Broadening the Entrepreneurship Funnel for Women in Poverty Contexts: Field-experimental Evidence from India

By Leena Kinger Hans, J Ma
Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal

Citation

Kinger Hans, Leena., Ma, J. (2025). Broadening the Entrepreneurship Funnel for Women in Poverty Contexts: Field-experimental Evidence from India Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal .

Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 2025

Abstract

We study how providing knowledge about ‘how to do entrepreneurship’ influences women’s pre-entry decision to enrol in micro-entrepreneurship training in poverty settings. We carry out a field experiment study with unemployed women in rural India, randomly exposing them to ‘founding templates’ that depict simple and replicable business set-ups and practices. We find that exposure to founding templates, especially those that exemplify social support rather than self-dependence, significantly increases women’s sign-ups to entrepreneurship training. We also find that increased sign-ups are accompanied by enhanced perceived ease of starting a business. These results shed light on what motivates women in the pre-entry stage and offer insights on how to increase enrolment, ultimately broadening women’s participation in entrepreneurship in poverty contexts.

Leena Kinger-Hans is an Assistant Professor of Organisational Behaviour at ISB. Professor Leena studies social inclusion in emerging market contexts, particularly India. Her research examines how individual motivation and behaviour shapes organizational and entrepreneurial outcomes in a variety of settings, including entrepreneurship, family businesses, and public health delivery. Her research often involves collaborating with organisations to conduct immersive mixed method research involving- qualitative, field experimental and survey based methodologies.

Prof. Leena’s research has been published in leading academic journals such as Organization Science, Journal of Management and Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal. She serves on the Editorial Review Board of the Strategic Management Journal, a top journal in the field of management.

Prof. Leena teaches Leading Self and Teams and Negotiations at ISB. She received her PhD from INSEAD and MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B).

More publications by author

Leena Kinger Hans