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Social initiatives and stakeholder perceptions

Last registered on April 13, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Social initiatives and stakeholder perceptions
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0018187
Initial registration date
March 23, 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
April 13, 2026, 9:05 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Ivar Kolstad
Affiliation
Norwegian School of Economics
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2026-03-23
End date
2026-03-27
Keywords
Behavior
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Using a vignette experiment, we test how social initiatives affect stakeholder perceptions of companies.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Kolstad, Ivar. 2026. "Social initiatives and stakeholder perceptions." AEA RCT Registry. April 13. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.18187-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention (Hidden)
Participants are randomized individually into four conditions. In all conditions, they are presented with a hypothetical company in the retail sector. The treatments are then administered through two successive vignettes where the first varies the introduction of a diversity and inclusion (DEI) programme in the company across conditions, and the second its discontinuation. Specifically, the conditions are as follows:

• Never DEI condition (T0 – control): The first vignette states that the company considered introducing a DEI programme, but decided not to. The second vignette states that the company reviewed its employee policies and decided to continue without a DEI programme.
• Start and maintain DEI condition (T1): The first vignette states that the company considered introducing a DEI programme, and decided to do so. The second vignette states that the company reviewed its employee policies and decided to continue its DEI programme.
• Non-political DEI reversal condition (T2): The first vignette is identical to condition T1. The second vignette states that the company reviewed its employee policies and decided to discontinue its DEI programme for economic (non-political) reasons.
• Political DEI reversal condition (T3): The first vignette is identical to condition T1. The second vignette states that the company reviewed its employee policies and decided to discontinue its DEI programme due to political pressure.

Please see pre-analysis plan for additional details.
Intervention Start Date
2026-03-23
Intervention End Date
2026-03-27

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Stakeholder perceptions of a company
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
See pre-analysis plan for details.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We will perform an online randomized controlled trial studying how social initiatives affect stakeholder perceptions of companies. Information on company social initiatives will be varied across one control condition and three treatment conditions, using vignettes.
Experimental Design Details
We plan on recruiting about 400 participants via Prolific in each treatment arm for this experiment. In total, this amounts to 1600 participants after implementing the below prespecified exclusion criteria. The study will be programmed in Qualtrics and distributed via a Qualtrics link. We will use a representative United States sample from Prolific based on the factors political affiliation, sex and age.

Through vignettes, we present participants with a fictional company and provide general background information about the firm. We employ a 1×4 experimental design to randomize information regarding a corporate programme aimed at ensuring diversity and inclusion in the companies hiring, promotions, and work culture. Specifically, we manipulate the status of this programme across four distinct conditions: one where the company has never implemented such a programme (the control), another where they started and continued it despite political controversy, a third where they started but discontinued it for economic/non-political reasons, and a final condition where the programme was discontinued due to political pressure .

After the vignette treatments, we compare willingness to work for the company across the four conditions.

Please see attached pre-analysis plan for additional details,
Randomization Method
Randomization by computer.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
1600 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
1600 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
400 individuals in the control group, and 400 individuals in each of the three treatment groups.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Please see attached pre-analysis plan.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Norwegian School of Economics Institutional Review Board
IRB Approval Date
2026-01-30
IRB Approval Number
NHH-IRB-2026-139
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Pre-analysis plan Social initiatives and stakeholder perceptions

MD5: 9313a30b796685e57e8824397b8cdd67

SHA1: 43654cf43674c86c1cfdbf84fab41a47ecfb005d

Uploaded At: March 23, 2026

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