Misguided Job Search

Trial Information

General Information

Title

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0016590

Initial registration date

August 23, 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

August 25, 2025, 8:48 AM EDT

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

Malte Jacob Rattenborg

Affiliation

University of Copenhagen

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2025-08-25

End date

2026-02-28

Keywords

Behavior, Labor

Additional Keywords

Job Search, Unemployment, Learning, Expectations, Overconfidence

JEL code(s)

J64, D83, D84, D91

Secondary IDs

Prior work

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

Abstract

In this study, I examine job seekers' subjective beliefs about their personal abilities, the state of the labor market and job-finding probabilities. Embedded in an online survey with unemployed workers in Denmark, I (i) repeatedly elicit subjective beliefs, and (ii) examine how subjective beliefs influence job search behavior and expectations about re-employment.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Rattenborg, Malte Jacob. 2025. "Misguided Job Search." AEA RCT Registry. August 25. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.16590-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

Interventions

Intervention(s)

I provide randomly assigned job seekers with information about their performance on a recruitment assessment, providing them with tailored information on their abilities.

Intervention Start Date

2025-08-25

Intervention End Date

2025-09-29

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

(i) Job seekers' beliefs, e.g., about their personal abilities, the state of the labor market, own offered wages and job-finding prospects, and planned job search behavior measured in the survey, e.g., their search effort, reservation wages and willingness to make concessions.
(ii) Job seekers' search activities on the online platform of the Danish public employment service (jobnet.dk) measured through click-by-click data, e.g., the frequency of logins, searches for vacancies and the "types'' of jobs targeted in the vacancy database.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

The randomly provided information allows me to study the causal effect of feedback on personal performance on beliefs and behaviors in the job search context.

Experimental Design Details

Not available

Randomization Method

Computerized via oTree.

Randomization Unit

Individual

Was the treatment clustered?

No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

I invite 90,263 eligible individuals via their official government digital mailbox ("e-boks''). This entails all unemployed individuals in Denmark according to the definition above, excluding 5000 individuals who were contacted for a pilot study. The invitation is accompanied by at least one reminder to maximize participation. Based on prior survey experience in similar populations, I anticipate a response rate of 10–15%, yielding an expected baseline sample size in the range of 9,000 to 13,500.

Sample size: planned number of observations

I invite 90,263 eligible individuals via their official government digital mailbox ("e-boks''). This entails all unemployed individuals in Denmark according to the definition above, excluding 5000 individuals who were contacted for a pilot study. The invitation is accompanied by at least one reminder to maximize participation. Based on prior survey experience in similar populations, I anticipate a response rate of 10–15%, yielding an expected baseline sample size in the range of 9,000 to 13,500.

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

After screening those who have accepted an offer, I allocate the respondents randomly into a control group or an ability-information treatment with equal probability. I expect to end up with around 5000 observations in each group.

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

Supporting Documents and Materials

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IRB