| Field | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Field Abstract | Before We conducted a randomized field experiment in which an entrepreneur reached out to high-skilled prospective employees regarding a job opening. The gender of the co-founders was randomly altered. We aim to test whether high-skill employees exhibit a differential response rate to a meeting request from a female entrepreneur. Our pilot, which ran in March 2024, indicates that high-skill employees are 50% less likely to respond to a female entrepreneur. To identify the mechanism, we primed a subset of applicants with a newsletter from an unrelated non-profit organization, sent a few days before the entrepreneur’s outreach. The newsletter provided information on large initiatives aimed at supporting female entrepreneurs with venture capital funding. In the pilot, this intervention completely eliminated the observed discriminatory behavior. Our results support a theory in which applicants internalize the discrimination of other market participants that might affect the successful outcomes of entrepreneurs. We submitted our AEA registry after the field experiment concluded because we were concerned that participants could learn about the study while it was still taking place. Given how easily information can diffuse on social media and the political divide on topics like discrimination, we feared there was a small chance our project could become publicly visible before it began. We understand that a post-registration might raise concerns about adapting our hypotheses post-experiment, but to demonstrate that our hypotheses were established well before data collection began in March 2025, we highlight three facts: 1. The original IRB application, initially submitted on October 16, 2023, and approved on October 23, 2023, clearly stated our core hypothesis (workers discriminate against female entrepreneurs). In January 2025, we amended that application to incorporate the priming treatment that identifies the mechanism through which workers discriminate against female entrepreneurs. 2. From Feburary 8, 2024 to March 22, 2024 and from November 27, 2024 to December 12, 2024, we ran two pilots in which we (i) tested whether workers discriminate against female entrepreneurs, and (ii) assessed whether priming participants with information about venture-capital initiatives supporting female entrepreneurs reduces that bias. The full experiment followed the pilots precisely. 3. We shared these pilot findings (workers discriminate against female founders, and priming applicants with a newsletter reduces this bias) throughout 2024 to solicit feedback and confirm our theoretical framework: - University College Dublin Seminar – February 29, 2024 - Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN) Seminar – March 13, 2024 - Chicago Entrepreneurship Workshop – June 7, 2024 - University of Melbourne Seminar – November 7, 2024 These steps confirm that our hypotheses were specified prior to the field experiment. We postponed the AEA registration not to adapt our hypotheses post-experiment, but only to maintain the experiment’s validity. | After We conducted a randomized field experiment in which an entrepreneur reached out to high-skilled prospective employees regarding a job opening. The gender of the co-founders was randomly altered. We aim to test whether high-skill employees exhibit a differential response rate to a meeting request from a female entrepreneur. Our pilot, which ran in March 2024, indicates that high-skill employees are 50% less likely to respond to a female entrepreneur. To identify the mechanism, we primed a subset of applicants with a newsletter from an unrelated non-profit organization, sent a few days before the entrepreneur’s outreach. The newsletter provided information on large initiatives aimed at supporting female entrepreneurs with venture capital funding. In the pilot, this intervention completely eliminated the observed discriminatory behavior. Our results support a theory in which applicants internalize the discrimination of other market participants that might affect the successful outcomes of entrepreneurs. We submitted our AEA registry after the field experiment concluded because we were concerned that participants could learn about the study while it was still taking place. Given how easily information can diffuse on social media and the divide on topics like discrimination, we feared there was a small chance our project could become publicly visible before it began. While low-risk, in the current environment, this possibility is not negligible. We only learned after submitting the registration that AEA provides an option to keep the registration private, and the authors can decide when to make it public. We understand that a post-registration might raise concerns about adapting our hypotheses post-experiment, but to demonstrate that our hypotheses were established well before data collection began in March 2025, we highlight three facts: 1. The original IRB application, initially submitted on October 16, 2023, and approved on October 23, 2023, clearly stated our core hypothesis (workers discriminate against female entrepreneurs). In January 2025, we amended that application to incorporate the priming treatment that identifies the mechanism through which workers discriminate against female entrepreneurs. The IRB applications are attached to this registration. 2. From Feburary 8, 2024 to March 22, 2024 and from November 27, 2024 to December 12, 2024, we ran two pilots in which we (i) tested whether workers discriminate against female entrepreneurs, and (ii) assessed whether priming participants with information about venture-capital initiatives supporting female entrepreneurs reduces that bias. The full experiment followed the pilots precisely. We describe the pilot below. 3. We shared these pilot findings (workers discriminate against female founders, and priming applicants with a newsletter reduces this bias) throughout 2024 to solicit feedback and confirm our theoretical framework: - University College Dublin Seminar – February 29, 2024 - Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN) Seminar – March 13, 2024 - Chicago Entrepreneurship Workshop – June 7, 2024 - University of Melbourne Seminar – November 7, 2024 We attached below the presentation slides at Chicago Entrepreneurship Workshop. These steps confirm that our hypotheses were specified prior to the field experiment. We postponed the AEA registration not to adapt our hypotheses post-experiment, but only to maintain the experiment’s validity. |
| Field Trial End Date | Before April 25, 2025 | After June 01, 2025 |
| Field Last Published | Before July 25, 2025 11:00 AM | After April 29, 2026 10:29 PM |
| Field Public analysis plan | Before No | After Yes |
| Field | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Field Document | Before |
After
Analysis Plan.docx
MD5:
b1338059ba7973097890dd3ca73827a1
SHA1:
fd52f334f700eb436703e8e1a46bc3b14f0c1ab4
|
| Field Title | Before | After Pilot - Analysis Plan |
| Field | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Field Document Name | Before | After IRB_CUHKSZ-D-20230021_Oct2023 |
| Field File | Before |
After
IRB_CUHKSZ-D-20230021_Oct2023.pdf
MD5:
a43cc88f8be4f7e648e69181e60a26fb
SHA1:
4492e4fc82bc614389ad49bee4187be65f501f33
|
| Field Description | Before | After This is the original IRB application, approved on October 23, 2023. |
| Field Public | Before | After Yes |
| Field | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Field Document Name | Before | After IRB_CUHKSZ-D-20230021_Amendment_Jan2025 |
| Field File | Before |
After
IRB_CUHKSZ-D-20230021_Amendment_Jan2025.pdf
MD5:
b5d51cd19e22d174f81d64baeae4a009
SHA1:
2591b0d259cca7b6df47803bb7ab2841fa0b10d7
|
| Field Description | Before | After This is the amendment to the original IRB application. The amendment was approved on January 21, 2025. |
| Field Public | Before | After Yes |
| Field | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Field Document Name | Before | After Presentation slides at the Chicago Entrepreneurship Workshop |
| Field Custom Type | Before | After Presentation slides |
| Field File | Before |
After
Chicago_Entrepreneurship_June_2024.pdf
MD5:
2c0a4f3985609e5a705bbe936513eddf
SHA1:
a394c86678bee896d5b9d6fdfe7bfe344cea9b4e
|
| Field Description | Before | After To further demonstrate that our experimental setting and analysis were established prior to the main experiment, we provide slides from a presentation delivered at the Chicago Entrepreneurship Workshop on June 7, 2024. The workshop was organized by Joan Farre-Mensa (UIC) and Filippo Mezzanotti (Northwestern-Kellogg). The presentation outlines our experimental procedure, including the priming intervention, and reports results from our initial pilot study. Specifically, it presents analyses of the average response gap, along with heterogeneity by applicant gender, university quality, and major. It also reports the effects of the priming intervention for the full sample, as well as heterogeneous effects by applicant gender. |
| Field Public | Before | After Yes |