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Social Norm, Work Location Arrangements, and Women’s Decision to Work

Last registered on July 25, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Social Norm, Work Location Arrangements, and Women’s Decision to Work
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0014176
Initial registration date
July 19, 2025

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
July 25, 2025, 11:33 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
RITWIK BANERJEE
Affiliation
Indian Institute of Management Bangalore
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Matthias Sutter
PI Affiliation
Max Plank Institute Bonn
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-07-20
End date
2026-12-31
Keywords
Behavior, Gender, Labor
Additional Keywords
Social Norm, Female labor force participation rate, Remote work
JEL code(s)
J0, J16, O1
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Female labour force participation rates (FLFP) in India remain substantially lower than global averages and those of similarly positioned countries. This study examines the role of social norms—a key supply-side factor—in declining female labour force participation in Haryana, India. We investigate how these social norms are gendered and how they vary based on women's personal characteristics, specifically marital and parental status, as well as job location. The study further analyzes how making social norms salient influences the probability of job applications.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
BANERJEE, RITWIK and Matthias Sutter. 2025. "Social Norm, Work Location Arrangements, and Women’s Decision to Work." AEA RCT Registry. July 25. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.14176-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2025-07-21
Intervention End Date
2026-07-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The study will be conducted in two phases: phase 1 and phase 2. Below we mention the primary outcomes for Phase 1 of our study.

Personal norm measures of both husband and wife
Social norm measures of both husband and wife


Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We conduct a lab-in-the-field experiment with married couples in urban Haryana for the Phase 1 of our study. We design vignettes featuring a fictitious female character in various circumstances to elicit norms surrounding her employment decisions. We randomize three key factors: the location of her job being offered, her marital/parental status, and her chances of getting the job. In each vignette, the character accepts the job offer. We measure both personal and social norms regarding her decision to accept employment across different treatment conditions.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
The data collection protocol will be embedded in Qualtrics, and Qualtrics will implement the randomization using its own randomization algorithm.
Randomization Unit
Randomization is at the level of a married couple, but responses of the husband and the wife are independently recorded.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
We plan to conduct the study with 300 couples. Since the randomization will be at the couple level, couples form our clusters.
Sample size: planned number of observations
Phase 1 Sample size: 300 married couples, or 600 individuals. Phase 2 Since Phase 2 is contingent on the Phase 1 results, the details of the sample size in Phase 2 will be pre-registered as a modification of this trial.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Three hundred couples will be randomly assigned to one of the 18 treatments, resulting in a sample size of 16 couples or 32 individuals per treatment. Treatment comparisons will be conducted one dimension at a time (e.g., when comparing norms from WFO to norms from WFH, the three sub-treatments with variations in marital/parental status and likelihood of getting a job will be combined before comparison). Therefore, for treatment comparisons, the relevant sample size in each comparison is 300/3 = 100 couples or 200 individuals.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Ethics Council of the Max Planck Society
IRB Approval Date
2024-12-17
IRB Approval Number
2018_3 – Renewal 2024_28
Analysis Plan

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