Information Disclosure and Lender Behaviors

Last registered on February 24, 2021
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Information Disclosure and Lender Behaviors
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0007234
Initial registration date
February 24, 2021

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, 2021, 10:29 AM EST

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

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region
Georgia

Primary Investigator

Name
Jiayu Yao
Affiliation
Georgia Institute of Technology
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Mingfeng Lin
PI Affiliation
Georgia Institute of Technology
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Xing Huang
PI Affiliation
Washington University in St. Louis
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Kai Lu
PI Affiliation
University of Science and Technology of China
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2021-02-22
End date
2023-02-28
Keywords
Finance & Microfinance
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
The goal of our study is to understand the effect of showing information about peer behavior on decision making. The context that we will try to emulate in our study is that of online peer-to-peer lending (P2P lending), one type of crowdfunding market, where one funding request is typically fulfilled by many investors. Some platforms show detailed information about previous decisions, such as who invested how much at what time. Other platforms show much less information, e.g., only how much cumulatively has been funded. We want to understand how different levels of information affect the decision-making behavior of potential investors, using subjects to be recruited on Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk).
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Huang, Xing et al. 2021. "Information Disclosure and Lender Behaviors." AEA RCT Registry. February 24. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.7234-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2021-02-22
Intervention End Date
2023-02-28

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
(1) Investment performance of subjects
(2) Time that subjects spend in making investment decisions
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Each subject will be randomly shown several mock-up requests for loans emulating those shown on actual P2P lending platforms. The treatment of interest is the disclosure of the bidding information of other lenders. The subjects need to make hypothetical decisions on whether they would invest in each of these loan requests shown in the pictures --- "pretending" that they are actual investors.
Experimental Design Details
Our study includes three stages. The first stage is to recruit subjects from MTurk by posting HITs (Human Intelligence Tasks) on MTurk. In the descriptions for these tasks, we provide the details and purpose of this project, the consent form, and instructions. Then, we ask basic questions regarding knowledge of finance, such as the tradeoff between risk and return. We filter out MTurk workers who do not have such basic financial knowledge.

The second stage starts with a short tutorial on P2P lending for recruited MTurk workers. Then, each worker will be randomly shown several mock-up requests for loans emulating those shown on actual P2P lending platforms. Each picture includes basic information on the loan request, such as the requested amount and the offered interest rate from the borrower. The treatment of interest is the disclosure of the bidding information of other lenders. The subjects need to make hypothetical decisions on whether they would invest in each of these loan requests shown in the pictures --- "pretending" that they are actual investors.

In the third stage, subjects will answer some post-experiment questions such as what information s/he pays attention to when browsing the loan requests.
Randomization Method
Randomization using Qualtrics
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
Not applicable
Sample size: planned number of observations
Around 600 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Around 300 individuals for the treatment group and 300 individuals for the 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
Central Institutional Review Board #1
IRB Approval Date
2020-11-02
IRB Approval Number
H20197
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

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