Encouraging employees to submit ideas: creating psychological safety in written communication

Last registered on May 30, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Encouraging employees to submit ideas: creating psychological safety in written communication
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0016093
Initial registration date
May 28, 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
May 30, 2025, 10:05 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Germany
Region
North Rhine Westphalia

Primary Investigator

Name
Eva Klein
Affiliation
Paderborn University
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-06-02
End date
2025-07-01
Keywords
Firms & Productivity
Additional Keywords
Behavior
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
With this field experiment in a medium-sized german company we want to study whether a change in written communication, intended to make employees feel more psychologically safe, improves the number of ideas they submit in an online form.

















External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Klein, Eva. 2025. "Encouraging employees to submit ideas: creating psychological safety in written communication." AEA RCT Registry. May 30. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.16093-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
There are two treatments. In both, employees recieve a letter containing an encouragement to submit ideas or suggestions for improvemement for the company via an online form. In one treatment, the letter is written neutrally, in the other treatment, the letter contains a message that is supposed to induce employees to feel more safe.
Intervention (Hidden)
The letter that is supposed to induce feelings of psychological safety includes the message „It is important to us that all employees feel safe“, and that answers are going to be "treated with appreciation".
Intervention Start Date
2025-06-02
Intervention End Date
2025-06-17

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Number of of ideas submitted
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Reported psychological safety
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Psychological safety is measured via survey questions using the established scale of Edmondson (1999)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
In one german medium-sized company 527 employees recieve a letter asking them to submit ideas on innovation and potentials for improvement within the company. They recieve either the neutral message or the one supposed to induce feelings of psychological safety at random. The number of ideas they submit in an online form (via QR code contained in the letter) are measured and compared between both groups. All employees additionally recieve another letter 4 days later inviting them to participate in the survey on psychological safety.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization is done with an excel random number generator
Randomization Unit
Randomization on individual level
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
527 employees
Sample size: planned number of observations
527 employees
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
263/264 employees
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
German Association for Experimental Economic Research e.V.
IRB Approval Date
2025-05-28
IRB Approval Number
pAWiYfRM
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