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Abstract
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Before
Research on understanding the factors and decision processes that influence men and women to pursue an entrepreneurial career has gained momentum during the past years. We investigate in how far exposure to real-life entrepreneurial role models as one educational variable in a German university entrepreneurship course has an effect on the entrepreneurial intentions, attitudes and entrepreneurial self-efficacy of students. Over a period of two years, we conduct a randomized field experiment within a full-semester, mandatory entrepreneurship course for undergraduate students at a large German university. Our sample comprises 1133 students that work in 228 teams of four to five. Each team collaborates with one of 116 participating business founders, of which 30 are female.
We define eight outcome variables to test in how far the interaction with a (same-gender) business founder influences student's development over time: (1) entrepreneurial intentions, (2) attitudes towards entrepreneurship, as well as (3) creative problem solving, (4) marshalling of resources, (5) planning/ management, (6) proactivity, (7) managing ambiguity, and (8) financial knowledge as five indicators that represent entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Our findings from round 1 (2016) suggest that integrating same-gender role models in entrepreneurship education programs is not the panacea to diminish gender effects in entrepreneurship. Female students still report a significant decrease of their entrepreneurial intentions after the course. However, the data show that exposure to same-gender role models has an effect when it comes to soft skills, like tolerance for ambiguity. There, having a same-gender role model positively influences the students’ development.
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After
Research on understanding the factors and decision processes that influence men and women to pursue an entrepreneurial career has gained momentum during the past years. We investigate in how far exposure to real-life entrepreneurial role models as one educational variable in a German university entrepreneurship course has an effect on the entrepreneurial intentions, attitudes and entrepreneurial self-efficacy of students. Over a period of two years, we conduct a randomized field experiment within a full-semester, mandatory entrepreneurship course for undergraduate students at a large German university. Our sample comprises approximately (status March 2018) 1678 students that work in 337 teams of four to five. Each team collaborates with one of 175 participating business founders, of which 52 are female.
We define seven outcome variables to test in how far the interaction with a (same-gender) business founder influences student's development over time: (1) entrepreneurial intentions, (2) attitudes towards entrepreneurship, as well as (3) creative problem solving, (4) marshalling of resources, (5) implementing, (6) managing ambiguity, and (7) financial knowledge as five indicators that represent entrepreneurial self-efficacy. The combination of a mandatory entrepreneurship course, random assignment of students to teams and entrepreneurs, as well as a pre-test/post-test design, allows us to draw robust causal inferences about the impact of female entrepreneurial role models. We find that exposure to female entrepreneurs particularly boosts the development of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and attitudes towards entrepreneurship of female students.
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Trial End Date
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Before
March 31, 2018
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After
September 30, 2018
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Last Published
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Before
June 23, 2017 03:44 PM
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After
March 29, 2018 05:53 AM
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Intervention (Public)
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Before
Over a period of two years (2016, 2017), we conduct a field experiment within a full-semester, mandatory entrepreneurship course for undergraduate students of business and business education at a large German university. Each year around 560 students participate in this course. In teams of four to five, students collaborate with a real-life entrepreneur to prepare a 15-page business plan for the entrepreneur’s startup.
The goal of the experiment is to investigate in how far exposure to same-gender entrepreneurs within the course has a positive impact on students’ entrepreneurial intentions, attitudes towards entrepreneurship, as well as their entrepreneurial self-efficacy. We are looking on student's development over time regarding eight outcome measures.
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After
Over a period of three years (2016, 2017, 2018), we conduct a field experiment within a full-semester, mandatory entrepreneurship course for undergraduate students of business and business education at a large German university. Each year around 560 students participate in this course. In teams of four to five, students collaborate with a real-life entrepreneur to prepare a 15-page business plan for the entrepreneur’s startup.
The goal of the experiment is to investigate in how far exposure to same-gender entrepreneurs within the course has a positive impact on students’ entrepreneurial intentions, attitudes towards entrepreneurship, as well as their entrepreneurial self-efficacy. We are looking on student's development over time regarding eight outcome measures.
