How Social Comparisons Affect Working Hours Decisions

Last registered on October 07, 2024

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
How Social Comparisons Affect Working Hours Decisions
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0014507
Initial registration date
October 03, 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
October 07, 2024, 7:18 PM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
University of Duisburg-Essen

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Macroeconomic Policy Institute
PI Affiliation
University of Duisburg-Essen

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2024-10-01
End date
2024-10-11
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
After over a century of decreasing working hours, weekly working hours stagnated for full-time and part-time employees in Germany in the 1990s and 2000s. We introduce social comparisons into the explanation of this trend and explore how rising wage inequality and social comparisons (in income and leisure time) affect working hours decisions.

We conduct a survey experiment employing a between-subjects design with a representative sample of full- and part-time employees in Germany. Participants are randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups or the control group. The first treatment group is asked to think about the advantages of having more money than others. The second treatment group is asked to think about the advantages of having more leisure time than others. The third treatment group is informed about increasing wage inequality in Germany. The control group receives no additional information or question. Next, we ask all participants to indicate how many hours per week they would like to work if their earnings were to change accordingly.

Our experimental design allows us to identify the causal effects of the primes (income advantages, leisure advantages and wage inequality) on desired working hours and to investigate heterogenous effects between socio-demographic groups and by social comparison orientation and attitudes.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Behringer, Jan , Till van Treeck and Zarah Westrich. 2024. "How Social Comparisons Affect Working Hours Decisions ." AEA RCT Registry. October 07. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.14507-1.0
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2024-10-01
Intervention End Date
2024-10-11

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Desired working hours
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The survey experiment is part of a survey of 5000 full-time and part-time employees between the ages of 18 and 65 in Germany. The sample is representative in terms of age, gender, federal state, full or part-time employment and net household income.

We conduct a survey experiment employing a between-subjects design. Participants are randomly assigned to one of the three treatment groups or the control group, resulting in 1250 participants per group. The first treatment group is asked to think about the advantages of having more money than others. The second treatment group is asked to think about the advantages of having more leisure time than others. The third treatment group is informed about increasing wage inequality in Germany and how this could translate into differences in living standards. The control group receives no additional information or question. Next, we ask all participants to indicate how many hours per week they would like to work if their wages were to change accordingly. Finally, the third treatment group is asked about their confidence in the information provided. Our experimental design allows us to identify the causal effects of the primes (income advantages, leisure advantages and wage inequality) on desired working hours.

As part of the wider survey, questions are asked about employment, working conditions, attitudes, and socio-demographic characteristics. These additional questions allow us to examine differences between socio-demographic groups and by social comparison orientation and attitudes.
Experimental Design Details
Main Hypotheses:
1) The income treatment group specifies a higher number of hours as the number of desired working hours than the control group.
2) The leisure treatment group specifies a lower number as the desired number of working hours than the control group.
3) The inequality treatment group specifies a higher number of hours as the desired number of working hours than the control group.
4) The effect is stronger for the income treatment than for the leisure time treatment.
5) Sensitivity to treatment differs according to characteristics, such as gender, age, income
attitudes towards work, social comparisons, etc.
Randomization Method
Done by survey institute
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
0
Sample size: planned number of observations
5000
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
1250
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Ethics Committee, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Duisburg-Essen
IRB Approval Date
2024-08-26
IRB Approval Number
N/A

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