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

Last registered on May 17, 2023

View Trial History

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

Country

United States of America

Region

New England

Primary Investigator

Name

Gabriel Lewis

Affiliation

Contact Primary Investigator

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

Sponsors & Partners

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

Request Information

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 Details

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. Job characteristics are of four types: wage, worker voice (such as presence or absence of a union), level of monitoring by the employer, and whether remote work is permitted. Within each type, several categories are available, from which one category is randomly and independently selected for each job. The opportunity to choose is repeated five times.

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