Executive diversity and shareholder trading

Last registered on November 15, 2024
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Executive diversity and shareholder trading
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0014610
Initial registration date
November 08, 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
November 15, 2024, 1:41 PM EST

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

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Olga Rud
Affiliation
University of Stavanger
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Jean Paul Rabanal
PI Affiliation
University of Stavanger
PI Name
Bernt Arne Ødegaard
PI Affiliation
University of Stavanger
PI Name
Lata Gangadharan
PI Affiliation
Monash University

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2024-11-09
End date
2025-11-30
Keywords
Behavior, Finance & Microfinance, Gender, Governance
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
C90, D90, G40, G34, G10, J16
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We study whether shareholders have different perspectives on leadership (board / manager, 'BM' hereafter) diversity, and if these beliefs correctly represent the actions of the BM. For this purpose, we propose an environment where market participants can trade shares of a firm, whose value depends on the decisions made by the BM earlier. Market participants do not know what decision was made, and act on the belief of what the BM might have done.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Gangadharan, Lata et al. 2024. "Executive diversity and shareholder trading ." AEA RCT Registry. November 15. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.14610-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2024-11-09
Intervention End Date
2025-11-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Gender differences in: bids, task outcomes, belief measures, attitudes towards women.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Our experiment will study how market participants react to the gender of the manager between treatments (M/F), and to the gender quota of the board (quota/no quota).
Experimental Design Details
In this experiment, a participant can either be a potential shareholder or a manager/board member (BM hereafter). The role assignment is random.

BM participants will complete a task, which determines the share value of the firm, and therefore affects the payoff to the shareholders. They complete the task for themselves, and for the shareholders, and the order will be randomized.

Shareholders will see a description of the decision that the BM had to make, and a brief description of the BM (e.g. the manager of the firm is a woman that was recruited from the United States). The shareholders will then be asked what they think the BM decided (they do not know what decision was made), and to submit a price at which they are indifferent between being a buyer or a seller. The market price is selected as the median of all submitted bids. After the shareholder submits their bids, they also have an opportunity to do the same task as the BM.

The payoff to the shareholder is randomly determined by either the trading decision in the previous section or the task performance. When completing the task, the shareholder does not have information on their market performance.

The treatments include varying BM composition: manager v. board, and gender.

For shareholders, they will see a decision either by the manager or or the board (gender composition of the board will be varied).




Randomization Method
Subjects are recruited by Prolific. They do not know what experiment/treatment they are selected into prior to participation.
Randomization Unit
Individual and groups of 3 for BM, and markets for shareholders.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
The treatment is at individual level: whether and how the shareholder reacts to a woman manager and board composition.
Sample size: planned number of observations
Minimum of 130 of each gender for BM (260) and 250 shareholders (75*4, where each group will face either man or women, and quota/no quota).
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
130 men and 130 women for BM;
75 shareholders matched with either a man/woman/quota/no quota board
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee
IRB Approval Date
2024-10-29
IRB Approval Number
44919
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