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Can interactive online training make high school students more entrepreneurial? Experimental evidence from Rwanda

Last registered on June 08, 2021
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Can interactive online training make high school students more entrepreneurial? Experimental evidence from Rwanda
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0007249
Initial registration date
February 24, 2021

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 25, 2021, 6:18 AM EST

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

Last updated
June 08, 2021, 12:49 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Rwanda
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Todd Pugatch
Affiliation
Oregon State University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Jeanne Lafortune
PI Affiliation
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
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PI Name
José Tessada
PI Affiliation
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
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PI Name
Diego Ubfal
PI Affiliation
World Bank
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Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2020-12-01
End date
2021-03-30
Keywords
Education, Firms & Productivity
Additional Keywords
entrepreneurship; entrepreneurship training; education technology; online education; secondary schools
JEL code(s)
I25, I26, J24, O12, O15
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Most literature on business training has focused on adult entrepreneurs, while the potential to change the entrepreneurial mindset is probably greater among adolescents. Moreover, while COVID-19 highlighted the potential for remote delivery of business training to reach new participants at low cost, little evidence exists on the efficacy of online business training. We will evaluate the Wavumbuzi High School Challenge, an online program promoting entrepreneurial mindset among secondary school students. The Challenge launched in Rwanda in January 2021 and will run for 6 weeks. Among schools with students registered to participate in the challenge, we randomly assigned schools to receive program access or to a control group. We will compare students in treatment and control schools on entrepreneurial knowledge and mindset, aspirations, and economic activity.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Lafortune, Jeanne et al. 2021. "Can interactive online training make high school students more entrepreneurial? Experimental evidence from Rwanda." AEA RCT Registry. June 08. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.7249-1.2
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We will evaluate the Wavumbuzi High School Challenge, an online program promoting entrepreneurial mindset among secondary school learners in Rwanda. This program has been implemented previously in South Africa and Kenya. The Challenge launched in Rwanda in January 2021. The program will run for 6 weeks among randomly selected secondary schools.
Intervention Start Date
2021-01-25
Intervention End Date
2021-03-07

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Economic activity
Aspirations
Entrepreneurial mindset
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Economic activity: business participation; student business club participation; employment
Aspirations: educational; economic
Entrepreneurial mindset: business knowledge; business skills; creativity; initiative; persistence; self-efficacy; locus of control; risk-taking

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design

The evaluation design is a cluster randomized control trial (RCT), with randomization at the school level. The sampling frame includes Rwandan secondary schools agreed in advance by Wavumbuzi and the Rwandan Education Board (REB). All schools in the sampling frame were invited to the program. The evaluation sample includes schools in the sampling frame with at least one student registered prior to the launch of the program in January 2021.

Schools in the evaluation sample were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups before the program launched. The unit of random assignment was the school. By agreement between the researchers and Wavumbuzi, 108 schools were assigned to the treatment group and 51 schools were randomly assigned to the control group. Treatment was stratified by district and number of registered students (1 student, 2-10 students, more than 10 students). “Misfit” schools not initially assigned due to uneven strata sizes were assigned independently across all strata, using the “wstrata” option of the “randtreat” command in Stata.

Data for the evaluation will include a baseline survey, endline survey, and administrative data on program participation.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by computer (Stata randtreat command)
Randomization Unit
school
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
159 schools
Sample size: planned number of observations
1850 students
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
51 schools control, 108 schools treatment
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
MDE = 0.18 standard deviations. Assumptions: 50 control schools, 110 treatment schools; 10 students/school; ICC=.05; size=5%, power=80%
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
IRB Approval Date
2020-12-16
IRB Approval Number
200527001
Analysis Plan

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Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
March 06, 2021, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
No
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Abstract
We study the short-run effects of a gamified online entrepreneurship training offered to high school students in Rwanda during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a randomized controlled trial, we estimate sizeable effects of the 6-week training on entrepreneurial activity. One month after the training, participants in schools offered the training were much more likely to own a business than participants in control schools. The training induced students to participate more actively in their school's business club, to undertake more business-oriented actions, to improve their business practices, and to interact more with other youth and family members about their business ideas. We hypothesize that the training might have motivated treated students to sustain their business activities during the COVID-19 crisis.
Citation
Lafortune, Jeanne and Pugatch, Todd and Tessada, Jose and Ubfal, Diego, Can Interactive Online Training Make High School Students More Entrepreneurial? Experimental Evidence from Rwanda. IZA Discussion Paper No. 15064, http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4114608
URL
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4114608

Reports & Other Materials