Enrollment of SME managers to growth-oriented training programs

Purpose – Entrepreneurial learning through formal growth-oriented training programs for SME managers promises to enhance the growth competences and growth intentions of the enrolled managers. The impact of such programs, however, depends on who enrolls since initial competence and growth-intention levels vary significantly. Potential participants may suffer from limited ability to transform new knowledge into practice, absence of growth intention and too high or too low a prior competence level to be able to benefit substantially. Selection and self-selection processes therefore have a bearing on the extent to which such programs result in additionality, i.e. improved growth performance compared to non-intervention. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Selection and self-selection processes are explored through a study of a large-scale training program for growth-oriented managers of small Danish firms. This program has, from 2012 to 2015, trained about 700 SME managers. Data are currently available for 366 of these participants. This evidence is compared with survey results from a randomly selected control group of 292 growth-oriented SME managers in the same firm-size group. The data were analyzed through descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis. Findings – A number of selection and self-selection biases were identified in the analysis. While some of the identified biases did not seem to conflict with the ambitions of this growth program, others potentially have consequences for the additionality of the program. Originality/value – The paper is the first systematic study of the importance of who enrolls in training programs for SME managers.