Gender differences in strategic incompetence

Last registered on December 06, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Gender differences in strategic incompetence
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0012424
Initial registration date
November 27, 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
December 06, 2023, 8:00 AM EST

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

Last updated
December 06, 2023, 1:24 PM EST

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

Locations

Country
Canada
Region
Country
United States of America
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Prerna Kundu
Affiliation
University of British Columbia
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2023-11-30
End date
2024-03-31
Keywords
Behavior, Gender, Lab
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study will investigate the phenomenon of strategic incompetence in the context of gendered differences in the allocation of low-promotability tasks in the workplace. Using a series of online experiments, it will explore whether individuals strategically feign incompetence to avoid being asked to perform undesirable tasks again. Our findings will contribute to understanding gender dynamics in task allocation in the workplace.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Kundu, Prerna. 2023. "Gender differences in strategic incompetence." AEA RCT Registry. December 06. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.12424-1.1
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2023-11-30
Intervention End Date
2024-03-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
- Individual performance at the task (treatment vs control) measured using how many grids are answered correctly
- Gender differences in performance across treatment and control

We will analyze average differences between treatment and control with and without controls. The control variables for the first experiment are: demographic controls (age, sex, ethnicity, country of birth, country of residence, nationality, language spoken, student status, employment status), agreeableness (measured using the 9-item agreeableness subscale of the Big Five Personality Scale), and altruism (measured using the 3-item principle of care construct by Wilhelm and Bekkers, 2010)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We will be conducting a series of online experiments on Prolific which will require participants to complete real-effort tasks. We will evaluate how their performance at the task changes when there is an other-rewarding future round.
Experimental Design Details
In the first experiment, we will use counting zeros as the real effort task. All participants will be assigned to teams of 3, but they will not know their teammates, nor engage with them in any way during the experiment.

Participants will have to count the number of 0s in a given (randomly generated) grid of 0s and 1s. Participants will go through a practice round (can complete as many grids as possible in 4 minutes), and then a main round consisting of 10 grids.

The incentive structure and treatment description is as follows:
- All respondents will be told that they will receive an additional 10pence (over the payment for completing the experiment) for each grid they answer correctly
- Treatment participants will be told that if they answer more than 7/10 grids correctly, they will be asked to participate in a second round. If they participate in round 2, their teammates will receive a bonus payment of $1 but they will not receive any payment (and won't get the 10pence bonus per correct grid either) for the second round.
- Control participants will be told they do not have to participate in round 2.

Treatment and control will see messages describing the second round after the practice round - so that the practice round captures baseline performance.

For future rounds, we will consider changing the task to use gender-stereotyped tasks (while keeping the rest of the structure unchanged), change the framing of the pro-social request to attribute more credit to the individual for doing the task for their teammate, and introduce spectators in a second stage
Randomization Method
Treatment assignment will be done at the individual level, by O-tree (the experimental software used for the experiment)
Randomization Unit
Treatment assignment will be done at the individual level, by O-tree (the experimental software used for the experiment)
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
N/A
Sample size: planned number of observations
500
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
N/A
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
The University of British Columbia - Behavioural Research Ethics Board
IRB Approval Date
2023-11-23
IRB Approval Number
H23-02451, PAA number: H23-02451-A001
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