STUDENT TRAINING FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL PROMOTION IN TANZANIA: IMPACT ON STUDENTS' ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET AND BUSINESS CREATION BEHAVIOUR

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to report results of a research that assessed the short and long-term impact of an action-oriented students training on entrepreneurship (STEP) on the students' entrepreneurial mindset and business creation behavior. Action-orientation means that students engage in the start-up process of a real business during the training. We used randomized controlled trials (RCT) to assess the impact of STEP. We conducted several pre and post-training measurement waves. In this paper, the results of 448 students who participated in the STEP at the University of Dar es Salaam are reported. We used questionnaires to assess students' entrepreneurial mindset and business creation. Based on statistical analyses, we find that STEP has significant short and long-term effects on students' entrepreneurial mindset and business creation behavior. STEP students create jobs for themselves by means of entrepreneurship. The findings hold across three different cohorts of students. We conclude that STEP is an effective training intervention to foster students' entrepreneurial mindset and to boost the number of new businesses created by university students. Our study contributes to the literature that seeks to identify effective means to foster entrepreneurship among university students. Furthermore, our study contributes to the literature that seeks to develop a theory of entrepreneurship training.