Norms of corruption among future civil servants

Last registered on April 02, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Norms of corruption among future civil servants
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0013239
Initial registration date
March 27, 2024

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
April 02, 2024, 11:10 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
Andreas Stegmann
Affiliation
University of Warwick
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Ben Marx
PI Affiliation
Boston University
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PI Name
Sam Bazzi
PI Affiliation
UCSD
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PI Name
Mahvish Shaukat
PI Affiliation
World Bank
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PI Name
Masyhur Hilmy
PI Affiliation
UNSW
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2024-03-28
End date
2025-12-31
Keywords
Behavior, Governance
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
The literature has generally documented that perceptions (i.e. beliefs about others) are more slow-moving than individual attitudes, often giving rise to misperceived social norms, i.e. discrepancies between individuals' attitudes and the attitudes they believe are held by others. We study this phenomenon in the context of beliefs about attitudes towards corruption and whistle-blowing among future civil servants in Indonesia. We will conduct a survey experiment in a population of future civil servants to learn about the role of misperceived norms of corruption in shaping the decision to report on corrupt behavior, and more generally, to engage in anti-corruption activities.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Bazzi, Sam et al. 2024. "Norms of corruption among future civil servants." AEA RCT Registry. April 02. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.13239-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Information treatment about norms of corruption held by alumni of a civil service academy
Intervention Start Date
2024-03-28
Intervention End Date
2024-05-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Indicators for hypothetical whistleblowing (in response to a short vignette) and reporting of corruption observed during the past 3 years/students' studies. Intentions to complete an e-learning course designed by the national anti-corruption agency. Indicators for registration to and completion of the e-learning course designed by the national anti-corruption agency. We will also construct an index of whistleblowing behavior.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We conduct an information provision experiment with students enrolled at a civil service college. After eliciting students' private and second-order beliefs regarding the extent to which engaging in corrupt behavior is perceived to be shameful/embarrassing (memalukan in Bahasa), students are randomly allocated to one of two conditions: 1) no information (control group); 2) information about the true beliefs held in a group of alumni and active civil servants with respect to the extent to which engaging in corrupt behavior is perceived to be either shameful. We cross-randomize whether students receive information related to the relevant whistleblower protection legislation for civil servants. Finally, we further cross-randomize whether we introduce a garbling methodology when eliciting students' observations of corrupt behavior in the past.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomisation done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
We will randomize treatment status at the individual level, stratifying treatment by the faculty in which students are enrolled and by students' region of origin.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
Randomization is at the individual level.
Sample size: planned number of observations
We will invite the entire cohort of final-year students of the civil service college to participate in an online survey during which we will administer the above survey experiment. The cohort consists of approximately 1100 students. We expect a 75 percent response rate for a total number of observations of (approximately) 825.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
We will randomly assign one-half of our sample to each of the main treatment conditions described above. We thus expect approximately 410 students per experimental condition.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of Indonesia - KEP LPEM
IRB Approval Date
2024-03-19
IRB Approval Number
N/A
Analysis Plan

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