Gender gap in apologies: round 2

Last registered on September 12, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Gender gap in apologies: round 2
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0014319
Initial registration date
September 06, 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
September 12, 2024, 5:56 PM 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
Lily Liu
Affiliation
Stanford University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Marshall Mo
PI Affiliation
Stanford University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2024-09-06
End date
2024-12-31
Keywords
Behavior, Gender, Labor
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.
Abstract
This project studies the gender gap in apologies and its consequences in the labor market. We hypothesize that women are more likely to apologize relative to men with similar performances. Apologies could be seen as a signal of incompetence which might hold women back in the labor market. We first document whether women apologize more frequently in a controlled setting and explore the reasons behind the gender apology gap. Second, we study whether employers infer lower ability from apologies and therefore promote women less. This project proposes a novel explanation of the gender promotion gap and suggests potential interventions to address this problem.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Liu, Lily and Marshall Mo. 2024. "Gender gap in apologies: round 2." AEA RCT Registry. September 12. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.14319-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2024-09-06
Intervention End Date
2024-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Apology messages from the worker experiment; promotion decisions and ability inferences from the employer experiment
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Beliefs and predictions from workers and employers
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We will recruit a gender-balanced sample of respondents from Prolific, who will be randomly assigned to the roles of "worker" or "employer."
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization is done by a computer
Randomization Unit
Individual level
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
The design is not clustered.
Sample size: planned number of observations
We plan to recruit 1000 workers and 500 employers in total.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Baseline and Non-strategic treatment each has 500 workers and 250 employers.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Stanford University
IRB Approval Date
2022-10-28
IRB Approval Number
42264
Analysis Plan