Audra Wormald
Assistant Professor of Strategy & Entrepreneurship
audra_wormald [@] kenan-flagler.unc.edu
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RESEARCH
My research is focused on understanding industry emergence and entrepreneurship as engines for social and economic change, particularly in developing countries. It underscores the importance of experimentation by both market and non-market actors for sustained innovative solutions to thorny societal problems. My current work spans multiple areas, for example:
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How have firms created industries to improve financial inclusion globally?
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Research study: industry emergence and evolution of the global mobile money industry that caters to the unbanked
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Abductive, historical methods
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How can entrepreneurship training enable decision-making under extreme uncertainty encountered in developing regions?
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Research study: challenges and decision-making amongst Tanzanian entrepreneurs in the agri-business sector
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Field experiment
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How can non-profits encourage enterprise and markets to reduce post-harvest loss, food waste and hunger?
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Research study: technology adoption & innovation with smallholder mango farmers in Kenya
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Inductive, grounded theory building
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Industry Emergence & Evolution: Mobile Money
Wormald, A., Agarwal, R., Braguinsky, S., Shah, S., (2021). David Overshadows Goliath: Specializing in Generality for Internationalization in the Global Mobile Money Industry. Strategic Management Journal, 42(8): 1459-1489.
We investigate the emergence of a global industry based on digital innovation by studying how the international expansion of pioneering firms relates to their characteristics and strategies for capability development and deployment. Using detailed archival data on mobile money, we classify pioneers that internationalize based on whether they were multinational diversifying entrants, developed country startups, or developing country startups. Our quantitative evidence suggests developing country startups that internationalize have the highest impact on the industry through subsequent platform launches. Digging deeper into the business histories of each firm, we uncover why: these startups “specialize in generality” by developing and deploying “bundled knowledge” capital consisting of technology, problem solving and alliance management capabilities, thereby offsetting their physical capital scale and scope disadvantages relative to multinational diversifying entrants.
Wormald, A., Shah, S., Braguinsky, S., Agarwal, R. (2022). Pioneering Digital Platform Ecosystems: The Role of Aligned Capabilities and Motives in Shaping Key Choices and Performance Outcomes. Strategic Management Journal, 44(7): 1653-1697.
We inductively analyze rich qualitative and quantitative data on the global census of pioneering mobile money firms to examine how firm characteristics shape digital platform ecosystem configuration choices regarding (a) internal vs. external integration and (b) the creation of network externalities through open vs. closed end user access. In contrast to received wisdom, we find pioneering firms were equally likely to engage in external and internal integration; moreover, diversifying entrants were less likely to internally integrate than startups. We uncover the important role of motives, in addition to capabilities, for creating alignment between pioneering firms and their partners. Such alignment was key for addressing path-dependent implementation challenges through experimentation and navigating nascent industry uncertainty for success.
Wormald, A. Money Matters: Regulatory Uncertainty and Emergence of the African Mobile Money Industry.
As an industry emerges, the endogenous dynamics between firms and regulators are not yet well understood. This study explores how variation in regulatory approaches influenced entry into the mobile money industry across Africa. This study explores how variation in regulatory regimes influenced firm entry, how regulations evolved over time, and implications for new industries that represent sustained value propositions for critical unmet needs. I examine these issues through an abductive analysis of the emergence of the mobile money industry using historical methods. I rely on a unique, hand-collected, comprehensive quantitative and qualitative dataset that includes regulators of 43 African countries and 180 firms that introduced 201 mobile money platforms between 2001 and 2017. The findings suggest that regulators needed to experiment to build their knowledge bases, and shortchanging the experimentation process resulted in delays for firms and acutely needed solutions for disadvantaged populations.
Systematic Approaches to Entrepreneurial Decision Making
Agarwal, R., Bacco, F., Camuffo, A., Coali, A., Gambardella, A., Msangi, H., Temu, A., Sonka, S., Waized, B., Wormald, A. (2024). Does a Theory-of-Value Add Value? Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial with Tanzanian Entrepreneurs. Forthcoming at Organization Science.
