Worker Beliefs and the Job Application Decision: A Lab-in-the-Field Experiment on Gender and Sorting

Last registered on August 21, 2020

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Worker Beliefs and the Job Application Decision: A Lab-in-the-Field Experiment on Gender and Sorting

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0005472

Initial registration date

February 18, 2020

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 18, 2020, 2:20 PM EST

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

Last updated

August 21, 2020, 10:20 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country

United States of America

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Kristine Koutout

Affiliation

Vanderbilt University

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2020-02-17

End date

2020-10-17

Keywords

Labor

Additional Keywords

gender, sorting, beliefs

JEL code(s)

J710 Labor Discrimination, General, J220 Time Allocation and Labor Supply

Secondary IDs

Abstract

One of the largest measured factors contributing to the gender wage gap is sorting across occupations and industries (Blau & Kahn, 2017). This sorting behavior may be driven by workers' second-order beliefs--- beliefs about other people's beliefs--- through
the job application decision. To determine whether second-order beliefs are an important mechanism underlying this type of sorting by gender behavior through the job application decision, I combine a natural field experiment with a structured online lab experiment. In the field experiment, I solicit applications for a real high-paying white-collar job using ads that vary the relevant second-order beliefs. This variation is along two dimensions: the gender of the hiring manager and the gender associations of the product sector. After
interested candidates make their job application decision, I invite them to an online lab experiment that elicits their second-order beliefs using a methodology established in Dustan, Koutout, & Leo (2020). This measurement of beliefs in the same population as the job application decision allows me to present the first evidence on whether second-order beliefs affect labor market behavior.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Koutout, Kristine. 2020. "Worker Beliefs and the Job Application Decision: A Lab-in-the-Field Experiment on Gender and Sorting." AEA RCT Registry. August 21. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.5472-2.1

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The intervention treats candidates interested in sales positions with a job ad, in which the manager gender and the product sector are varied in order to vary the relevant second-order belief.

Intervention Start Date

2020-02-18

Intervention End Date

2020-09-07

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Job Application Decision

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Candidates have the opportunity to apply to one of two jobs. The outcome is whether they apply and which job they apply to.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

I combine a natural field experiment with a structured online lab experiment to study whether workers' second-order beliefs affect their job application decision. In the field experiment, I solicit applications for a job using ads that vary the relevant second-order belief. Then, I invite participants in the field experiment to an online lab experiment that elicits their second-order beliefs using the methodology developed by my co-authors and I in Dustan, Koutout, and Leo (2020).

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

I assign the candidate a treatment cell based the order in which I receive their application. In other words, if I receive the contact information of 50 candidates one day, the first is assigned treatment 1, second treatment 2, etc. A treatment cell is comprised of the city (1 of 7), gender (m,f,unknown), and assigned treatment to ensure balance across treatments.

Randomization Unit

Individual

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

At least 2,200 individuals are expected to participate in the field experiment and treatment is assigned at the individual level.

Sample size: planned number of observations

At least 2,200 individuals.

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

Approximately 550 individuals per treatment.

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Using the standard deviation calculated from the probability of applying in the pilot (0.22), this sample size can detect a 3% difference in application rates.

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB