Leadership in Non-Routine Analytical Tasks

Last registered on February 13, 2018
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Leadership in Non-Routine Analytical Tasks
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0002570
Initial registration date
November 06, 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
November 07, 2017, 4:23 PM EST

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

Last updated
February 13, 2018, 9:17 AM EST

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

Locations

Country
Germany
Region
Munich

Primary Investigator

Name
David Schindler
Affiliation
Tilburg University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Dominik Grothe
PI Affiliation
University of Munich
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PI Name
Simeon Schudy
PI Affiliation
University of Munich
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PI Name
Florian Englmaier
PI Affiliation
University of Munich
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PI Name
Stefan Grimm
PI Affiliation
University of Munich
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2018-01-22
End date
2018-03-27
Keywords
Labor
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
C92, C93, J33, D03, M52
Secondary IDs
Abstract
In this study, we investigate the effect of leadership functions on team performance in non-routine, analytical team tasks. We use a field setup in which groups of teams work on a non-routine analytical team task to stimulate certain functions of leadership and compare it to situations in which these functions are not stressed. The task makes teams face complex and novel problems, it is analytical and cognitively demanding as teams need to collect and recombine information which requires to think outside the box to succeed, and it is interactive as team members have to collaborate, discuss possible actions, and develop ideas jointly with their team members.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Englmaier, Florian et al. 2018. "Leadership in Non-Routine Analytical Tasks." AEA RCT Registry. February 13. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2570-4.0
Former Citation
Englmaier, Florian et al. 2018. "Leadership in Non-Routine Analytical Tasks." AEA RCT Registry. February 13. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2570/history/25756
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We conduct three treatments, one of which is a control treatment in which we just observe the data being generated. In treatment L1, we stress the emotional component of leadership. In treatment L2, we stress the organizational component of leadership.
Intervention Start Date
2018-01-22
Intervention End Date
2018-03-27

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Time needed until completion of task
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Hints taken during the task
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We conduct the experiment with our partner in a setting that resembles non-routine and analytical team tasks. Subjects are not aware that they participate in an experiment. Treatments are randomized by day over the sampling period to avoid spillover between observations that we record at similar points in time. We record completion time, several background characteristics and variables related to the task. We do not provide monetary incentives.
Experimental Design Details
We conduct our experiment with ExitTheRoom (ETR), a firm that offers room escape games to customers in several European countries. We implement the treatments at their Munich location with regular customers that book an escape room game on their website. Customers are not aware they are participating in an experiment, nor are they aware of the respective treatments. Treatments are randomized for each day to avoid spillover of treatment information across customers who may encounter each other on the same day. We do not provide subjects with any incentives. Collecting the data will be non-invasive and likely not noticed by subjects. The treatment intervention text will be delivered by staff from our partner organization or by a trained experimenter.

We have only secured the cooperation with our partner until the end of 2017. If the cooperation will exist in the future we will conduct more treatments and register them as a separate project. Below is a short outline of what we planned for such circumstances:
* A treatment arm in which we randomly assign someone in the team to be the team leader, instead of letting the team choose a leader.
* A treatment arm in which we combine the information from both treatments in this study.
* A treatment arm in which we interact the current study's treatments with monetary incentives as per our previous paper Englmaier, Grimm, Schindler, Schudy (2017).
Randomization Method
Randomization by computer in office
Randomization Unit
Randomization was done by days
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
Approximately 30 days. See explanation wrt planned number of observations
Sample size: planned number of observations
270-300 teams of participants (approximately 1,000 participants, the number of participants is not controlled by us, as we record observations on the team level). We schedule data collection aiming at 270 observations (taking into account that some participants may not show up). We stop scheduling new data collection after reaching 270 observations and only collect the data for which we have already scheduled collection (at most one extra week of data collection).
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
90-100 teams in Control, 90-100 teams in L1, 90-100 teams in L2
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of Munich, Department of Economics, Ethics Commission
IRB Approval Date
2016-02-03
IRB Approval Number
N/A
Analysis Plan

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