U-M study: Entrepreneurs learn best from relatable experience, not business giants

New research from the University of Michigan (U-M) shows that the framing of entrepreneur training programs plays a crucial role in their effectiveness. Instead of expecting small business founders to emulate successful entrepreneurs and build new skills, the U-M study shows it’s more effective to help them adapt skills they already use at home, like experimenting with recipes or gardening, and apply them to their businesses.

“When we teach, we look for successful examples and tell people to follow them, and we sometimes forget about the motivational aspect,” says Dr. Charlene Zietsma, professor of sustainable enterprise at U-M'S Ross School of Business and School for Environment and Sustainability. “... Using examples like cooking a meal or getting kids to school helped people feel more comfortable with the training.”

Zietsma, along with researchers from the University of Alberta, York University, and HEC Montreal, conducted the experiment with 683 entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka, providing training in “adopting innovation practices” into their businesses. Zietsma explains that half of the entrepreneurs were told to try more innovative approaches in their business and to follow the examples of major business leaders such as Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates. The other entrepreneurs were told that they were “innovative all the time” in their day-to-day lives, shown examples of individuals not unlike their friends and neighbors, and encouraged to bring the same mindset into their businesses.

Zietsma says researchers expected both groups to innovate in their businesses over time, but the group that was shown examples similar to their own experiences felt “more confident and comfortable” throughout the training process. They were also more likely to ask questions of fellow participants about their own entrepreneurial successes. 

“Once you get experience with making small changes, you get comfortable with larger ones as well,” Zietsma says. “When people see themselves in others, it makes even failing feel accessible and like just another step in the process.”

After the study concluded, Zietsma explains that research partner Développement International Desjardins, a financial development organization based in Quebec, used the same materials and findings to train an additional 7,000 micro-entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka. The organization also brought the study's insights to other training programs it provides through partner organizations around the world. 

Zietsma says her students at U-M have also taken similar approaches in their work with populations like returning citizens. She says making entrepreneurship feel more accessible starts with showing individuals examples that are aspirational and relatable.

“In the U.S., I would encourage educators to pick role-model examples that look like the people they’re training, and show the struggle,” Zietsma says. “We should be showing people the mundane aspects of entrepreneurship, talk to them about the new approaches they try, and try something else if they don’t work.”

To learn more about Zietsma’s study, visit U-M’s website.

Rylee Barnsdale is a Michigan native and longtime Washtenaw County resident. She wants to use her journalistic experience from her time at Eastern Michigan University writing for the Eastern Echo to tell the stories of Washtenaw County residents that need to be heard.

Photo courtesy of Charlene Zietsma.