Religion and social behavior

Last registered on September 26, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Religion and social behavior
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0016858
Initial registration date
September 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
September 26, 2025, 8:25 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Kenya
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Julie Chytilova
Affiliation
Charles University and CERGE-EI
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Michal Bauer
PI Affiliation
CERGE-EI and Charles University
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Winnie Njoroge
PI Affiliation
CERGE-EI
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-09-25
End date
2026-02-28
Keywords
Behavior
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We plan to implement an online survey among respondents in Kenya. The survey builds on the findings from a previous data collection in which we find strong positive relationship between religious leaders’ and congregants’ preferences (pro-sociality and behavior towards people with different religious affiliations) and substantial heterogeneity across individual church communities – some are tolerant and some do discriminate. The new survey will focus on estimating the influence of leaders. We will elicit attitudes and controlled measures of social behavior to people from different religious groups and randomize whether the respondents answer the survey before or after a sermon, in which their religious leader will focus on the topic of social behavior and inter-group tolerance.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Bauer, Michal, Julie Chytilova and Winnie Njoroge. 2025. "Religion and social behavior." AEA RCT Registry. September 26. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.16858-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Not available at this moment.
Intervention (Hidden)
First, in each participating church, half of the congregants will be randomly assigned to the Before and the other half to the After experimental condition (before or after a sermon focusing on social behavior and tolerance). Second, we will experimentally manipulate the religious affiliation of recipients in a money allocation task, of NGOs in a donation task, and of people described in survey questions measuring attitudes. We aim to compare behavior and attitudes to people with different religious affiliations (Christian, Muslim, non-religious) before and after the sermon.

Intervention Start Date
2025-10-05
Intervention End Date
2026-02-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
(i) Allocations in a money allocation task to recipients with different religious affiliation (Christian, Muslim, non-religious), (ii) donations to an NGO (Christian, Muslim), (iii) answers in a set of questions aiming to measure attitudes to people with different religious affiliation (Christian, Muslim, non-religious).
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Not available at this moment.
Experimental Design Details
The experiment will be implemented online. We will recruit a sample of congregants from several large Christian churches in Kenya. We will randomize whether the respondents answer the survey before or after a sermon focusing on social behavior and tolerance (between-subject design). In the money allocation task, participants will make a decision affecting a Christian, a Muslim or a non-religious recipient (within-subject design). In another task, they will decide about donation to a Christian and a Muslim NGO (within-subject design). In a set of survey question, they will provide answers about their attitudes to Christians, Muslims and non-religious people (within-subject design). The tasks/questions will be presented in a random order.

Randomization Method
The experimental conditions will be implemented between-subject (participation before or after a sermon focusing on social behavior and tolerance) and randomized in Stata and implemented within-subject (money allocation task, donation decisions, survey questions on attitudes) and randomized in Qualtrics.
Randomization Unit
The experimental conditions will be implemented between-subject at the individual level (time of participation) and within-subject (money allocation task, donation decisions, survey questions).
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
Approximately 2,000 individuals (depending on participation rate in individual churches), congregants of several large Christian churches in Kenya, adults. All congregants will be invited to participate.
Sample size: planned number of observations
Approximately 2,000 individuals (depending on participation rate in individual churches), congregants of several large Christian churches in Kenya, adults. All congregants will be invited to participate.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Half of the total sample (approximately 1,000) will participate earlier (before sermon) and half (approximately 1,000) later (after sermon) in time. All respondents (approximately 2,000) will make decision in all three money allocation tasks, two donation tasks and a set of questions on attitudes.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Commission for Ethics in Research of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University
IRB Approval Date
2025-08-25
IRB Approval Number
221
IRB Name
National Commission for Science Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI)
IRB Approval Date
2025-09-10
IRB Approval Number
NACOSTI/P/25/4179256
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