This paper presents evidence from a randomized field experiment evaluating the impact of a newly introduced business intervention for managers in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in England. Managers (learners) were individually allocated within organizational clusters (companies) either to a treatment condition (265 learners; 40 SMEs), which involved participation in an innovative virtual blended learning program aimed at promoting changes in managerial behavior, or to a non-treatment condition (118 learners; 22 SMEs) receiving no intervention. Results demonstrate that the central aim of shifting managerial behavior toward greater use of an Operational Coaching™ approach was successfully met at a statistically significant level, despite the challenging conditions created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the intervention group firms exhibited positive directional changes in SME productivity indicators. These findings may offer early evidence that changes in managerial behavior can have measurable implications for productivity and economic performance, suggesting the need for further detailed investigation.
