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Paper short abstract

Using data from a cluster RCT among millet-growing women in Odisha, India, this paper examines whether empowerment is a pathway to entrepreneurship. We find that instrumental and collective agency, and overall empowerment mediate enterprise formation, even without significant empowerment gains

Paper long abstract

Women's empowerment is widely considered a driver of female entrepreneurship, yet it is

typically analysed as an outcome rather than a mechanism. This study examines whether

empowerment operates as a pathway linking interventions to entrepreneurial outcomes, using

data from a 3-arm cluster randomized controlled trial in Odisha, India. Empowerment is

conceptualized as a multidimensional construct encompassing intrinsic, instrumental, and

collective agency. Baseline data reveal that instrumental agency is strongly associated with

enterprise ownership and enterprise count, collective agency with female-owned enterprises.

In contrast, overall empowerment score is only associated with enterprise ownership and

enterprise count. Using endline data and generalized structural equation models, the study finds

evidence consistent with the mediating role of instrumental and collective agency as well as

overall empowerment and household economic status in shaping entrepreneurial outcomes.

However, the intervention did not significantly increase empowerment levels and only the

treatment arm that combined processing and value-addition training significantly increased

entrepreneurship with provision of processing training having a near identical impact compared

to the control. Treatment effects are heterogeneous by baseline intrinsic agency and household

economic status. The program leveraged existing empowerment rather than significantly

improving empowerment. The findings suggest entrepreneurship-oriented programs should

integrate empowerment modules as a means to entrepreneurship rather than as a primary

intended outcome