Changes in and Intervention of Owners’ Behavior in Property Payment: Evidence from Communities in Beijing, Tianjin and Xi’an

Last registered on September 04, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Changes in and Intervention of Owners’ Behavior in Property Payment: Evidence from Communities in Beijing, Tianjin and Xi’an
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0011977
Initial registration date
September 01, 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
September 04, 2023, 6:53 AM 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
Juanjuan Meng
Affiliation
Peking University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Peng Chang
PI Affiliation
HKU Business School
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2023-09-01
End date
2024-07-31
Keywords
Behavior
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
The major hypothesis of the thesis, also the key focus of our RCT, is that positive payment behaviors on property management fees from peers in the same community will foster positive payment behaviors on property management fees of householders (including payment in advance and payment on time).
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Chang, Peng and Juanjuan Meng. 2023. "Changes in and Intervention of Owners’ Behavior in Property Payment: Evidence from Communities in Beijing, Tianjin and Xi’an." AEA RCT Registry. September 04. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.11977-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention(s)
Selecting approximately 2670 households in Golden Sunshine Community in Xi'an for the experiment. They are categorized into three groups.

Control Group: General greeting letter, limited to 400-650 words, one page. The letter briefly mentions the payment but does not provide specific proportions. Vague description of payment.

Treatment Group 1: Positive description focusing on the payment rate, approximately 400-650 words, one page. It includes a description of early payment and average household arrears, consistent with Intervention Group 2.

Treatment Group 2: Negative description focusing on the arrears rate, approximately 400-650 words. It includes a description of early payment and average household arrears, consistent with Intervention Group 1, as mentioned above.

The payment status (in advance, on time, miss the deadline, no payment) is observed for each householder and for each quarter. The intervention will be completed in early September of 2023, and the main focus will be on the fourth billing quarter of 2023 and the first two quarters of 2024.
Intervention Start Date
2023-09-01
Intervention End Date
2023-09-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Behaviors of payment of property management fees, which are categorized into payment in advance, payment on time, late payment, non-paid, are recorded for each householder for each period.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Payment in advance: if a payment is made earlier than the first day of its corresponding billing period by contract.
Payment on time: if a payment falls within the range of its corresponding billing period by contract.
Late payment: if a payment is made later than the last day of its corresponding billing period by contract.
Non-paid: if a payment has not been made till the end of our project and is then censored.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Relative Payment Date, or RPD in time, measures when the payment is made relative to the first day of its corresponding billing cycle defined by contract.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
If RPD equals to 0, it means the payment is made right on the first day of the billing cycle. If RPD takes negative values, that indicates payment in advance; if positive, payment no earlier than billing cycle (but not necessarily a late payment). RPD provides more detailed information of payment date than all four payment behaviors defined above. (See primary outcomes)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
(1) Design Intervention:

Selecting approximately 2670 households in a community in Xi'an for the experiment.

Control Group: General greeting letter, limited to 400-650 words, one page. The letter briefly mentions the payment but does not provide specific proportions. Vague description of payment.

Treatment Group 1: Positive description focusing on the payment rate, approximately 400-650 words, one page. It includes a description of early payment and average household arrears, consistent with Intervention Group 2.

Treatment Group 2: Negative description focusing on the arrears rate, approximately 400-650 words. It includes a description of early payment and average household arrears, consistent with Intervention Group 1, as mentioned above.

The payment status (in advance, on time, miss the deadline, no payment) is observed for each householder and for each quarter. The intervention will be completed in early September of 2023, and the main focus will be on the fourth billing quarter of 2023 and the first two quarters of 2024.

(2) Grouping:

The community was developed in 3 phases. We randomly assign households into 3 groups (as stated above) for each phase. Balance test will be conducted to ensure a balanced startpoint.

(3) Implementation Time and Method:

Intervention will take place on September 1, 2023, and the billing period will start on September 20, 2023.
To make sure those who make early payments to have response time, separate letters will be sent to 2800 households in early September. The letters will be sealed in envelopes and attached to each household's door.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
The community was developed in 3 phases. We randomly assign households into 3 groups (as stated above) for each phase. Balance test will be conducted to ensure a balanced startpoint.
Randomization Unit
household
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
Around 2700 households
Sample size: planned number of observations
Around 2700 households
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Each household is randomly assigned to one of control group, treatment group 1 and treatment group 2, resulting around 900 households in each group.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials

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IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Faculty Research Committee, Faculty of Business and Economics, The University of Hong Kong
IRB Approval Date
2023-08-31
IRB Approval Number
N/A
Analysis Plan