VOTING WITH YOUR DOLLAR: DOES CONSUMER CHOICE ACT AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR POLITICAL EXPRESSION

Last registered on May 14, 2018
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
VOTING WITH YOUR DOLLAR: DOES CONSUMER CHOICE ACT AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR POLITICAL EXPRESSION
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0002978
Initial registration date
May 10, 2018

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 14, 2018, 6:11 PM 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
Sandra Goff
Affiliation
Bates College
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2018-05-10
End date
2019-05-10
Keywords
Governance, Other
Additional Keywords
political consumerism, moral balancing, boycotts
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Sustainability advocates often state that it is important for individuals to vote with their dollars, meaning that they should purchase products that reflect their beliefs and values. However, we know from moral balancing theory that sometimes one pro-social behavior can crowd out the motivation to engage in a subsequent behavior. If this is true also for political expression, can voting with one’s dollar cause decreases in other types of political expression? This study is the first stage of a set of experiments that seek to determine whether voting with your dollar and other forms of political expression are substitutes, complements, or unrelated. Through randomization of question ordering in an online survey, we examine whether answering questions about political consumerism behaviors affects a person's stated likelihood of engaging in a set of political behaviors ranging from voting to contacting an elected representative.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Goff, Sandra. 2018. "VOTING WITH YOUR DOLLAR: DOES CONSUMER CHOICE ACT AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR POLITICAL EXPRESSION." AEA RCT Registry. May 14. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2978-1.0
Former Citation
Goff, Sandra. 2018. "VOTING WITH YOUR DOLLAR: DOES CONSUMER CHOICE ACT AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR POLITICAL EXPRESSION." AEA RCT Registry. May 14. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2978/history/29471
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Using an online survey we use randomized question ordering to determine if reminders of one's political consumerism behaviors will affect stated propensity to engage in other types of political behavior.
Intervention Start Date
2018-05-10
Intervention End Date
2018-05-24

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
boycott behavior, ethical consumerism behavior, writing to representative, voting, participating in march/protest
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Using an online survey we use randomized question ordering to determine if reminders of one's political consumerism behaviors will affect stated propensity to engage in other types of political behavior. 450 participants are randomly assigned to receive either the set of political consumerism questions first or the set of political action questions first. We test for significant differences in the outcome variables between these two groups.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomized via survey software
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
NA
Sample size: planned number of observations
450
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
approximately 225 political consumerism first, approximately 225 political behaviors first
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Skidmore IRB
IRB Approval Date
2018-05-04
IRB Approval Number
1805-724
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