Call and Response: The Business Impacts of Systems to Improve Worker Voice

Last registered on April 06, 2021

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Call and Response: The Business Impacts of Systems to Improve Worker Voice

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0007403

Initial registration date

April 05, 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

April 06, 2021, 6:20 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country

India

Region

South India

Primary Investigator

Name

Teresa Molina

Affiliation

University of Hawaii at Manoa

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Anant Nyshadham

PI Affiliation

University of Michigan

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Achyuta Adhvaryu

PI Affiliation

University of Michigan

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2019-11-07

End date

2021-12-31

Keywords

Firms & Productivity, Labor, Welfare

Additional Keywords

Worker voice

JEL code(s)

J520, J530

Secondary IDs

Abstract

The garment manufacturing industry in many low-income countries is characterized by low wages and high turnover. Workers in these settings are typically limited in their ability to voice their concerns and grievances related to their jobs. Albert Hirschman’s seminal work – Exit, Voice, and Loyalty (1970) – posits that voice and exit are intimately related. We partner with a large garment firm in India to examine whether a technology-based worker voice tool can reduce exit and improve worker wellbeing. The worker voice tool we study here allows for two-way anonymous communication between workers and management. We also examine whether the effectiveness of this worker voice tool depends on the incentives faced by the HR teams assigned to deal with worker grievances.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Adhvaryu, Achyuta, Teresa Molina and Anant Nyshadham. 2021. "Call and Response: The Business Impacts of Systems to Improve Worker Voice." AEA RCT Registry. April 06. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.7403-1.0

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The first intervention in this trial is an SMS-based worker voice tool for grievance redressal. The second intervention is an incentive structure for the Human Resources (HR) department to motivate efficient redressal of grievances.

Details about the worker voice tool :

The tool will provide an anonymous two-way communication platform between the workers in the factories and the Human Resources (HR) department. The workers can send in their grievance through a voice message or a text message to a designated number for the factory unit. The grievance appears on the dashboard of the factory HR and is allocated to the concerned HR representative for handling. The system will hide the phone number of the respondent to ensure the anonymity of the complainant. The HR representative will interpret the voice message or SMS and take appropriate action. If required, the HR representative can also send an SMS to the complainant to get additional information through the anonymous communication gateway.

Details about the incentive structure:
Rewards, in the form of in-kind gifts, are provided monthly and at the factory level (if the factory is eligible for the incentive, all members of the HR team receive the same incentive). Factories receive a reward if they fulfill several different criteria related to the speed and quality of the HR response.

Intervention Start Date

2019-11-25

Intervention End Date

2021-05-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Our primary outcomes of interest include: retention, attendance, productivity, perceptions of HR/management, and workplace satisfaction.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Our secondary outcomes of interest include: worker loyalty, individual worker satisfaction, and attitudes towards reporting issues.

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

The research design involves 2 treatment arms and a control group:

a. Factories in the first treatment arm will get the worker voice tool.
b. Factories in the second treatment arm will get the worker voice tool and non-monetary incentives to the HR department.
c. Factories in control group do not receive the worker voice tool or incentives.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Used stratified random sampling on computer software ‘Stata’

Randomization Unit

Factory level randomization

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

43 factories

Sample size: planned number of observations

70,000 workers

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

There will be 14 factories in treatment arm 1 (worker voice tool), 14 factories in treatment arm 2 (worker voice tool and HR incentives) and 15 factories in the control group. The sample size will be approximately 24,000 workers per treatment arm.

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

Power Calculations for administrative data are as follows: Outcome MDE for arm 1(Tool) MDE for arm 2(Incentive) Average Quitting: 11% 18% 0.53 Productivity: .025 .035 0.54 Absenteeism: 0.004 0.008 0.06 Power Calculations for survey data are as follows: Outcome MDE for arm 1 (Tool) MDE for arm 2 (Incentive) Outcome Standard Deviation Perceptions of HR: 0.14 0.23 0.98 Workplace Satisfaction: 0.05 0.08 0.49 Confidence Reporting Issues: 0.11 0.19 1.01 Individual Worker Satisfaction: 0.05 0.09 0.54 Worker Loyalty: 0.06 0.11 0.45

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB