| Field | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Field Trial Start Date | Before August 20, 2020 | After August 23, 2020 |
| Field Last Published | Before August 18, 2020 11:00 AM | After August 23, 2020 10:44 AM |
| Field Intervention (Public) | Before We will recruit our experiment participants from Amazon Mechanical Turk. To qualify for the study, participants have to provide satisfactory responses to a screening survey, which will ask about their experience on the platform, their experience making investment decisions, and their understanding of corporate decision-making. We will adhere to the current best practices to ensure our sample contains only high-quality participants. From the screening survey, approximately 900 participants will be invited to participate in the randomized controlled trial. The experimental design of the randomized controlled trial will be as follows. Each participant will be told that they are either (i) a mutual fund manager who is deciding whether to buy the stock of Firm A, (ii) a customer who is deciding whether to purchase goods from Firm A, or (iii) a potential employee of Firm A who is on the job market (300 participants will be placed in each bin). Each is given the same information about Firm A's past stock return performance, its current position relative to its competitors, its corporate culture and treatment of its employees, and its future growth opportunities. Within each group of participants, one third of the participants will be given no additional information about the company and will be asked the extent to which they want to (i) invest in the firm, (ii) purchase goods from the firm, or (iii) pursue employment with the firm. They will respond using a 7-point Likert scale from “Very Unlikely” to “Very Likely.” Another third of the participants will be told that it has become increasingly common for CEOs to take a public stance on social issues (CEO activism), and then they will be told that the CEO of Firm A regularly engages in CEO activism. They will then be asked the extent to which they want to (i) invest in the firm, (ii) purchase goods from the firm, or (iii) pursue employment with the firm. The last third of the participants in each group will be told that it has become increasingly common for CEOs to take a public stance on social issues (CEO activism), and then they will be told the CEO of Firm A has never engaged in CEO activism. They will then be asked the extent to which they want to (i) invest in the firm, (ii) purchase goods from the firm, or (iii) pursue employment with the firm. After each mutual fund manager participant makes their decision, we will then ask them two follow-up questions to provide insight into the effect of CEO activism on other stakeholders. First we will ask, to what extent was your investment decision based on your feelings as to how well Firm A would be able to attract new customers in the future and retain its current customers? Second we will ask, to what extent was your investment decision based on your feelings as to how well Firm A would be able to attract talented new employees in the future and retains its current employees? Answers will be given on a 7-point Likert scale from “Not At All” to “To a Great Extent.” | After We will recruit our experiment participants from Amazon Mechanical Turk. To qualify for the study, participants have to provide satisfactory responses to a screening survey, which will ask about their experience on the platform, their experience making investment decisions, and their understanding of corporate decision-making. We will adhere to the current best practices to ensure our sample contains only high-quality participants. From the screening survey, approximately 900 participants will be invited to participate in the randomized controlled trial. The experimental design of the randomized controlled trial will be as follows. Each participant will be told that they are either (i) a mutual fund manager who is deciding whether to buy the stock of Firm A, (ii) a customer who is deciding whether to purchase a hi-tech television from Firm A, or (iii) a potential employee of Firm A who is on the job market (300 participants will be placed in each bin). Each is given the same information about Firm A's past stock return performance. Within each group of participants, one third of the participants will be given no additional information about the company and will be asked the extent to which they want to (i) invest in the firm, (ii) purchase a television from the firm, or (iii) pursue employment with the firm. They will respond using a 100-point slider scale. Another third of the participants will be told that it has become increasingly common for CEOs to take a public stance on social issues (CEO activism), and then they will be told that the CEO of Firm A regularly engages in CEO activism. They will then be asked the extent to which they want to (i) invest in the firm, (ii) purchase a television from the firm, or (iii) pursue employment with the firm. The last third of the participants in each group will be told that it has become increasingly common for CEOs to take a public stance on social issues (CEO activism), and then they will be told the CEO of Firm A avoids engaging in CEO activism. They will then be asked the extent to which they want to (i) invest in the firm, (ii) purchase a television from the firm, or (iii) pursue employment with the firm. After each participant makes their decision, we will then ask them several follow-up questions to provide insight into the effect of CEO activism on other stakeholders. Answers will be given on a 7-point Likert scale from “Strongly Disagree” to “Strongly Agree.” |
| Field Intervention Start Date | Before August 20, 2020 | After August 23, 2020 |
