Gender Peer Effects in the Labor Market: A field experiment in Indian call centers

Last registered on February 24, 2019
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Gender Peer Effects in the Labor Market: A field experiment in Indian call centers
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0003932
Initial registration date
February 20, 2019

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
February 24, 2019, 7:44 PM EST

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

Locations

Country
India
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Deepshikha Batheja
Affiliation
University of California, Riverside
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2018-11-01
End date
2019-07-31
Keywords
Firms & Productivity
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Does the gender of one’s co-workers/peers have an impact on labor productivity? This question has primarily been studied in the developed country setting. However, this research question is particularly important in patriarchal and traditional societies where gender is salient. In these settings, gender segregation is practiced widely such that, in many cases, the first prolonged interaction with the opposite gender occurs in a workplace. So, social interaction among opposite genders is likely to lead to psychic costs in the workplace (Akerlof and Kranton 2000; Bertrand et al., 2015). This can negatively impact a firm’s output if it comprises a gender diverse employee pool.

The proposed individual-level randomized controlled trial will study the effect of gender diversity in workplace on worker productivity of male employees, their job satisfaction levels and their gender attitudes. Treatment in the form of gender exposure will be provided to men by varying the gender composition of teams in call centers in India. The productivity of male employees in mixed teams (treatment) and all male teams (control) will be compared for a period of 2-3 months.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Batheja, Deepshikha. 2019. "Gender Peer Effects in the Labor Market: A field experiment in Indian call centers." AEA RCT Registry. February 24. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.3932-1.0
Former Citation
Batheja, Deepshikha. 2019. "Gender Peer Effects in the Labor Market: A field experiment in Indian call centers." AEA RCT Registry. February 24. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/3932/history/42019
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2018-12-15
Intervention End Date
2019-06-15

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
1) Productivity or the quantity variable (varies for each process/business. In sales process, it is number of sales made in a day. In inbound processes, it is average call handling time and in outbound processes, it is number of calls made. As I have multiple processes in my study, I will normalize the scores within each process to make the productivity variable comparable across processes. 2) Quality of calls, rated by quality audit team internally at the call center.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
1) Job satisfaction level- collected pre-intervention (baseline) and post-intervention (endline) through survey, 2) Gender attitude - collected pre-intervention (baseline) and post-intervention (endline) through survey.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
A typical domestic call center in India works for many processes/businesses. The workers in each process are divided into teams, which are helmed by team leaders. This study will rely on individual level randomization of workers in a process into teams of varying gender compositions. The treatment or mixed gender group (40-50% male) will be compared to control group of all males. Agents will be matched on baseline productivity and then randomly assigned into treatment and control arms. Team leaders will also be matched on productivity before being randomly assigned to treatment and control teams. The seating of agents will be assigned in a manner that all teammates sit together. In mixed teams, there will be alternate seating of men and women.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
individual level randomization
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
532 workers
Sample size: planned number of observations
532 workers
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
355 workers in treatment/mixed group (177 males and 177 females)
177 male workers in control group
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 California, Riverside
IRB Approval Date
2018-08-28
IRB Approval Number
HS-18-118
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