What are the benefits of mentorship for aspiring micro-entrepreneurs? An examination of mixed gender, same gender, and refugee-host and host-host mentoring pairs and the effects of mentoring and mentoring with perspective-sharing over simple cash transfers.

Last registered on April 21, 2023

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
What are the benefits of mentorship for aspiring micro-entrepreneurs? An examination of mixed gender, same gender, and refugee-host and host-host mentoring pairs and the effects of mentoring and mentoring with perspective-sharing over simple cash transfers.
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0010113
Initial registration date
September 28, 2022

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
October 05, 2022, 11:39 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
April 21, 2023, 9:34 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Princeton University

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Georgetown University
PI Affiliation
Princeton University

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2022-07-18
End date
2023-12-29
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This project works with aspiring micro-entrepreneurs from vulnerable host and refugee groups in Nairobi, Kenya, and with more established Kenyan entrepreneurs recruited as mentors for these aspiring micro-entrepreneurs. This project’s interventions offer capital support to the aspiring micro-entrepreneurs, and for a random subsample, a mentoring program. The mentoring program aims to improve economic outcomes, but also social outcomes–the mentee’s confidence, social attitudes, and well-being. For the mentor-mentee combinations featuring mixed gender or refugee-host mentor-mentee pairings, we also test for social cohesion improvement–increased economic interactions across identity groups outside of the mentorship context, and improved attitudes toward refugees and women, and toward policies aimed at improving those groups’ welfare.

Previous laboratory and field experiments suggest that perspective-sharing, i.e. hearing directly from the other about their perspective and experience, leads to improved attitudes toward and increased support for policies related to minoritized populations. The mentoring intervention uses this psychological insight and is randomly administered to half of the mentoring pairs. We examine any added effect of perspective-sharing informed mentorship in business mentorship pairs on economic, psychological, and social cohesion outcomes.

First, we construct cohorts based on geographical proximity. Then, by cohort, stratifying on gender and country of origin, we randomly assign aspiring micro-entrepreneurs to one of four research arms: (i) a control group, which will receive treatment after completion of the study; (ii) business grant only; (iii) business grant and mentorship; (iv) business grant and mentorship with perspective-sharing. Participants in the active treatment arms receive a business grant one month after the start of the program. Participants in the mentorship treatment arms engage in nine pairwise meetings between aspiring and more established micro-entrepreneurs over the course of two and a half months. These meetings are centered around either just economic/business content or economic/business content and perspective-sharing, i.e. building a shared understanding of one another's experiences and circumstances, between the mentor and the mentee. We examine whether mentorship acts as a complement to the business grant, thereby improving economic and psychological outcomes, and whether these effects are more pronounced for those in the perspective-sharing informed mentorship research arm.

Taking into consideration geographical proximity, gender, and industry of interest, aspiring micro-entrepreneurs in groups (iii) and (iv) are randomly matched with eligible mentors.

By cohort, stratifying on gender, recruited mentors are similarly randomly assigned to one of three research arms: (i) control; (ii) mentorship; and, (iii) mentorship with perspective-sharing. We then randomly specify aligned vs. misaligned nationality/residency status mentee matches for mentors assigned to groups (ii) and (iii). For mentors, we examine whether perspective-sharing fosters greater interpersonal cohesion and whether this translates into improved social and political attitudes towards refugees and women for misaligned matches. We further examine whether misaligned matches play a role in expanding and diversifying the mentors’ business interactions and networks. Across both populations, we measure outcomes 1, 3, 6, and 9 months after the first meeting.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Khan, Sana, Elizabeth Paluck and Andrew Zeitlin. 2023. "What are the benefits of mentorship for aspiring micro-entrepreneurs? An examination of mixed gender, same gender, and refugee-host and host-host mentoring pairs and the effects of mentoring and mentoring with perspective-sharing over simple cash transfers.." AEA RCT Registry. April 21. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.10113-3.0
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Aspiring micro-entrepreneurs: All participants in the active treatment arms receive a business grant one month after the start of the intervention. This business grant is labeled for business and participants are encouraged to use it for this purpose. Participants in the mentorship treatment arms engage in nine weekly 1:1 meetings with their mentors. The aspiring micro-entrepreneurs are provided a transport allowance to cover the costs of travel associated with these meetings and an allowance for internet usage. Across both the mentorship research arms, the 1:1 meetings focus on covering some business content based on material (videos and handouts) shared with all participants by the implementation partner, the International Rescue Committee (IRC). The remainder of the meeting can be used for observation, sharing business experience or answering questions that the mentee raises. The mentorship with perspective sharing includes a difference based perspective sharing exercise during the introductory meeting between the mentor and the mentee where the mentor raises several questions for both of them to answer and share their unique experiences. This exercise is intended to help build trust and a shared understanding of circumstances between the mentor and the mentee as they start their relationship. Each subsequent meeting includes a reinforcement perspective-sharing exercise before the mentor launches into the business content. The control group receives services from the IRC after the end of the intervention.