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Intervention End Date
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Before
July 07, 2017
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After
July 31, 2018
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Primary Outcomes (End Points)
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Before
We defined eight outcome measures:
1) entrepreneurial intentions
(2) attitudes towards entrepreneurship
(3) creative problem solving
(4) marshalling of resources
(5) planning/ management
(6) proactivity
(7) managing ambiguity
(8) financial knowledge as five indicators
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After
We defined seven outcome measures:
1) entrepreneurial intentions
(2) attitudes towards entrepreneurship
(3) creative problem solving
(4) marshalling of resources
(5) implementing
(6) managing ambiguity
(7) financial knowledge as five indicators
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Experimental Design (Public)
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Before
The treatment includes 1133 students who are randomly assigned to the treatment groups. To assign student teams, we use a between-subject design with stratified random sampling following a two-step process: First, randomization takes place on an individual level. Thereby, students are randomly assigned to groups of four to five. In line with course regulations, we furthermore account for balanced previous academic achievements within the teams proxied by previously achieved ECTS. In the second step, randomization takes place on a team level. Hereby, student teams are randomly assigned to business challenges, and thus to the entrepreneurs with whom they collaborate during the course. Always two teams work on the same business challenge.
Regarding the students, data are collected via two questionnaires, one before and one after the course. The first student questionnaire is handed out in a paper format directly in class, right before the kickoff session of the course starts. The second student survey is conducted entirely online after the course. The founder survey is conducted online during the course period. In addition to students and entrepreneurs, we hand out a shortened version of the survey to the involved teaching staff such as the supervisors and master tutors.
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After
The treatment includes 1133 students (for 2016, 2017; exact numbers for 2018 tbd) who are randomly assigned to the treatment groups. To assign student teams, we use a between-subject design with stratified random sampling following a two-step process: First, randomization takes place on an individual level. Thereby, students are randomly assigned to groups of four to five. In line with course regulations, we furthermore account for balanced previous academic achievements within the teams proxied by previously achieved ECTS. In the second step, randomization takes place on a team level. Hereby, student teams are randomly assigned to business challenges, and thus to the entrepreneurs with whom they collaborate during the course. Always two teams work on the same business challenge.
Regarding the students, data are collected via two questionnaires, one before and one after the course. The first student questionnaire is handed out in a paper format directly in class, right before the kickoff session of the course starts. The second student survey is conducted entirely online after the course. The founder survey is conducted online during the course period. In addition to students and entrepreneurs, we hand out a shortened version of the survey to the involved teaching staff such as the supervisors and master tutors.
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Planned Number of Clusters
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Before
228 teams
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After
337 teams (2016, 2017, 2018)
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Planned Number of Observations
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Before
1133 students
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After
1678 students (2016, 2017,2018)
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Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
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Before
Group 1 - male students w/ male founders: 368 students
Group 2 - male students w/ female founders: 147 students
Group 3 - Female students w/ male founders: 464 students
Group 4 - Female students w/ female founders: 154 students
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After
Group 1 - male students w/ male founders: 483 students
Group 2 - male students w/ female founders: 277 students
Group 3 - Female students w/ male founders: 674 students
Group 4 - Female students w/ female founders: 244 students
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Power calculation: Minimum Detectable Effect Size for Main Outcomes
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Before
Minimum detectable effect sizes (MDES) are estimated for all outcome variables at a 5 percent level of significance and 80 percent power (as units of a standard deviation):
Entrepreneurial intentions: 0.38, attitudes towards entrepreneurship: 0.39, creative problem solving: 0.38, marshalling of resources: 0.39, planning/management: 0.37, proactivity: 0.42, tolerance for ambiguity: 0.29
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After
Minimum detectable effect sizes (MDES) are estimated for all outcome variables at a 5 percent level of significance and 80 percent power (as units of a standard deviation):
Entrepreneurial intentions: 0.38, attitudes towards entrepreneurship: 0.39, creative problem solving: 0.38, marshalling of resources: 0.39, implementing: 0.4, tolerance for ambiguity: 0.29
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