Incentivizing Training Investments

Last registered on February 05, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Incentivizing Training Investments
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0015290
Initial registration date
February 03, 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
February 05, 2025, 9:15 AM EST

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
Simon Maximilian Lübke
Affiliation
University of Cologne
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Dirk Sliwka
PI Affiliation
University of Cologne
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PI Name
Leonhard Grabe
PI Affiliation
University of Cologne
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-02-03
End date
2025-06-12
Keywords
Behavior, Firms & Productivity, Labor
Additional Keywords
training, incentives, learning
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
In a field experiment among workers in medium-sized firms, we examine whether the provision of monetary incentives to engage with a learning platform increases participation and improves subsequent performance. We compare learning participation and subsequent performance of service employees between a control group and two incentive groups which introduce a monetary incentive for either simply accessing at least one learning stage on the learning platform or by completing specific learning topics consisting of several stages. We evaluate whether the incentive leads to increased engagement with the platform and more learning participation and whether this translates into measurable improvements in performance.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Grabe, Leonhard , Simon Maximilian Lübke and Dirk Sliwka. 2025. "Incentivizing Training Investments." AEA RCT Registry. February 05. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15290-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The provision of monetary incentives for employees to engage with the online learning platform.

Control Group: No incentives; employees continue their normal activities.
Treatment Group One: Employees receive a bonus for accessing at least one stage of a learning topic.
Treatment Group Two: Employees receive the same bonus as in Treatment One, but only if they complete all stages of a topic.

The intervention lasts for eight weeks, during which employees can earn bonuses for every learning topic assigned to them.
Intervention Start Date
2025-02-03
Intervention End Date
2025-05-05

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Access to at least one learning stage in a learning topic
Access to all learning stages in a learning topic
Completion rate of learning topics
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
We compute the respective access rate by averaging the above outcomes across all learning topics allocated to an employee during the treatment time frame.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Performance outcomes such as task completion times
Primary Outcomes after the end of the experiment period
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Our sample consists of several small to medium-sized technical service firms, which are active on behalf of a large multinational company that distributes technical products and services (hereinafter referred to as MultiCo). We implement a bonus for randomly selected service employees. The main task of these employees is to provide technical services to end customers (i.e. solve technical issues with the services or products of MultiCo). Service employees in the two treatment groups receive a monetary incentive for being active on an online learning platform that is operated by MultiCo. The learning platform assigns different learning topics to the service employees and these topics consist of several learning stages (with varying numbers of stages depending on the topic). Treatment group one receives a bonus for accessing at least one learning stage in a topic, while treatment group two needs to complete all learning stages of the topic to receive the bonus. As the intervention period is eight weeks, employees can receive the bonus for every learning topic they are assigned to during this time.
All information regarding the experiment will be sent out by MultiCo.
We apply a stratified randomization procedure based on firm and prior participation in the learning platform.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Via computer, python script for stratified randomization
Randomization Unit
stratified by: firm, past incidence of being allocated to at least one learning topic, past access to at least one learning stage in a learning topic; 121 strata
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
2340 employees
Sample size: planned number of observations
2340 employees
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
780
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Ethical Review Board Faculty of Management, Economics, And Social Sciences
IRB Approval Date
2025-01-23
IRB Approval Number
240075DS
Analysis Plan