The impact of disclosure of fertility plan on employment

Last registered on March 28, 2022
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The impact of disclosure of fertility plan on employment
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0007848
Initial registration date
March 25, 2022

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
March 28, 2022, 7:10 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
China
Region
Zhejiang Province

Primary Investigator

Name
Fadong Chen
Affiliation
Zhejiang University
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Zhengyang Bao
PI Affiliation
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Jiatong Han
PI Affiliation
Zhejiang University
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2022-03-25
End date
2022-07-31
Keywords
Behavior, Gender, Labor
Additional Keywords
Fertility
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
There is evidence that shows that gender discrimination still exists, especially in the labour market, which is related to whether women can achieve real equality. By controlling the gender and whether the fertility plan is disclosed, we plan to examine fertility discrimination in the hiring process. First, we plan to use online surveys to learn about job seekers’ (graduates’) willingness to disclosure fertility plan and the importance of fertility plan to HR’s hiring decisions. After that, we plan to invite university students who are on the job market (graduates or students who seek internship) to fill in a recruitment system. In this system, some of the information (e.g., age, gender and education background) are required, and some of the information is optional (e.g., personal interests, career experience and self-description). Besides, the fertility plan is required and there are 6 options in it – no plan, one child, two children, three or more children, not sure and reluctant to disclose. Following Kessler et al. (2019), we would generate new resumes based on the information we collect. Finally, the resumes would be reviewed by HRs and we plan to use an eye tracker to track their eye movement. After reviewing each resume, HRs need to answer 3 questions: the possibility of hiring the candidate (0-100), the salary and the contract period they would like to give to this candidate. Finally, we plan to conduct a large-scale correspondence study to examine the externality of the lab experiments. Through the study above, we expect to get the following results: (1) The willingness to disclosure fertility plans is different between men and women. The willingness of women is much lower than that of the men; (2) The importance of fertility plan that HRs have reflected is inconsistent with actual behaviour; (3) Disclosing fertility plan has negative effects (low callback rate) on women but not on men.


External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Bao, Zhengyang, Fadong Chen and Jiatong Han. 2022. "The impact of disclosure of fertility plan on employment ." AEA RCT Registry. March 28. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.7848-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2022-03-25
Intervention End Date
2022-07-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
(1) Survey: the willingness to disclosure the fertility plan;
(2) Lab experiment: the proportion of taking the initiative to disclosure fertility plan (graduates) and HR’s fixation time;
(3) Correspondence study: the callback rate.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
1. Surveys:
(1) To graduates, the purpose is to find out whether there is a significant difference between the willingness of males and females to disclosure their fertility plan. We invite graduates to fill the online survey. The survey is designed to collect graduates’ information like gender, age and education background, and their expected workplace, salary and contract periods. In particular, the survey includes questions about the willingness to disclosure fertility plans, job plans and interests. The order of questions about fertility plans and job plans is counterbalanced.
(2) To HRs, the purpose is to find out whether the fertility plan has significant effects on their hiring decisions. We invite HRs to fill the online survey. Specifically, we ask them to indicate the importance of various factors in employment decision-making (scale 1-7), such as gender, education background, age, position, education and career experience, interests, fertility plan and job plan. The order of questions about fertility plans and job plans is counterbalanced.
2. Lab experiment:
(1) To graduates, the purpose is to know whether there is a significant difference in the proportion and time of filling in the fertility plan between males and females. We invite graduates to fill in the recruitment system. The system has two parts: one is the required part (i.e., age, gender and education background) and the other is the optional part (i.e., personal interests, job plan and fertility plan). Participants are incentivized in this experiment. That is, in addition to the show-up fee, their payment depends on HR’s willingness to hire them.
(2) To HRs, the purpose is to know whether there is a significant difference in HR’s fixation time on the fertility plan between males and females. We invite HR (part-time MBA students) to the lab to review graduates’ resumes and we record their eye-movement using an eye tracker. After reviewing each resume, HR needs to answer 3 questions: their willingness of hiring this candidate (0-100), the salary and the contract period they would like to provide for this candidate. HRs are also incentivized in this experiment. In addition to the fixed show-up fee, their payment depends on the difference between their willingness to hire this candidate and the average willingness of all the HRs on this candidate.
3. Correspondence study:
This study aims to test the externality of the results above and find out whether there exists discrimination on the fertility plan in the field. The job openings are extracted from online job sites. Each employer is randomly assigned to receive one job application from either a male (with/without fertility plan) or a female (with/without fertility plan). We are mainly interested in the callback rates in each condition.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
In the correspondence study, the job openings are extracted from online job sites and each employer are randomly assigned to receive one job application from either a male (with/without fertility plan) or a female (with/without fertility plan).
Randomization Unit
In the correspondence study, the job openings are extracted from online job sites and each employer are randomly assigned to receive one job application from either a male (with/without fertility plan) or a female (with/without fertility plan).
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
1. Survey: 180 graduates (90 males and 90 females) and 50 HRs;
2. Lab experiment: 100 graduates (50 males and 50 females) and 20 HRs;
3. Correspondence study: 100 male (no fertility plan), 100 female (no fertility plan), 100 male (with fertility plan) and 100 female (with fertility plan).
Sample size: planned number of observations
1. Survey: 180 graduates (90 males and 90 females) and 50 HRs; 2. Lab experiment: 100 graduates (50 males and 50 females) and 20 HRs; 3. Correspondence study: 100 male (no fertility plan), 100 female (no fertility plan), 100 male (with fertility plan) and 100 female (with fertility plan).
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
1. Survey: 180 graduates (90 males and 90 females) and 50 HRs;
2. Lab experiment: 100 graduates (50 males and 50 females) and 20 HRs;
3. Correspondence study: 100 male (no fertility plan), 100 female (no fertility plan), 100 male (with fertility plan) and 100 female (with fertility plan).
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Chi-squared test Effect size = 0.3, alpha = 0.05, power = 0.8, Df = 1. Total sample size = 88, actual power = 0.8035275. Calculated by G*Power
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Neuromanagement Lab Institutional Review Board, Zhejiang University
IRB Approval Date
2022-03-24
IRB Approval Number
N/A
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