Cultural Foundations of Socially Responsible Behavior

Last registered on January 27, 2025

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Cultural Foundations of Socially Responsible Behavior

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0015202

Initial registration date

January 24, 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

January 27, 2025, 10:13 AM EST

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

Locations

Country

Spain

Region

Country

Sweden

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Iker Arregui-Alegria

Affiliation

Lund University

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Roel van Veldhuizen

PI Affiliation

Lund University

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Gunes Gokmen

PI Affiliation

Lund University

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2025-01-27

End date

2025-02-10

Keywords

Behavior

Additional Keywords

Culture, Markets

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

How persistent are social norms when they interact with market incentives? We conduct a laboratory experiment to examine socially responsible market behavior in environments where social norms regarding responsible actions are not uniformly shared among all market participants. By introducing public discourse separately among sellers or buyers, we analyze the causal impact of asymmetric public discourse on socially responsible behavior. Our findings will provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of targeted campaigns aimed at promoting responsible market behavior—specifically, whether engaging only one side of the market, either suppliers or consumers. Additionally, the study evaluates whether comprehensive campaigns that involve both sides of the market are necessary to foster meaningful and sustained behavioral change.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Arregui-Alegria, Iker, Gunes Gokmen and Roel van Veldhuizen. 2025. "Cultural Foundations of Socially Responsible Behavior." AEA RCT Registry. January 27. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15202-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

See design section below

Intervention (Hidden)

See design section below

Intervention Start Date

2025-01-27

Intervention End Date

2025-02-10

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

The primary outcome variable will be a binary indicator that equals 1 if a socially responsible product is traded and 0 if a harmful product is traded. We exclude observations where no purchase is made.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Refer to the PAP attached

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Refer to the PAP attached

Experimental Design

Our experiment involves a multi-round product market game in which participants, assigned to the roles of either sellers or buyers, trade two types of products: a socially responsible product and a "harmful" product. We conduct a 2x2 design that varies whether (a) sellers and (b) buyers can chat with other market participants prior to the first round.

Experimental Design Details

Our experiment involves a product market game in which participants, assigned to the roles of either sellers or buyers, trade two types of products: a low-cost product that generates a negative externality by reducing a donation fund and a high-cost product that is socially responsible and imposes no harm on the donation. Sellers act first, deciding whether to produce the low-cost, harmful product or the high-cost, socially responsible product, and then setting a price. Buyers then decide which product to purchase or whether to abstain from buying altogether. Each market comprises seven participants—four sellers and three buyers.

Prior to the start of the market game and before their roles as sellers or buyers are revealed, some participants within each market will engage in a chat discussion about the socially responsible course of action in the game. During this discussion, they will deliberate on the social appropriateness of trading the socially responsible product. Afterward, participants will individually rate how “socially appropriate” or “socially inappropriate” they perceive trading the product that has no effect on the donation. In an incentive-compatible manner, participants will also predict how they believe others in the experiment answered the same question. Once these steps are completed, participants are informed of their roles as sellers or buyers, and the market game begins. The game consists of 24 rounds.

In our experiment, participants are randomly assigned to a chat discussion before the market game begins. By using a 2x2 between-subjects design, we vary whether (a) sellers and (b) buyers can chat with other market participants prior to the first round. This results in four treatment conditions:
(i) No Discourse: neither side of the market can chat.
(ii) Full Discourse: both sides of the market can chat with everyone else.
(iii) Seller-Only Discourse: sellers can chat with sellers.
(iv) Buyer-Only Discourse: buyers can chat with buyers.
This design enables us to explore how different forms of discourse influence market outcomes and individual behavior.

For our analysis, we will consider all subject responses as valid, unless otherwise specified in the following sections.

For more details, please refer to the PAP attached

Randomization Method

By a computer: O-tree

Randomization Unit

Individuals are randomly assigned their role as sellers and buyers. Then, individuals are randomly assigned to markets composed of 4 sellers and 3 buyers. Each market is then randomly assigned their treatment condition.

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

Clusters at the market level: 72 markets

Sample size: planned number of observations

504 participants: 72 markets consisting of 216 buyers and 288 sellers. Each market consists of 4 sellers and 3 buyers

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

We will have four treatments:
- No Discourse: 18 markets and 126 participants
- Full Discourse: 18 markets and 126 participants
- Sellers-only Discourse: 18 markets and 126 participants
- Buyers-only Discourse: 18 markets and 126 participants

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

With the intended sample size, we have a power greater than 0.8 to detect effect sizes of 17pp. For more details refer to the PAP attached

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB