Activist homophily, activist signaling, and the acquisition of social capital by Black entrepreneurs: a field experiment

Last registered on August 11, 2024

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Activist homophily, activist signaling, and the acquisition of social capital by Black entrepreneurs: a field experiment
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0012263
Initial registration date
November 09, 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 17, 2023, 8:06 AM EST

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

Last updated
August 11, 2024, 12:42 PM EDT

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

Locations

Region
Region
Region
Region
Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
City College of New York

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
UTSA

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2023-11-13
End date
2024-06-30
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Black entrepreneurs in the United States are notably disadvantaged relative to their White counterparts. This disadvantage primarily stems from differential access to resources (Bates, Bradford, & Seamans, 2018). Although scholars have closely attended to differentials in the acquisition of financial capital by Black entrepreneurs (e.g., Fairlie, Robb, & Robinson, 2022; Younkin & Kuppuswamy, 2018), less attention has been given to differentials in the acquisition of social capital, or durable networks of social relationships granting access to actual and potential resources (Bourdieu, 1986). However, social capital is an important resource for entrepreneurs (Gedajlovic et al., 2013), and it is a form of capital particularly sensitive to racial dynamics (Putnam, 2007).

To explore the relationship between race and the acquisition of social capital by entrepreneurs, we offer a series of hypotheses tested in the context of LinkedIn, the most used professional social network in the United States. Entrepreneurs used LinkedIn to acquire social capital, such as mentors, potential collaborators, and fellow entrepreneurs. Furthermore, because there is a strong norm for the inclusion of a headshot photograph, race is very salient in the context of LinkedIn.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Hmaddi, Ouafaa and Alexander Lewis. 2024. "Activist homophily, activist signaling, and the acquisition of social capital by Black entrepreneurs: a field experiment." AEA RCT Registry. August 11. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.12263-1.6
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2024-05-01
Intervention End Date
2024-06-29

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
We have two dependent variables. Attention is coded 0 if the mentor does not view the profile and 1 if the mentor views the profile. Connection is coded 0 if the mentor declines the connection request and 1 if the mentor accepts the request.

We will continue to measure the attention variable in study 2 but it is not relevant as we have removed related hypotheses.

Our main variable for all follow-up studies is connection only.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Potential variables that would be constructed are based on any data we can collect on mentors based on LinkedIn and other archival data

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
I study 2, and follow-up studies we are also sending a message with the connection request. Response to the message from the mentor is a potential secondary outcome to explore. A potential additional outcome would be to use AI and measure the tone or helpfulness of the reply across the two groups.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
A randomized experiment on requesting LinkedIn connections from entrepreneurship mentors.
In the second study, we will request connections with a personal message instead of just requesting to connect.
Experimental Design Details
We randomize the mentors to the different profiles (white, black, and black activist)
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer using stata. We will upload the log file of the randomization code.

The updated log file for study 2 will be uploaded as well.
Randomization Unit
We randomize at the mentor level.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
We use two samples to test our hypotheses. We build Sample A from a national network of entrepreneurship mentors. The network includes 1850 mentors, of whom 1261 have identifiable LinkedIn accounts.

We build Sample B from a second national network of mentors. The Sample B network includes 1090 mentors.
Sample size: planned number of observations
840 observations for each analysis comparing two groups (420 mentor assignment per profile).
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
420 mentors for each of the 3 arms (i.e.,3 types of profiles)

Study 2: 545 observations for each treatment group

Study 3: 613 mentors randomized between treatment and control

Study 4: We continue to collect mentor profile data for the Eastern European sample

Study 5: YC sample. 2921 mentors randomized between treatment and control. Randomization is stratified based on gender, number of followers (above to below median), whether they mention probono in their profile and location (red or blue state).
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
UTSA IRB
IRB Approval Date
2023-11-04
IRB Approval Number
FY22-23-155

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