Effects of mentoring on SMEs in Norway, a randomized control trial

Last registered on August 05, 2022

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Effects of mentoring on SMEs in Norway, a randomized control trial
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0003874
Initial registration date
February 11, 2019

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
February 12, 2019, 5:00 PM EST

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

Last updated
August 05, 2022, 3:09 AM EDT

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

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Affiliation
University of Oslo

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
University of Oslo
PI Affiliation
University of Oslo

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2019-03-15
End date
2024-08-01
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study is a randomized controlled trial (RCT) on the effects of mentoring on SMEs in Norway. We aim to get a better understanding of firm development and dynamics in the presence of public interventions. Does mentoring affect firm performance and firm-survival? Does it matter what type of state aid a firm is granted; mentoring versus the financial equivalent of the service?
The trial is a three-armed parallel randomized control trial. The first group will receive mentoring; the second group will receive the financial equivalent to the cost of the mentoring, and the third group is a control. The population consists of small and medium-sized enterprises who have applied for and been granted financial support from Innovation Norway. From this population, we draw the three groups. All firms that are part of the trial are established 5 or fewer years ago. The total sample size will be 300 firms.
Exploiting a rich data set based on a set of matched register data, we will be analyzing both firm performance and external effects using a wide set of outcomes and measures. We will have information both about the firms and the people connected to the firms by employment, ownership or board members. We will assess outcomes twice after the intervention to study both short-term results and long-term results.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Moxnes, Andreas, Marte Tobro and Karen Helene Ulltveit-Moe. 2022. "Effects of mentoring on SMEs in Norway, a randomized control trial." AEA RCT Registry. August 05. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.3874-2.1
Former Citation
Moxnes, Andreas, Marte Tobro and Karen Helene Ulltveit-Moe. 2022. "Effects of mentoring on SMEs in Norway, a randomized control trial." AEA RCT Registry. August 05. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/3874/history/152270
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Mentoring:
The first treatment group will receive a mentoring service.

Cash transfer
In the second treatment arm, the participants will receive the monetary equivalent to the mentoring service.
Intervention Start Date
2019-03-15
Intervention End Date
2020-03-15

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Firm performance
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
To address the impact of the interventions on firm performance we shall analyse a range of outcomes. We are moreover planning to assess firms’ performance twice after the intervention in order to study both short term results and long-term results. The first assessment will be one year after the last participant has entered the trial. While we will consider many of the same outcomes at both evaluations, we may expect the intervention to have different impacts in the short term than in the long term.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Amongst the outcomes to be considered:
• The time before the company yields a dividend for the entrepreneur
• The time before the product(s) is(are) commercialized
• New investors (increase in equity)
• Revenue growth
• Growth in the number of employees
• Survival
• Productivity
• Patents
• Exports (destinations and customers)
• Import of intermediates and capital goods (source countries and suppliers)
• Networks
• External effects through e.g. the labor market and investors/owners
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The RCT is a parallel design with three arms. Two arms are designated treatment groups, and the third is a control group. The population consists of approved applicants to a set of different financial support programs. Among those who receive approval on the application for the financial support, we draw one-third to receive additional mentoring, one-third to receive a cash transfer equivalent to the expenses associated with the mentoring and one-third as a control.
By including the second treatment group, we remove the capital part of the mentoring service from the effect measure. This makes it possible not only to study the effect of additional support but to isolate the value of the service provided.
We follow the strategy of intention to treat. This implies that all recipients have the option of declining both financial support and additional treatment. Those who decline will still be part of the study.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Online randomizer: https://studyrandomizer.com/
Randomization Unit
Firm
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
No clusters
Sample size: planned number of observations
300 firms
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
100 firms per treatment arm
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials

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IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
NSD - Norsk senter for forskningsdata
IRB Approval Date
2019-02-18
IRB Approval Number
N/A