Willingness to pay for time-saving services: an experimental investigation of the impact of meal break duration, leniency of schedule and time pressure

Last registered on August 02, 2019

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Willingness to pay for time-saving services: an experimental investigation of the impact of meal break duration, leniency of schedule and time pressure
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0004477
Initial registration date
July 30, 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
August 02, 2019, 3:42 PM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Département d’économie agroalimentaire et des sciences de la consommation, Université Laval

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2019-08-05
End date
2020-06-21
Secondary IDs
Abstract
The general objective of this study is to investigate variations in willingness-to-pay for time-saving lunch services in the context of the workday.
The aim of this experiment is to determine whether changes in meal break duration, schedule leniency and time pressure affect willingness to pay for time-saving lunch services during the workday. Based on hypothetical scenarios, participants will be asked to state how much they would be willing to pay to reduce waiting time to get their lunch.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Massey, Camille and Laure Saulais. 2019. "Willingness to pay for time-saving services: an experimental investigation of the impact of meal break duration, leniency of schedule and time pressure ." AEA RCT Registry. August 02. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.4477-1.0
Former Citation
Massey, Camille and Laure Saulais. 2019. "Willingness to pay for time-saving services: an experimental investigation of the impact of meal break duration, leniency of schedule and time pressure ." AEA RCT Registry. August 02. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/4477/history/51158
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2019-08-26
Intervention End Date
2019-09-15

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Variations in willingness to pay
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Variations in willingness to pay based on whether respondents felt they had to rush to answer questions
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Decision-making literature shows that being under time pressure affect respondents' choices. As a result, although this expriment does not seek to induce time pressure in respondents, one question was added to control whether respondents felt they were rushed to answer. If enough respondents indicate that they were and enough indicate that they were not, their willingness to pay will be compared to assess possible effect of time pressure.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We designed an experiment where participants are presented hypothetical scenarios relating to lunchbreak. Duration of break, leniency of schedule and time pressure were manipulated following a 2*2*2 design, as they are distinct, albeit closely related, concepts.
After reading the scenario, participants were asked to state how much they would be willing to pay to reduce delivery time of their meal. Two levels of delivery time were presented each time. Design is within-subject.
Experimental Design Details
This is a 2*2*2 design:
- short duration + strict schedule + time pressure
- short duration + strict schedule + no time pressure
- long duration + lenient schedule + time pressure
- long duration + lenient schedule + no time pressure
- short duration + lenient schedule + time pressure
- short duration + lenient schedule + no time pressure
- long duration + strict schedule + time pressure
- long duration + strict schedule + no time pressure
Randomization Method
Done by computer
Randomization Unit
Scenarios (order of presentation of scenarios to participants)
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
No cluster
Sample size: planned number of observations
Sample size will be determined after running a pilot, as standard deviation of willingness to pay for this study cannot be inferred from previous studies. Variance found in pilot will be used to determine sample size.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
As this experiment follows a within-subject design, sample size by treatment arms is equal to planned number of observations.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number

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