Mentors: All mentors in the active treatment arms receive a half day training. Across both the mentorship treatment arms, the training includes information (expectations, compensation, reporting concerns, etc) about engaging with the implementation partner, the IRC, and an introduction to the business content, including videos and handouts. Mentors assigned to the mentorship with perspective-sharing treatment arm receive additional training on non-judgmental active listening and on truly hearing and understanding the experiences and circumstances of their mentees and tailoring their advice according to their needs and circumstances. All mentors are expected to participate in nine 1:1 meetings with their mentees over the course of two and a half months. Mentors receive a fixed stipend per meeting, as well as an allowance for internet and transport for the training day.
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2022-09-06
Intervention End Date
2023-03-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Aspiring microentrepreneurs:
Relationship with mentor: evaluation of relationship; perceived similarity; trust; feeling heard
Economic benefits: employment; individual income; business profits; value of productive asset stocks
Psychological: confidence and resilience; self-efficacy; belongingness in profession

Mentors:
Relationship with mentee: perceived similarity; trust; perceived strength of relationship; satisfaction with relationship
Economic: expansion and diversification of business interactions and networks
Social: attitudes toward mentees’ ingroup

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Aspiring microentrepreneurs:
Economic: expansion and diversification of business networks and interactions
Psychological: general well-being
Social: generalized attitudes toward women
Social (for refugees): attitudes toward Kenyans; belongingness in country

Mentors:
generalized social and political attitudes towards refugees and women
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
There are two populations of interest for this study. The first population is individuals who reach out to the International Rescue Committee (IRC), an international NGO, for microenterprise support services (aspiring microentrepreneurs) in Nairobi. We take the full set of eligible participants and group them into cohorts by geographical location. Then, within each cohort, stratifying on gender and country of origin, we randomly assign participants to one of four research arms:

Research Arm 0: Control. These individuals will receive a business grant to start a microenterprise once the study is completed.
Research Arm 1: A business grant to start a microenterprise.
Research Arm 2: A business grant to start a microenterprise and nine weekly 1:1 mentorship sessions with an experienced Kenyan entrepreneur. This mentoring relationship focuses on a transfer of business/economic knowledge.
Research Arm 3: A business grant to start a microenterprise and nine weekly 1:1 mentorship sessions with an experienced entrepreneur. This mentoring relationship focuses on a transfer of business/economic knowledge and includes a perspective-sharing component that seeks to build trust and a shared understanding of experiences and circumstances of both the mentor and the mentee.

Within the mentorship research arms (research arms 2 and 3), aspiring microentrepreneurs are randomly matched with their mentors from a pool of eligible mentors.

Our second population of interest is the individuals recruited by the IRC to serve as mentors for the aspiring microentrepreneurs. These individuals are all Kenyans who live in Nairobi; are fluent in English and Swahili; and have established businesses that they have been running for at least 3 years. Similar to the set-up for the aspiring microentrepreneurs, we first take the full set of eligible mentors and group them into cohorts by geographical location. Then, within each cohort, stratifying on gender, we randomly assign mentors to one of three research arms:

Research Arm M0: Control. These mentors are told that the IRC is not able to match them with a mentee at this time and that they will be added to a list and considered for future opportunities with the IRC.
Research Arm M1: Mentorship that is focused on transferring business/economic knowledge.
Research Arm M2: Mentorship with perspective-sharing. Mentorship that is focused on transferring business/economic knowledge and building trust and a shared understanding of experiences and circumstances between the mentor and the mentee through perspective-sharing.

Within the mentorship research arms (research arms M1 and M2), mentors are further randomly assigned to be matched with an aligned or misaligned identity mentee based on residency status in Kenya (i.e., Kenyan mentors are either randomly matched with a Kenyan mentee or a refugee/asylum seeker mentee).
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Aspiring microentrepreneurs: All registered participants are first grouped in cohorts based on geographical proximity. Then, blocking for gender and country of origin, within each cohort, individuals are randomly assigned to one of four treatment arms as described above. Individuals within the two mentorship treatment arms are randomly matched with mentors from a pool of eligible mentors.

Mentors: All potential mentors are first grouped in cohorts based on geographical proximity. Then, blocking for gender, within each cohort, individuals are randomly assigned to one of three treatment arms as described above. Individuals within the two mentorship treatment arms are further randomly assigned to aligned or misaligned identity mentees.

Randomization is done on a computer using statistical software (Stata/R).
Randomization Unit
The unit of randomization is the individual (either aspiring microentrepreneurs or mentors).
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
NA
Sample size: planned number of observations
2000 aspiring microentrepreneurs; 1800 mentors
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Aspiring microentrepreneurs (planned):
Research Arm 0: 400
Research Arm 1: 400
Research Arm 2: 600
Research Arm 3: 600

Mentors (planned):
Research Arm M0: 600
Research Arm M1: 600 (300 aligned identity matches; 300 misaligned identity matches)
Research Arm M2: 600 (300 aligned identity matches; 300 misaligned identity matches)
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Georgetown University
IRB Approval Date
2021-12-17
IRB Approval Number
STUDY00004279
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Pre-analysis plan

MD5: 605224660186d64ca463fb61aa853eda

SHA1: 4faf447fd7c99e754ff0c3fed3af46a7e5dfe5ed

Uploaded At: March 22, 2023

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials