Resource Mobilization for Disadvantaged Entrepreneurs: Evidence from Field Experiments in Morocco
Datum
2022-10-26
Autor:innen
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Verlag
University of Oregon
Zusammenfassung
This dissertation is composed of one conceptual review chapter and two empirical chapters with the following abstracts. In the first chapter, I adopt a resource mobilization framework, which delineates the process in three stages: search, access, and transfer. In doing so, I explore how resource mobilization is closely linked to entrepreneur’s resource endowments. I identify the main issues for the mechanisms of each stage which helps highlight the problematic path of resource mobilization when entrepreneurs lack the necessary endowments. I then suggest an adapted path with macro and micro-level solutions to potentially overcome such issues. In the second chapter, I challenge the premise that resource holders must “pick winners” because they are most likely to convert the support into tangible and positive entrepreneurial outcomes by asking when does selection matter less? This chapter’s core premise is that expanding access to resources by removing selection barriers can help enhance two key entrepreneurial outcomes: action and persistence. I find that removing selection barriers to the provision of knowledge and financial resources significantly increases the likelihood of entrepreneurs engaging in action and persistence independent of their initial stock of resources. These findings help de-emphasize the role of endowment and selection in the resource mobilization process and highlight the importance of inclusion in the allocation of entrepreneurial resources.
In the third chapter, I examine the question: do entrepreneurs incorporate what they learn? Are they behaviorally experimenting? I argue that entrepreneurs within such environments may need more than the explicit knowledge on how to experiment to navigate the ambiguous and informal markets where they operate. I use a field experiment in the context of an acceleration program spanning the 12 regions of Morocco, where I randomized access to knowledge resources (training and mentoring) among other resources. I then take advantage of the staff quasi-random assignment of the mentor-entrepreneur pairs to evaluate the effect of having a matched mentor who would have the appropriate tacit knowledge to help entrepreneurs localize and contextualize the explicit knowledge they acquired. I find that having access to tacit knowledge increases the probability to engage in behavioral experimentation by 20 percent. These findings suggest that tacit knowledge helps entrepreneurs incorporate their learning into their decision-making.