STEP Training Impact
The STEP Training aims at creating real impact by promoting entrepreneurial action and success.
STEP Training Impact
Scientific evaluations mainly conducted by Leuphana University Lüneburg show that the STEP Training has positive short- and long-term effects on students’ entrepreneurial behavior. The STEP Training kick-starts the students’ entrepreneurial careers. More importantly, the studies demonstrated that the positive impact sustains over several years.
To assess the impact of the STEP Training, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are used. This means that evaluation studies use the gold standard to assess the impact of interventions and comply with the highest scientific standards. Using an RCT, applicants are randomly selected into a training group and a control group. This guarantees that the students in both groups are equivalent before the training and all differences after the training can be attributed to the STEP Training. Furthermore, a pre-training measurement and several post-training measurements are used to assess the long-term impact of the STEP Training over several years.
More business creation
The main goal of the STEP Training is to promote entrepreneurial behavior and enable participants to start their own businesses. Over the multiple studies the evaluating the training, we find that STEP Training participants are 33% more likely to own a business two years after the training.
These effects have been shown across multiple different countries and continents.
Higher total income
Participation in the STEP Training also leads to improved livelihoods and increases in income. The studies evaluating the training show that STEP Training participants earn 10% more two years after the training.
As entrepreneurs or after finding a job – STEP Participants improve their income significantly.
Higher likelihood of being employed
The participants of the STEP Training are 13% more likely to be employed two years after the training. Additionally, they are 43% more likely to pursue a hybrid career (being employed and running a business).
Compensation for lack of financial capital
Lack of financial capital is a common problem for early stage entrepreneurs, particularly in for lower- and middle-income countries and for informal businesses. Evaluations have shown that the STEP Training can compensate for a lack of financial capital through the use of bootstrapping techniques. STEP Training participants are able to become entrepreneurially active without requiring external capital.
Do you want to read more about the impact of the STEP Training in scientific publications and studies?
Deep Dive: Why is the Training Effective?
The STEP Training’s ultimate goal is to increase the likelihood of participants starting a business and increasing their personal income. As evident from the results over the years and in different countries, STEP Training is effective in doing so. But why is the training effective?
Based on the research we and others have conducted on the STEP Training, there are multiple factors that make the training effective. For one, STEP Training increases motivational factors related to entrepreneurship, like entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial self-efficacy (i.e. the belief in your capability to be an entrepreneur) making it more likely that they engage in entrepreneurial action. Additionally, STEP Training provides participants with actionable knowledge that increases the likelihood of them engaging in entrepreneurial action because they know what to do and how to do it. Lastly, STEP Training participants also improve their ability to identify business opportunities. Directly after the training, STEP participants identify 41% more opportunities than the members of a non-treatment control group. Combining the increased likelihood to engage in entrepreneurial action through knowledge and motivational factors and an increased ability to identify opportunities leads to a significant increase in rate of business owners among STEP participants.