Leading by example – the causal effect of credible action by local government on citizens’ motivation and beliefs about others to fight climate change

Last registered on March 08, 2024
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Leading by example – the causal effect of credible action by local government on citizens’ motivation and beliefs about others to fight climate change
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0010608
Initial registration date
December 08, 2022

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
December 13, 2022, 11:16 PM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
March 08, 2024, 6:13 AM EST

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
Germany
Region
Frankfurt am Main

Primary Investigator

Name
Michael Kosfeld
Affiliation
Goethe University Frankfurt
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Christine Laudenbach
PI Affiliation
Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Jakob Famulok
PI Affiliation
Goethe University Frankfurt
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2022-12-08
End date
2023-01-31
Keywords
Behavior, Environment & Energy
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We study the role of local public leadership in the motivation and belief about others to fight climate change using an online experiment with citizens from a large city in Germany.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Famulok, Jakob, Michael Kosfeld and Christine Laudenbach. 2024. "Leading by example – the causal effect of credible action by local government on citizens’ motivation and beliefs about others to fight climate change." AEA RCT Registry. March 08. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.10608-1.1
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2022-12-08
Intervention End Date
2023-01-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
1. Contribution decision to charitable organization
2. Posterior belief about other’s contribution decision
3. Posterior belief about others’ motivation to fight climate change
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
1. Posterior normative belief about others’ contribution decision
2. Posterior normative belief about others’ motivation to fight climate change
3. Posterior belief about the city government’s motivation to fight climate change
4. Posterior belief about the effectiveness of individual action to fight climate change
5. Willingness to receive more information via registration for newsletter
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We study the role of local public leadership in the motivation and belief about others to fight climate change using an online experiment with citizens from a large city in Germany.
Experimental Design Details
Stage 1: Elicitation of
• Socio-economic and climate change variables
• Prior belief about the city government’s activities to fight climate change
• Own motivation to fight climate change
• Prior normative belief about other’s motivation to flight climate change
• Prior belief about others’ motivation to fight climate change
• Prior belief about others’ normative expectation to flight climate change

Stage 2: Treatments
a) Treatment Public Leadership
• Information about ongoing and future activities of the city government to flight climate change.
• Measure of how many of these activities are already known by participant

b) Treatment Peers’ Behavior
• Information about others’ motivation to fight climate change

c) Treatment Public Leadership + Peers’ Behavior:
• All of the above

d) Treatment Control
• None of the above

Stage 3: Elicitation of
• Contribution decision to charitable organization

Stage 4: Elicitation of
• Posterior beliefs
• Socio-economic and climate change variables
• Sustainable investment variables
Randomization Method
Randomization done by computer
Randomization Unit
Individual participant
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
2000 participants
Sample size: planned number of observations
2000 participants
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
500 participants in the control and in each treatment condition
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Using the standard criteria of alpha = 0.05, beta = 0.20, and assuming the minimum detectable effect size to be somewhere between 17% to 20% of a standard deviation, we will need a sample size of 392-543 participants per condition, respectively.
Supporting Documents and Materials

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Joint Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Economics and Business of Goethe University Frankfurt and the Gutenberg School of Management & Economics of the Faculty of Law, Management and Economics of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
IRB Approval Date
2022-11-01
IRB Approval Number
N/A
Analysis Plan

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials