Impact evaluation of a Mandela Washington Fellowship, Leadership-in-Business Institute with social network analysis of participants’ before and after communication behaviors: A longitudinal study of African entrepreneurs
Cissé, Mahamane Saliou
Citations
Abstract
This mixed methods study evaluated the impact of Oklahoma State University’s (OSU) 2018 Mandela Washington Fellowship Institute on its participants (Fellows), including their communication behaviors associated with entrepreneurship. The study compared Fellows’ perceptions of entrepreneurship and their communication networks immediately before and after their Institute experiences and approximately five years later, i.e., a pre-post-post, descriptive, evaluation study. The study also sought to describe with whom the Fellows communicated and about what they communicated before and after the Institute, especially their business-related communications, and how changes in such affected their enterprises. Twenty-five Fellows from 20 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) nations participated in a six-weeks-long, training program (Institute) and were the sources of data. However, response rates varied depending on type and timing of data collection. Retrospective evaluation and social network analysis were used to collect quantitative data to aid in answering eight research questions. Regarding qualitative findings, content analysis was conducted of Fellows’ suggestions for improvements to the training, of interviews with key actors comprising their communication network, and of narrations describing self-selected visual images of their business ventures, i.e., a photovoice exercise. Most acknowledged that they would not have been equipped to improve their businesses without the Institute’s contributions to their professional development. The Fellows improved both knowledge and skills of entrepreneurship which they perceived had increased their effectiveness as entrepreneurs. They had extended their business contacts and other entrepreneurial endeavors through social networking communication tools and related behaviors. The Fellows used the knowledge acquired during the Institute to gain better access to information about business opportunities, including creating collaborations at home, in the SSA region, in other world regions, and with U.S. businesses. As such, the study’s results supported relevant aspects of social network theory, theory of planned behavior, and human capital theory. Recommendations are offered for practice and additional research. More advance work by the funder who places the Fellows and by Institute providers may better address some Fellows’ specific learning needs and interests. Additional follow-up studies are needed to examine the cohort’s communication network’s expansion or compression over time and to monitor the progress of their enterprises.