Friendship at Work: Can Peer Effects Catalyze Female Entrepreneurship? | Zendy

Erica Field | Zendy; Seema Jayachandran | Zendy; Rohini Pande | Zendy; Natalia Rigol | Zendy

AI Assistant Blog Pricing

Home ZAIA Blog

Open Access

Friendship at Work: Can Peer Effects Catalyze Female Entrepreneurship?

Author(s) -

Erica Field,

Seema Jayachandran,

Rohini Pande,

Natalia Rigol

Publication year - 2016

Publication title -

american economic journal economic policy

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 7.868

H-Index - 62

eISSN - 1945-7731

pISSN - 1945-774X

DOI - 10.1257/pol.20140215

Subject(s) - friendship , entrepreneurship , intervention (counseling) , demographic economics , small business , business , psychology , social psychology , economics , marketing , finance , psychiatry

Does the lack of peers contribute to the observed gender gap in entrepreneurial success? A random sample of customers of India’s largest women's bank was offered two days of business counseling, and a random subsample was invited to attend with a friend. The intervention significantly increased participants' business activity, but only if they were trained with a friend. Those trained with a friend were more likely to have taken out business loans, were less likely to be housewives, and reported increased business activity and higher household income, with stronger impacts among women subject to social norms that restrict female mobility. (JEL G21, J16, J24, L26, M53, O16, Z13)

The content you want is available to Zendy users.

Already have an account? Click here to sign in.

Having issues? You can contact us here

Accelerating Research