22205: Plumber Entrepreneurs: Experience of Running RCTs in Africa

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

15:30 - 17:00 CEST (GMT+2)

Location: Bella Center: Hall B- B3-m8

Session Type: Symposium (panel)
Orientation: International,Research,Diversity
Shareable link: https://cdmcd.co/mR69zr

Organizer(s)

DZ

Diego Zunino

SKEMA Business School - U. Côte d'Azur, France
AC

Andrea Coali

Bocconi University, Italy

Presenter(s)

FB

Francesca Bacco

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands
NI

Nsubili Isaga

Mzumbe University
MM

Maren Alana Mickeler

ESSEC Business School, France
NC

Natalie Carlson

The Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania, United States

The study of entrepreneurship has expanded significantly in recent years. On one hand, an increasing number of studies have adopted experiments and field experiments. On the other hand, the contexts explored in entrepreneurship research have become increasingly diverse, moving away from the critique of over-reliance on “WEIRD” (western, educated, industrialized, rich, democratic) settings. Drawing inspiration from development economics, scholars have designed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in developing countries and emerging economies. This panel symposium brings together scholars with extensive experience in designing and conducting RCTs at the intersection of entrepreneurship and strategy in East Africa. The symposium aims to illustrate the challenges and opportunities of designing, executing, and ultimately publishing field experiments that investigate entrepreneurship and strategy in developing countries. By leveraging the panelists’ experience, this symposium will demonstrate how rigorous field experiments in East Africa can push the boundaries of entrepreneurship and strategy research beyond WEIRD contexts, generating new insights for theory, practice, and societal impact.