johnson, Hillary C.; Mensmann, Mona; McKenzie, David. 2025. The Lasting Impact of Personal Initiative Training. Finance & PSD Impact Evaluation Notes. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/43290 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
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