Idea exchange at a share office

Last registered on November 01, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Idea exchange at a share office
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0012238
Initial registration date
October 23, 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
November 01, 2023, 2:38 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Japan
Region
Tokyo

Primary Investigator

Name
Kentaro Nakajima
Affiliation
Hitotsubashi University
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2023-11-01
End date
2024-06-01
Keywords
Firms & Productivity
Additional Keywords
Innovation, Idea exchange, Communication
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We study the role of idea exchange through communication on creativity in a co-working space. We introduce a communication-facilitating app for the part of users in a co-working space and provide a matching service through the app. By examining the facilitated communications with previously unknown partners by the app and the change in creativity, we can examine the impact of communications on creativity.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Nakajima, Kentaro. 2023. "Idea exchange at a share office." AEA RCT Registry. November 01. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.12238-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention start date: 23/11/01
Intervention end date 24/06/01
Intervention Start Date
2023-11-01
Intervention End Date
2024-06-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Evaluation scores of the final outcome of projects
Number of communication partners of each user
Time use of communications in the CWS
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Satisfaction with the CWS use
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
A randomized controlled trial.
Experimental Design Details
We will implement an RCT at a CWS at the Central Tokyo. Among the users of the CWS, there are users who organize a team and conduct a 3-month project. The intervention will target these users (project users). The RCT design included three arms. The first group will be the control group, which will not be provided with an account for the communication facilitation app. The second group will be provided with a communication facilitation app. The third group will be provided with a communication facilitation app and matching service. Each project runs for three months from a given date. The first will run from November 1 to January 31 of the following year, and the second from February 1 to April 30. We will implement the RCT in these two periods.There will be about 15-20 projects in each period, and each project will be formed by about 5 users on average. Thus, throughout the two periods, each arm will be assigned 10-14 projects and will also cover 150-200 users.

The app developed by the partner company can list each user and see what skills each user has as tags. This is expected to lower the search cost of finding someone with the skills one needs. In addition, the third group of users will be randomly suggested once a week as conversation partners by users outside the team to promote unexpected interactions among users.

Outcomes will be obtained primarily through questionnaire survey. Once a month, project users are asked about whom and what they communicated with, the progress of the project, and how they used their time in the CWS. In addition, there will be a debriefing session for all project participants after the completion of the project. Participants in that debriefing session will be surveyed to evaluate the results of each project. For groups to which the app was distributed, the app logs will be used to capture who communicated with whom.

Using these measures as outcomes, we will examine the impact of app use and matching services on project outcomes and user-level communication patterns.
Randomization Method
Randomization will be done in the office by a computer.
Randomization Unit
The unit of randomization is the project team of the users in the CWS.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
40 project teams in the CWS (expected)
Sample size: planned number of observations
200 users in total (number of project teams times average number of team members)
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
12 teams control, 14 teams are provided app, and 14 teams are provided app and matching service.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Hitotsubashi University Research Ethics Examination Comittee
IRB Approval Date
2023-10-13
IRB Approval Number
2023C035
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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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