The Effects of Mentoring in Entrepreneurial Career Choice

Abstract

Mentorship programs are increasingly on the agenda for policymakers and universities interested in fostering entrepreneurship. However, we have few studies examining the causal effects of mentorship on potential entrepreneurs. We investigate the impact of the type of mentorship on the likelihood that university students will become entrepreneurs. We test whether being mentored by an entrepreneur has a different impact in entrepreneurship education compared with mentoring from a non-entrepreneur that has relevant industry experience. We use a longitudinal field experiment with a pre-test/post-test design where students in an entrepreneurship class were randomly assigned to receive mentorship from either entrepreneur or non-entrepreneur mentors. To our knowledge, this is the first randomized trial of a mentoring program in entrepreneurship. We find significant positive effects of mentorship, particularly by certain types of mentors. However, the effects are not uniform across students. Results show that entrepreneur mentors have a significant positive influence on the rate of entrepreneurship and that they have the greatest influence on students with specific risk orientation and family backgrounds.

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