| Field Experimental Design (Public) | Before We will recruit our experiment participants from Amazon Mechanical Turk. To qualify for the study, participants have to provide satisfactory responses to a screening survey, which will ask about their experience on the platform, their experience making investment decisions, and their understanding of corporate decision-making. We will adhere to the current best practices to ensure our sample contains only high-quality participants. From the screening survey, approximately 900 participants will be invited to participate in the randomized controlled trial. The experimental design of the randomized controlled trial will be as follows. Each participant will be told that they are either (i) a mutual fund manager who is deciding whether to buy the stock of Firm A, (ii) a customer who is deciding whether to purchase goods from Firm A, or (iii) a potential employee of Firm A who is on the job market (300 participants will be placed in each bin). Each is given the same information about Firm A's past stock return performance, its current position relative to its competitors, its corporate culture and treatment of its employees, and its future growth opportunities. Within each group of participants, one third of the participants will be given no additional information about the company and will be asked the extent to which they want to (i) invest in the firm, (ii) purchase goods from the firm, or (iii) pursue employment with the firm. They will respond using a 7-point Likert scale from “Very Unlikely” to “Very Likely.” Another third of the participants will be told that it has become increasingly common for CEOs to take a public stance on social issues (CEO activism), and then they will be told that the CEO of Firm A regularly engages in CEO activism. They will then be asked the extent to which they want to (i) invest in the firm, (ii) purchase goods from the firm, or (iii) pursue employment with the firm. The last third of the participants in each group will be told that it has become increasingly common for CEOs to take a public stance on social issues (CEO activism), and then they will be told the CEO of Firm A has never engaged in CEO activism. They will then be asked the extent to which they want to (i) invest in the firm, (ii) purchase goods from the firm, or (iii) pursue employment with the firm. After each mutual fund manager participant makes their decision, we will then ask them two follow-up questions to provide insight into the effect of CEO activism on other stakeholders. First we will ask, to what extent was your investment decision based on your feelings as to how well Firm A would be able to attract new customers in the future and retain its current customers? Second we will ask, to what extent was your investment decision based on your feelings as to how well Firm A would be able to attract talented new employees in the future and retains its current employees? Answers will be given on a 7-point Likert scale from “Not At All” to “To a Great Extent.” | After We will recruit our experiment participants from Amazon Mechanical Turk. To qualify for the study, participants have to provide satisfactory responses to a screening survey, which will ask about their experience on the platform, their experience making investment decisions, and their understanding of corporate decision-making. We will adhere to the current best practices to ensure our sample contains only high-quality participants. From the screening survey, approximately 900 participants will be invited to participate in the randomized controlled trial. The experimental design of the randomized controlled trial will be as follows. Each participant will be told that they are either (i) a mutual fund manager who is deciding whether to buy the stock of Firm A, (ii) a customer who is deciding whether to purchase a hi-tech television from Firm A, or (iii) a potential employee of Firm A who is on the job market (300 participants will be placed in each bin). Each is given the same information about Firm A's past stock return performance. Within each group of participants, one third of the participants will be given no additional information about the company and will be asked the extent to which they want to (i) invest in the firm, (ii) purchase a television from the firm, or (iii) pursue employment with the firm. They will respond using a 100-point slider scale. Another third of the participants will be told that it has become increasingly common for CEOs to take a public stance on social issues (CEO activism), and then they will be told that the CEO of Firm A regularly engages in CEO activism. They will then be asked the extent to which they want to (i) invest in the firm, (ii) purchase a television from the firm, or (iii) pursue employment with the firm. The last third of the participants in each group will be told that it has become increasingly common for CEOs to take a public stance on social issues (CEO activism), and then they will be told the CEO of Firm A avoids engaging in CEO activism. They will then be asked the extent to which they want to (i) invest in the firm, (ii) purchase a television from the firm, or (iii) pursue employment with the firm. After each participant makes their decision, we will then ask them several follow-up questions to provide insight into the effect of CEO activism on other stakeholders. Answers will be given on a 7-point Likert scale from “Strongly Disagree” to “Strongly Agree.” |
| Field Additional Keyword(s) | Before CEO Activism, Employees, Consumers | After CEO Activism, Employees, Consumers, Investors |
| Field Secondary Outcomes (End Points) | Before Responses to questions about what factors influenced the mutual fund managers' decisions. | After Responses to questions about what factors influenced the particpants' decisions. |
| Field | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Field Document Name | Before | After Experimental Survey Draft |
| Field File | Before |
After
Experiment+Survey+Draft+v03+_Final_.pdf
MD5:
8a0aca9ffae6b92fb66a999d6f886b5c
SHA1:
a7673f43e697d7608f87f866708ebf7ae2ea079c
|
| Field Description | Before | After This document shows the questions we will ask participants. There are nine possible treatments. Then all participants will be asked the final question at the bottom of the survey. |
| Field Public | Before | After Yes |