Performance under moderation or leadership

Last registered on October 06, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Performance under moderation or leadership
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0016886
Initial registration date
October 06, 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 06, 2025, 3:35 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Germany
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Eva Klein
Affiliation
Paderborn University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Wendelin Schnedler
PI Affiliation
Paderborn University
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-10-13
End date
2025-10-16
Keywords
Behavior, Firms & Productivity
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
With this experiment (PALAP), we want to study the effect of two different leadership styles on performance in small teams. More specifically, we want to explore whether a team with a leader, whose role is described as a moderator and who seeks joint solution, fares better than one which has a more traditional leader
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Klein, Eva and Wendelin Schnedler. 2025. "Performance under moderation or leadership." AEA RCT Registry. October 06. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.16886-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
There are two treatments. In both treatments, small teams are prompted to elect a person to guide them trough a task. In the moderator treatment, teams elect a moderator who helps the team to come to joint decisions. In the leader treatment, teams elect a leader that consults with the team and then comes to a decision.
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2025-10-13
Intervention End Date
2025-10-16

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Points scored in a quiz
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
The quiz concerns questions about the organisation of an undergrad university course.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Satisfaction with teamwork, satisfaction with team leader, satisfaction with team result
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
These will be elicited via survey

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Students participating in an undergrad university course, introduction to economics, are randomly put into teams of 3-4 people during their first tutorial. They get written instructions for the task. They elect a person, according to their treatment. In the first phase, they decide on a team name and plan their approach (5 min). In the second phase, they tasked with locating and reading the syllabus as well as other informational material regarding course organisation online on a university platform and memorizing the necessary information (5 min). They are asked to refarin from taking notes or talking to each other. In the third phase, they are given a quiz with 10 questions regarding the organisation of the course (10 blocks of questions containing 4 statements each. Staments have to be assessed on whether they are true or false. Each correct assessment gains them a point, each incorrect assessment looses them a point) The team with most points wins a monetary prize.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Tutorial groups are divided into teams using a set of shuffled cards. Each tutor has a stack of instructions which deliver the treatment, both treatment variants are in this stack. They are shuffled at random and handed out to the teams.
Randomization Unit
Teams
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
280 teams (exact number will depend on the number of students who show up for the tutorials, maximum 320 Teams)
Sample size: planned number of observations
280 teams (max 320)
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
140 with moderator treatment, 140 with leader treatment (max 160 teams in each treatment arm)
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
GfeW - German Association for Experimental Economic Research
IRB Approval Date
2025-08-23
IRB Approval Number
gmvu9Vp3
Analysis Plan

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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