{"type":"script","doc_desc":{"producers":[{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","abbr":"DIME","affiliation":"World Bank - Development Impact Department","role":"Verification and preparation of metadata"}],"prod_date":"2024-12-02","version":"1"},"project_desc":{"authoring_entity":[{"name":"Rachel Cassidy","affiliation":"World Bank, International Finance Corporation","email":"rcassidy@ifc.org"},{"name":"Menaal Ebrahim","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"mebrahim@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Diego Ubfal","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"dubfal@worldbank.org"}],"output":[{"type":"Working paper","title":"Testing the promise of digital scaling: in-person vs. app-based training for women entrepreneurs","description":"Policy Research Working Paper (PRWP) WPS10992","uri":"http:\/\/documents.worldbank.org\/curated\/en\/099806212042419307\/IDU13dea9a9c13a9114b4d18b371fe46cdb63976","doi":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1596\/1813-9450-10992"}],"datasets":[{"access_type":"Data is accessible in the World Bank Microdata Library (see URL below).","note":"Source: World Bank. Located at: \"Data\/application_data_anon.dta\" and \"Data\/elearning_bl_fu_anon_clean.dta\". The first file contains an anonymized phone survey with demographic characteristics to determine treatment eligibility. The second file contains demographic characteristics and data on treatment and control group outcomes.","name":"Digital training eligibility and results data","uri":"https:\/\/microdata.worldbank.org\/index.php\/catalog\/6422","license":"Public Use License"}],"software":[{"name":"Stata","version":"14"}],"scripts":[{"file_name":"RR_ETH_2024_227","zip_package":"RR_ETH_2024_227.zip","title":"Reproducibility package (code) for Testing the promise of digital scaling: in-person vs. app-based training for women entrepreneurs","date":"2024-12","dependencies":"All dependencies are listed in the README and included in the folder \"ado\".","notes":"Computational reproducibility verified by Development Impact (DIME) Analytics team, World Bank. A separate reproducibility package for the journal version is available and can be accessed here: https:\/\/reproducibility.worldbank.org\/catalog\/515"}],"title_statement":{"idno":"RR_ETH_2024_227","title":"[WORKING PAPER VERSION] Reproducibility package for Testing the promise of digital scaling: in-person vs. app-based training for women entrepreneurs"},"production_date":"2024-12","abstract":"[PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS REPRODUCIBILITY PACKAGE CORRESPONDS TO THE WORKING PAPER VERSION. THE JOURNAL VERSION IS AVAILABLE AT THIS LINK: https:\/\/reproducibility.worldbank.org\/catalog\/515]. Business training has long been a staple of development policy, with annual expenditures exceeding USD 1 billion in low- and middle-income countries. The vast majority of training is delivered in person, but there is growing interest in alternative modalities to deliver at scale. Digital delivery offers the potential to enhance impact, cost-effectiveness, and accessibility \u2014 especially for women, who may face constraints on their time and mobility. Challenges may include gaps in digital skills, and ensuring participants\u2019 engagement. We conduct a randomized controlled trial to evaluate a business training program targeted at women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia. We test two modalities: a smartphone app, or in-person sessions, versus a control group. Our findings reveal high initial take-up rates for both modalities (over 75%), but a significant disparity in completion rates (22% for the digital training, versus 71% for the in-person training). These results suggest that the potential of digital platforms for scaling up business training must be carefully tested, and treated with caution. Despite the high take-up of in-person training, we observed negligible impacts on business practices and performance from either modality. This finding underscores the stylized fact that business training alone may offer limited benefits for women entrepreneurs.","geographic_units":[{"name":"Ethiopia","code":"ETH"}],"keywords":[{"name":"entrepreneurship"},{"name":"training"},{"name":"digital"},{"name":"gender"},{"name":"field experiments"}],"topics":[{"vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","id":"C93","parent_id":"C9","name":"Field Experiments"},{"id":"J16","parent_id":"J1","name":"Economics of Gender \u2022 Non-labor Discrimination","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel"},{"id":"L26","parent_id":"L2","name":"Entrepreneurship","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel"},{"id":"O12","parent_id":"O1","name":"Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel"}],"data_statement":"All data is not yet publicly available but is expected to be made available through the World Bank Microdata Library in the future.","repository_uri":[{"name":"Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank)","uri":"https:\/\/reproducibility.worldbank.org"}],"technology_requirements":"Runtime: 15 minutes","technology_environment":"Paper exhibits were reproduced in a computer with the following specifications:\n\u2013 OS: Windows 10 Enterprise 22H2\n\u2013 Processor: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E7- 4860 @ 2.27GHz 2.26 GHz (2 processors)\n\u2013 Memory available: 16 GB\n\u2013 Software version: Stata 14 MP","reproduction_instructions":"Users must obtain the data, change the global path in line 36 of the do-file master_replication, and run it to reproduce the results.","disclaimer":"The materials in the reproducibility packages are distributed as they were prepared by the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development\/The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this event do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank, the Executive Directors of the World Bank, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the materials included in the reproducibility package.","license":[{"name":"Modified BSD3","uri":"https:\/\/opensource.org\/license\/bsd-3-clause\/"}],"contacts":[{"affiliation":"World Bank","name":"Menaal Ebrahim","email":"mebrahim@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","email":"reproducibility@worldbank.org","affiliation":"World Bank"}]},"tags":[{"tag":"Code access"},{"tag":"Data access"},{"tag":"DOI"}],"schematype":"script"}