| dc.description.abstract | The United States has experienced dramatic gains over the last 70 years with the number of women entering the labor workforce. Despite these gains, women continue to earn less than men in similar roles, hold fewer leadership positions, and receive less than 3% of venture capital funding. This doctoral capstone project evaluated Girls With Impact’s 10-week mini-MBA program to better understand how program participation may impact adolescent girls’ self-esteem, skill development, and future aspirations as business leaders. Social Cognitive Career Theory by Lent et al. (1994) served as the foundational structure to design a mixed methods research methodology leveraging student registration data, survey data, and semi-structured interviews. Findings demonstrate that a number of student subgroups are at significantly higher risk for not completing the program. While there were no significant changes in Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), self-reported confidence, including situational confidence, increased upon program completion. Students also demonstrated significant improvement across a majority of program-defined success markers. Additional findings suggest that structural elements of the learning experience influence student engagement and retention, while data collection systems impact the quality of measurable outcomes. | |
