A critical review of the effects of entrepreneurship training in developing countries

Abstract

The published literature suggests that entrepreneurship training is an effective means of promoting entrepreneurship. The present study reviews 30 published and unpublished studies that evaluated 10 different entrepreneurship training programmes in developing countries. The review indicates that entrepreneurship training seems to positively affect entrepreneurial performance. Moreover, it suggests that different training content may infliuence different facets of business success. However, the vast majority of the reviewed evaluation studies face serious methodological problems, thus limiting the conclusiveness of their results. Only two studies used sound methodologies. Hence, the present review stresses that it is essential to apply sound methodology to evaluate entrepreneurship training. Otherwise the results of the training programmes could be spurious. © Practical Action Publishing, 2011.