Worker Voice, Monitoring, and Remote Work: a Survey Experiment

Last registered on May 17, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Worker Voice, Monitoring, and Remote Work: a Survey Experiment
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0011042
Initial registration date
March 06, 2023

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
March 13, 2023, 8:52 AM EDT

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

Last updated
May 17, 2023, 9:55 AM EDT

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

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Gabriel Lewis
Affiliation
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2023-05-09
End date
2023-06-30
Keywords
Behavior, Labor, Welfare
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
In a survey of recent visitors of an employment center in New England, we ask respondents to choose between hypothetical jobs with randomized characteristics, allowing us to quantify workers’ preferences concerning three mechanisms by which they may voice their needs or ideas to their employers: 1) a standard human resources department, 2) an “employee resource group” sponsored by management, and 3) a union with collective bargaining. We quantify how these preferences, as measured in willingness-to-pay (willingness to sacrifice wages), are modified by higher levels of monitoring by employers, and by a remote work option.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Lewis, Gabriel. 2023. "Worker Voice, Monitoring, and Remote Work: a Survey Experiment." AEA RCT Registry. May 17. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.11042-1.1
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Participants take an online survey. In this survey, participants first answer background questions about demographics and basic labor market characteristics such as their current job and wage. Then participants choose between two hypothetical jobs with characteristics that we describe.
Intervention Start Date
2023-05-09
Intervention End Date
2023-06-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
In our regressions, the outcome-variable is participants' observed choices. However, the primary endpoint of the study is to derive an estimated population distribution of valuations or preferences concerning the job characteristics we present in the survey. In particular, we seek to quantify participants' willingness-to-pay for three categories of worker voice, ranging from a baseline "Human Resources" option, to a company-run employee committee, to a union that engages in collective bargaining; and to quantify how this willingness-to-pay might be modified by the presence of monitoring by the employer or a remote work option.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Estimates of preferences (willingness-to-pay) will be constructed from observed choices using several methods that we will compare in our paper. All methods begin by regressing the observed choices on the characteristics of the available options. Our benchmark method is an ordinary least squares specification like that of Maestas et al (2018), in which a willingness-to-pay is a simple function of the estimated OLS parameters. We will also use a special-regressor method as outlined in Lewbel (2014), using parametric Logit and Probit models, as well as a Bayesian nonparametric probit model in which the latent function is a Gaussian Process.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Willingness-to-pay for remote work and (the absence of) monitoring.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Participants take an online survey using Qualtrics. In this survey, participants first answer background questions about demographics and basic labor market characteristics. Then participants choose between two hypothetical jobs with characteristics that we describe in the survey.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Qualtrics randomizer
Randomization Unit
Randomization occurs at the level of the choice-scenario. That is, each individual faces repeated scenarios in which options are randomized independently.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
3000 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
15,000 choices (5 per individual)
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
1000 per category of worker voice. 500 per category of worker voice interacted with the presence or absence of a modifier such as remote work or surveillance.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of Massachusetts Amherst Human Research Protection Office - Institutional Review Board
IRB Approval Date
2023-03-06
IRB Approval Number
2055
Analysis Plan