Information, preferences and delegation in a large organization: Design of a field experiment in Pakistan

Last registered on May 13, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Information, preferences and delegation in a large organization: Design of a field experiment in Pakistan
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0011853
Initial registration date
May 08, 2024

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
May 13, 2024, 12:26 PM EDT

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

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Kate Vyborny
Affiliation
Duke University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Simon Quinn
PI Affiliation
Imperial College
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PI Name
Hamna Ahmed
PI Affiliation
Lahore School of Economics
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2022-04-18
End date
2025-06-01
Keywords
Gender, Governance, Other
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We use a novel incentivized revealed preference experiment in a large hierarchical organization. Respondents
must make binary choices with real incentives similar to those faced in their normal duties. We then test how
decisions change when we change the information environment by (a) varying information provided about field
conditions in each choice, (b) varying how information flows within the hierarchy between respondents who are
managers and subordinates, and (c) varying the conditions under which decisions are made. We consider the
implications for optimal organizational design.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Ahmed, Hamna, Simon Quinn and Kate Vyborny. 2024. "Information, preferences and delegation in a large organization: Design of a field experiment in Pakistan." AEA RCT Registry. May 13. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.11853-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2022-05-05
Intervention End Date
2024-12-15

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Please see attached PDF
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The setting we study is the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund, a fund for community development work in Pakistan funded by the Government of Pakistan, the World Bank, and a number of bilateral aid agencies. This agency channels some of its funding through several second-tier donors, the National Rural Support Programme and several regional Rural Support Programmes, to small local NGOs in communities across Pakistan. These second-tier donors are organized as complex hierarchies.

We randomly selected a subset of these recipients for a monitoring and recognition experiment on a set of
simple performance indicators agreed by the top level of the donor (AEARCTR-0001103). Having collected detailed performance indicators from NGOs, we are in an exciting position to be able to test directly how each part of an organizational hierarchy reacts to new information.

In this experiment, we use experimental variation in how we release data collected in the NGO experiment to the donor organization to test how respondents who are staff members of the donor organization that supports the NGOs respond to the new information and work together in the hierarchy.

For every binary choice, the respondent sees a sheet comparing a pair of NGOs. We vary the information about the NGOs across pair sheets within respondent. The main elements of information to be shown are:

Names of the recipient organization -- allowing respondents to use their own local knowledge about NGO performance.

Complex data on performance.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that summarize the same information shown in the complex data.

A brief narrative description of NGO activities, covering the same activities summarized in the complex data, written by project assistants based on information reported by the NGO.

For mid-level and senior officials, recommendations from their subordinates.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Stata
Randomization Unit
Individual choices shown to respondents
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
N/A
Sample size: planned number of observations
Total choices: approximately 3300 Total dyads across two respondents who see a pair in the same task: Approximately 9000
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
See attached PDF
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Duke University Campus IRB
IRB Approval Date
2018-12-18
IRB Approval Number
2019-0068
Analysis Plan

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