Entrepreneurs making decisions under uncertainty are encouraged to evaluate their initial ideas through hypothesis testing, but entrepreneurial approaches vary in their emphasis on ex-ante theory development prior to collecting evidence. In this paper, we examine whether and how entrepreneurs benefit from adopting an evidence-based approach or a theory-and-evidence-based approach to decision-making. We conducted a field experiment with Tanzanian agribusiness entrepreneurs by randomly assigning entrepreneurs to two different training conditions. We find that entrepreneurs in the theory-and-evidence-based condition have higher economic performance during the observation period following the intervention. We conjecture this result stems from differences in the types of changes enacted: entrepreneurs in the theory-and-evidence-based training make more coordinated changes that encompass both core and operational elements of their business models.
Entrepreneurship Training and Founders’ Perception of Ability: A Field Experiment with Entrepreneurs in Tanzania. Under review. (with Andrea Coali & Francesca Bacco)
This study examines whether training entrepreneurs to apply systematic approaches to strategic decision-making influences their self-perception of ability. We present results of a field experiment with 151 entrepreneurs in Tanzania who were randomly assigned to two different versions of entrepreneurial training: an evidence-based approach vs. a theory-and-evidence-based approach. We find that entrepreneurs in the theory-and-evidence-based training condition experience a larger and more persistent increase of their self-perception of ability to deal with challenges compared to the evidence-based condition. Additionally, entrepreneurs across the two conditions respond differently to the training depending on their initial levels of perceived ability. We contribute to research on strategy training for entrepreneurs, uncovering its effects on individuals themselves, not just their ventures’ outcomes, and answer calls for experimental research in entrepreneurship.
Technology Adoption & Innovation
Beyond Technology Adoption: Why Digital Technology Integration Matters for SME Growth. (with Valentina Assenova & Yuheng Ding)
This study examines the depth of digital technology integration within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and its relationship to firm growth. Analyzing data from 14,313 SMEs across 30 countries, we find that while adoption rates are similar across large and small firms, small firms are less likely to integrate digital technology deeply into their operations—an essential factor that helps explain differences in their growth rates. Enterprise characteristics appear more influential than regional factors in explaining these patterns. These findings challenge prevailing assumptions about technology adoption by highlighting integration as an important driver of growth differences among enterprises through digital transformation. By reframing technology integration as a strategic process rooted in firms’ internal capabilities, this study advances strategic management literature examining how integration influences performance.
The Fruits of One's Labor: Uncovering the Factors that Shape Post-Technology Adoption Behaviors in Sub-Saharan Africa. Data Analysis Stage (with Sonali Shah)
This study seeks to illuminate the individual-level factors that shape post-adoption behaviors by analyzing over 70 narratives from smallholder mango farmers in Kenya participating in a program through which they received training and support in the use of several growing and harvesting technologies. Our inductive, grounded theory building approach reveals several consistent behavioral patterns that result from the confluence of an individual's motives and prior knowledge. Our findings suggest that these individual characteristics will shape several important post adoption behaviors such as innovation and improvement, appropriate and effective use, and word-of-mouth support for the technology, as well as continued application of the focal technology.
All Videos
Webinar on analyzing post-harvest loss in Kenya
Other Research
Abductive Empirical Studies: Cultivating and Embracing Plurality in Strategic Management Research. (with Raj Choudhury & Mahka Moeen)
Abduction offers a powerful, underutilized mode of inquiry that focuses on generating and selecting plausible explanations for complex phenomena. The central appeal of abduction as a mode of scientific inquiry is its pragmatism and pluralism. This article showcases how abduction can enhance phenomenon-driven, hypothesis-driven, and data-driven research in strategic management. We begin with revisiting the core thinking in the philosophy of science on abduction, highlighting abduction as both a creative and selective process. By embracing and advocating for a pluralistic view about abductive empirical research, our article invites scholars with various theoretical interests and empirical inclinations to consider the role this mode of scientific inquiry can play in their research toolbox.