Workplace Harassment in India: Prevalence, Workplace Preferences and Social Media–Driven Behavioral Change

Last registered on March 10, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Workplace Harassment in India: Prevalence, Workplace Preferences and Social Media–Driven Behavioral Change
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0018054
Initial registration date
March 06, 2026

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
March 10, 2026, 10:29 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
Anaya Dam
Affiliation
University of Oxford
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2025-08-16
End date
2027-07-31
Keywords
Gender, Labor
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Workplace sexual harassment is pervasive yet poorly measured, with existing evidence largely confined to severe incidents captured in administrative records. This project documents the prevalence of mild-to-severe harassment experiences among women in India's corporate sector and estimates the economic cost women are willing to bear to avoid them. Using a LinkedIn-based survey of women employed in small-to-midsize Indian firms, we employ a discrete choice experiment (DCE) in which respondents choose between hypothetical job offers varying across wages, skill development opportunities, remote work options, and work environment vignettes describing sexist hostility, sexual hostility, and unwanted sexual attention. We estimate women's willingness-to-pay (WTP) for harassment-free workplaces. Findings from the baseline data and DCE will inform the design of an ongoing RCT on whether social media campaigns can affect harassment experiences, well-being and labour market outcomes of women.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Dam, Anaya. 2026. "Workplace Harassment in India: Prevalence, Workplace Preferences and Social Media–Driven Behavioral Change." AEA RCT Registry. March 10. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.18054-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
At baseline and endline, we embed a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to examine how job attributes—especially work environment and harassment—affect women’s job preferences. Each respondent completes three choice tasks, choosing between two hypothetical job offers that differ only in randomly assigned attributes shown side by side. The design follows Eriksson and Kristensen, 2014 and related studies ((Folke and Rickne, 2022; Maestas et al., 2023; Mas and Pallais, 2017; Wiswall and Zafar, 2018)). Jobs vary along four dimensions: (i) wage (−5%, same, +5%, +10% relative to current wage); (ii) skill development (none, some, high); (iii) work environment (no information; women content; sexist hostility; sexual hostility; unwanted sexual attention); and (iv) remote work (none; up to two days; fully flexible).
Intervention Start Date
2026-04-02
Intervention End Date
2026-06-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Willingness to pay (WTP): This captures the percentage wage change that would render the average respondent indifferent between a job with a harassment vignette and one with no work environment information.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Each respondent completes three choice tasks, choosing between two hypothetical job offers that differ only in randomly assigned attributes shown side by side. Attribute order is fixed; levels are randomized in Qualtrics. Following Folke and Rickne, (2022), Job A always includes a harassment vignette (randomized across the three types), while Job B’s work environment is drawn from the non-harassment categories. After the DCE, respondents report how they interpret the vignettes, allowing us to assess perceived harassment and shifts in workplace perceptions.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Discrete Choice Experiment: Randomization in Qualitrics
Randomization Unit
Discrete Choice Experiment: Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
Discrete Choice Experiment: NA
Sample size: planned number of observations
Discrete Choice Experiment: 513 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Discrete Choice Experiment: 513 individuals
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
e Utrecht University’s Ethical Committee of the Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance
IRB Approval Date
2024-07-29
IRB Approval Number
Ref no. 24-023
IRB Name
Institutional Review Board of Morsel Research and Development Private Limited
IRB Approval Date
2025-01-16
IRB Approval Number
MRD/120125/01
Analysis Plan

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