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

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, pa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEconomics of education review Vol. 101; p. 102559
Main Authors Lafortune, Jeanne, Pugatch, Todd, Tessada, José, Ubfal, Diego
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier Ltd 01.08.2024
Subjects
Entrepreneurship education
Gamification
Online education
Randomized controlled trials
Rwanda
Soft skills training
Youth business training
Soft skills training
Entrepreneurship education
Rwanda
Online education
Gamification
Youth business training
Randomized controlled trials
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Summary: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 motivated treated students to sustain their business activities during the COVID-19 crisis.
ISSN:0272-7757
1873-7382
DOI:10.1016/j.econedurev.2024.102559