Information vs. Perceptions: Experimental Evidence on the Determinants of Female Career Aspirations

Last registered on October 23, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Information vs. Perceptions: Experimental Evidence on the Determinants of Female Career Aspirations
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0016679
Initial registration date
October 20, 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
October 23, 2025, 7:12 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
Sara Linjawi
Affiliation
University of Bath
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-10-27
End date
2027-10-31
Keywords
Gender, Labor
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Despite the remarkable progress that has been achieved in female labour market outcomes within the last half century, significant gender gaps persist in terms of labour-supply, earnings & representation in top jobs. This research project aims to evaluate the extent to which: (i) information gaps about the labour market; and (ii) misperceptions about peer expectations influence young female labour market entrants’ expectations about their future labour supply and career progression. To achieve this, it aims to conduct a randomized information experiment embedded in an original survey of female university students. The experimental design of this survey will involve randomly providing some students with either “objective” or “social” information to isolate the causal effect of each type of information on their labour market aspirations. Moreover, it aims to explore how these expectations may change when conditionally elicited on a set of hypothetical scenarios concerning marriage and childbirth.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Linjawi , Sara. 2025. "Information vs. Perceptions: Experimental Evidence on the Determinants of Female Career Aspirations." AEA RCT Registry. October 23. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.16679-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The information experiment will be conducted through an original survey of female university students. The experimental part of the survey will experimentally elicit students’ beliefs about their future labour market expectations. This will be administered under two main survey blocks, which will involve tailored information treatments for each of the family of outcomes of interest (i.e. one concerning labour supply and the other focusing on career progression). Moreover, students’ expectations will be conditionally elicited under a set of specific and relevant vignettes concerning marriage and childbirth to examine the perceived effects of childbirth on the students’ labour supply and career expectations.
Intervention Start Date
2025-10-27
Intervention End Date
2026-06-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
• Expected probability of working full-time (under different hypothetical scenarios)
• Expected probability of working part-time (under different hypothetical scenarios)
• Expected probability of reaching a managerial position (under different hypothetical scenarios)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
• Expected probability of being self-employed
• Expected probability of working remotely or flexible hours
• Expected probability of working in a male dominated field
• Preferences for different job attributes (i.e. flexible working hours, job security, potential career growth, potential earnings growth, female dominated), which will be measured as relative weights from 100
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The experimental part of the survey will follow a between-subject design and consist of three main stages. In the first stage, students’ second-order beliefs (i.e. population beliefs) about the labour supply and career expectations of their female university peers will be elicited. In the second stage, students will be randomly assigned through the online survey platform to one of three groups: a control group or two possible treatment groups. The first treatment arm will provide “objective” information (i.e. labour market statistics), while the second arm will provide “social” information (i.e. peers’ beliefs about their future labour supply and career progression under different scenarios). In the third stage, students’ first-order beliefs (i.e. self-beliefs) about their future intended labour supply and career progression expectations will be elicited. This experimental design will be administered under each of the two main survey blocks described above.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization will be achieved through Qualtrics, the online survey platform.
Randomization Unit
Individual (i.e. student-level)
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
The project aims to achieve a sample size of approximately 2,100 students.
Sample size: planned number of observations
The project aims to achieve a sample size of approximately 2,100 students.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
The project will employ equal allocation between experimental groups and aims to collect responses from approximately 700 students in the control group and 700 student responses in each of the two treatment groups.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
The planned sample size was determined using a conservative power analysis approach with no underlying specifying assumptions. Drawing on the existing literature, the results indicate that a sample size of approximately 2,097 (≈ 699 per treatment arm) is required to detect a treatment effect of 15% of 1 standard deviation at the 5% significance level with 80% power. However, based on empirical estimates from a pilot study (n = 122), a sample size of 1,269 (≈ 423 per treatment arm) would achieve the same 80% power to detect an MDE of 0.15 standard effect at the 5% significance level. In accordance with this, the project will aim to recruit at least 1,300 students and if feasible, up to 2,100 students to ensure that the study is not underpowered.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of Bath Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee
IRB Approval Date
2024-12-16
IRB Approval Number
4999-9380
IRB Name
Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University (PNU) Institutional Review Board
IRB Approval Date
2025-04-22
IRB Approval Number
25-0174
Analysis Plan