Facilitating communication in a workplace

Last registered on December 06, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Facilitating communication in a workplace
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0012448
Initial registration date
November 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
December 06, 2023, 7:50 AM EST

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
2023-12-15
End date
2024-12-31
Keywords
Firms & Productivity, Labor
Additional Keywords
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 communication on productivity in a company. We introduce a communication-facilitating app to the employees in the company. The app provides each employee's detailed profile and skill sets at a glance, improving "who knows what" within the company. In addition, a part of the employees will be offered matching services and interventions to encourage conversations with employees in other departments. By examining the facilitated communications with previously unknown employees by the app and matching service and the change in productivity, we examine the impact of communications on productivity.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Nakajima, Kentaro. 2023. "Facilitating communication in a workplace." AEA RCT Registry. December 06. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.12448-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
A randomized controlled trial.
Intervention (Hidden)
The intervention will target all the employees in the company. Employees will be divided into three groups. 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. The app can list each employee and see what skills each employee has as tags. This is expected to lower the search cost of finding someone with the needed skills. In addition, the third group of employees will be randomly suggested once a week as conversation partners by users outside the department to promote unexpected interactions among employees.
Intervention Start Date
2023-12-15
Intervention End Date
2024-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Overtime working hours
Work performance evaluation
Number of communication partners (within and outside the division)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Employee satisfaction
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
A randomized controlled trial.
Experimental Design Details
We will implement an RCT at a company whose headquarter is located in Central Tokyo. The intervention will target all the employees in the company working in the headquarter. 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. The number of employees in the headquarter is around 500. Of these, 200 will be assigned to the control group and the remaining 300 will be assigned to each of the 150 arms.

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 and information one needs. In addition, the third group of users will be randomly suggested once a week as conversation partners by users outside the division to promote unexpected interactions among employees.

Outcomes will be obtained primarily through work performance evaluation provided by the company. The firm evaluates the work performance of all employees once every six months. Weekly overtime hours provided by the company are also used as a performance indicator. We will also correct employees' satisfaction by survey before and after the intervention. 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 the employees' work performance.
Randomization Method
Randomization will be done in the office by a computer.
Randomization Unit
The unit of randomization is the individual employee level in the company.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
No cluster.
Sample size: planned number of observations
500 employees.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
200 employees control, 150 employees provided app, and 150 employees 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 Committee
IRB Approval Date
2023-11-02
IRB Approval Number
2023C039
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