Wage Bargaining in Firms

Last registered on October 07, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Wage Bargaining in Firms
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0019849
Initial registration date
October 01, 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
October 07, 2026, 10:27 AM EDT

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

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Primary Investigator

Name
Hannah Paule-Paludkiewicz
Affiliation
Deutsche Bundesbank
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Laura Lükemann
PI Affiliation
PI Name
Jule Adriaans
PI Affiliation
PI Name
Pawel Smietanka
PI Affiliation

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2026-10-01
End date
2029-12-31
Keywords
Firms & Productivity, Gender, Labor
Additional Keywords
Wage Bargaining
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We conduct a randomized survey vignette experiment among firms in Germany to study employer wage-setting decisions. Respondents evaluate a hypothetical employee requesting a wage increase. The vignette randomly varies the employee's gender, the presence and size of an external job offer, and whether comparable employees are likely to learn about a granted wage increase. The experiment addresses two main questions: whether employer responses to wage demands differ by employee gender, and how employers' responses to retention pressure depend on the internal visibility of wage decisions. The primary outcome is the percentage wage increase the respondent would be willing to grant.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Adriaans, Jule et al. 2026. "Wage Bargaining in Firms." AEA RCT Registry. October 07. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.19849-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Respondents (firms) are presented with a hypothetical wage-setting scenario. The vignette randomly varies characteristics of the employee's bargaining situation and the internal visibility of the wage decision.
Intervention Start Date
2026-10-01
Intervention End Date
2026-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Percentage wage increase the respondent is willing to grant to the hypothetical employee.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Supported values are between 0.0 and 999.9.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
1. Willingness to use non-monetary employee-retention measures.
2. Expected effect of the wage decision on future wage discussions with employees in comparable positions.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
The first secondary outcome is measured on a four-point response scale ranging from definitely willing to definitely not willing to use non-monetary retention measures. The second is measured on a five-point scale capturing the perceived likelihood that the wage decision affects future wage discussions with comparable employees.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The study is a respondent-level randomized survey vignette experiment embedded in a firm survey. The vignette independently randomizes the employee's gender, the presence of an external job offer, and the likelihood that comparable employees learn about the wage decision. The experiment is designed to study two prespecified sets of relationships: (i) differences in employer wage-setting responses by employee gender and (ii) how employer responses to an external job offer depend on the internal visibility of the wage decision. For the second question, the main hypothesis is that the effect of an external job offer on the wage increase granted by employers is smaller when comparable employees are likely to learn about the wage decision.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Individual firm
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
Not applicable; treatment is randomized at the firm level.
Sample size: planned number of observations
Approximately 8,000 respondents, subject to survey participation and eligibility.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Approximately 50 percent of respondents will receive no outside offer, 25 percent a 10-percent outside offer, and 25 percent a 12-percent outside offer. Employee gender and internal visibility are independently assigned with equal probability.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan