Overcoming Workplace Inequality: Interventions to Reduce Social Category Biases and Increase Inclusion in the Workplace

Last registered on April 12, 2019

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Overcoming Workplace Inequality: Interventions to Reduce Social Category Biases and Increase Inclusion in the Workplace
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0002200
Initial registration date
May 03, 2017

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
May 04, 2017, 4:20 PM EDT

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

Last updated
April 12, 2019, 4:58 PM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Wharton

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Wharton
PI Affiliation
Wharton
PI Affiliation
Wharton
PI Affiliation
University of Pennsylvania
PI Affiliation
Wharton
PI Affiliation
Wharton

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2017-02-02
End date
2018-08-31
Secondary IDs
Abstract
This research investigates ways to overcome gender bias and stereotyping (and ideally other biases such as those based on race) to create more inclusive work environments. To date, existing research has primarily focused on proving that bias exists and that it affects people’s outcomes. In order to reduce inequality, however, research must move beyond identifying biases and their consequences to identifying ways to overcome these biases and thereby make organizational cultures more inclusive. This is our goal. We examine whether a novel bias intervention we have designed leads to actual behavior change that can have a meaningful impact on addressing inclusivity in the workplace.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Chang, Edward et al. 2019. "Overcoming Workplace Inequality: Interventions to Reduce Social Category Biases and Increase Inclusion in the Workplace." AEA RCT Registry. April 12. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2200-2.0
Former Citation
Chang, Edward et al. 2019. "Overcoming Workplace Inequality: Interventions to Reduce Social Category Biases and Increase Inclusion in the Workplace." AEA RCT Registry. April 12. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2200/history/44927
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The intervention is an online training that can be completed in under one hour in one sitting.
Intervention Start Date
2017-02-02
Intervention End Date
2017-06-16

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
1) Behavioral measures of bias-reducing, inclusive behaviors
2) Engagement with the issue of workplace bias
3) Attitudinal change regarding bias
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Please see outcomes explanation document.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Participants will be randomized into one of three conditions: gender-specific, general, or control.
Experimental Design Details
Participants were invited by their employer to take part in a training program with the goal of helping to create a more inclusive work environment. Participants were randomly assigned to one of our treatment conditions or a control condition. The primary treatment conditions vary whether participants were presented with information that is only about one form of social category bias (e.g., gender bias) or is about a number of different forms of social category bias (e.g., gender and racial bias). The control condition presented filler content that is relevant to the workplace (such as videos of talks about what predicts the success of individuals and groups in the workplace, and personalized feedback on a psychological scale) that matches the length and feel of the intervention in the treatment conditions. It takes participants about 60 minutes during one sitting to complete the intervention (or control) training and to complete initial dependent measures assessing their views on stereotypes, bias, and discrimination (including open-ended responses to workplace scenarios in which they share their ideas about how to promote inclusivity and overcome bias).

Recruitment for this study began in early February, 2017, and continued through mid-March. Approximately 10,000 employees were invited to participate in the study and over 2,000 enrolled. At the end of the training, participants filled out attitudinal and survey measures. For the 12 weeks following the training, participants were texted up to once a week as a measure of engagement. Roughly one week after the recruitment period ended, participants were sent the voluntary follow-up survey measure from the research team. In early April, participants were sent an email from the partner organization regarding the creation of a new mentorship program and were encouraged to sign-up to connect with colleagues. At the end of April, participants were sent an email from the partner organization asking them to recognize and nominate colleagues for an award. In mid-May, participants will be asked to speak with a new male or female hire.
Randomization Method
Randomization is completed online via Qualtrics
Randomization Unit
Individual participants are the unit of randomization
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
n/a
Sample size: planned number of observations
We recruited as many participants as possible during our recruitment window of February 2, 2017 to March 16, 2017. We ended up recruiting over 2,000 participants.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
The participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions. Roughly one third was assigned to the control condition, one third to the gender-specific condition, and one third to the general condition.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of Pennsylvania Institutional Review Board
IRB Approval Date
2016-07-22
IRB Approval Number
824533
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Outcomes Explanation and Analysis Plan

MD5: 49a016d7bd07781843539b7c0c74ac50

SHA1: 5a9f44a0fb417314e0b37885e43a4e04765e3207

Uploaded At: May 03, 2017

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