An investigation of the pay-what-you-want concept in a performing arts competition

Last registered on August 20, 2019

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
An investigation of the pay-what-you-want concept in a performing arts competition
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0004592
Initial registration date
August 18, 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 20, 2019, 11:03 AM 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
University of Marburg

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2019-09-02
End date
2019-09-30
Secondary IDs
Abstract
We investigate pay-what-you-want pricing determinants for visitors of an open-stage performing arts competition regarding the performers’ rewards. Seeing performing arts as a mixed good with a private, as well as a public goods component, we want to identify different visitor types concerning their payment motivation. Our main factors of interest are public good valuation, reciprocal motives towards the artists, competitive preferences arising from the characteristics of the show, and gender effects.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Pohl, Jana and Elisabeth Schulte. 2019. "An investigation of the pay-what-you-want concept in a performing arts competition." AEA RCT Registry. August 20. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.4592-1.0
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The treatments comprise a control group without any monetary incentive for participation, an offer to win a voucher by 1/10 chance and provision of a discount for a complementary service during the event. The treatments take place in three consecutive shows in September 2019.

Three different treatments are implemented to investigate incentive effects on the readiness to participate in our survey. In three consecutive weeks, visitors will be invited to participate in the survey through an invitation card. To participate in the survey, visitors are provided with a QR-code on the invitation card, as well as with the direct web-address of the questionnaire. They are asked to participate in the survey via their smartphone.
The first week represents the control, here we politely invite the visitors to participate in our survey. There is no further incentive for participation.
In the second week, we offer a 1/10 chance to win a voucher for an online mail-order business with 20 Euros value.
In the third week, the invitation letter serves as a voucher for a 2 Euro discount for any drink at the bar. In the second treatment participation in the survey is necessary to take part in the lottery. In the third treatment, the discount is granted independent of participation in the survey.
Intervention Start Date
2019-09-09
Intervention End Date
2019-09-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Survey participants’ payment stated motivation (indicators for public good awareness, reciprocal motives, competitive preferences) to contribute;
Personally stated willingness to contribute;
Empirical expectations towards the other visitors’ willingness to contribute;
Normative expectations towards the other visitors’ willingness to contribute;
Individual assessment of (and ability to assess) public expenses performing arts and music in Germany;
Composition and number of participants across the treatments
Empirical gender composition of the audience;
Empirical aggregate contributions
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
The indicators measuring the personal motivational factors are derived by different statements assigned to the respective categories. For each of the factors, we have defined six to nine statements for which selection or agreement sums up to the total manifestation of the indicator value, which we will normalize to a value between zero and one. We test for reliability of our indicator composition by assigning main statements indicating preferences for the respective factor.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
An invitation to participate in a survey asking questions about the personal readiness and underlying motives to reward the performers in an open-stage competition is distributed among visitors of the respective show in three consecutive sessions. Three different treatments are implemented to investigate incentive effects on the readiness to participate in our survey. The treatments comprise a control group without any monetary incentive for participation, an offer to win a voucher by 1/10 chance and provision of a discount for a complementary service during the event.
The questions in the survey aim to differentiate respondent types regarding different motivational factors to contribute to the artists' rewards by applying pay-what-you-want pricing. We distinguish with respect to the motivational factors of public good awareness, reciprocal motives, and competitive preferences. We relate the respondents’ stated motivations to their readiness to pay, his/her expectations about other visitors’ contributions and their participation in the survey.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
All visitors of the three shows are invited to participate. We assume random selection into the treatment, as they are conducted in three consecutive weekly shows. We will track the timing of responses in order to account for possible quality effects of the show. It will be possible to participate either directly before the show, or during the break of the show.

Within the survey, randomization with respect to question allocation is obtained electronically through the SoSci-survey platform. We allocate two different equation times 50:50 over all respondents.
Randomization Unit
Individual randomization across treatments and questions.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
150 visitors in each of the three shows.
Sample size: planned number of observations
We expect a maximum of 450 observations (150 invitations in each of the three shows).
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
150 individuals in each treatment.
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