Diversity, Job Search, and Disclosure: A Field Experiment

Last registered on August 05, 2021
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Diversity, Job Search, and Disclosure: A Field Experiment
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0008009
Initial registration date
August 02, 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
August 05, 2021, 5:26 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Jung Ho Choi
Affiliation
Stanford University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Kristina Rennekamp
PI Affiliation
Cornell University
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PI Name
Sorabh Tomar
PI Affiliation
Southern Methodist University
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PI Name
Joseph Pacelli
PI Affiliation
Harvard University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2021-05-01
End date
2022-12-31
Keywords
Behavior, Gender, Labor
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
D83, J16, J64
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Human capital represents one of the most important intangible assets for a firm. According to some recent estimates, nearly 84% of the
value of S&P500 companies is derived from a firm's human capital. Despite being a primary driver of firm value, disclosure requirements
on human capital have been practically non-existent until recently. On August 26, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission finalized
a new requirement to fill this gap. The new disclosure requirement mandates that beginning on November 8, 2020, firms provide a
description of their human capital resources if such resources are deemed material to the understanding of the company's business. The
objective of our study is to assess how informative the new human capital disclosures are and how this type of DEI information influences job seekers' job application decisions.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Choi, Jung Ho et al. 2021. "Diversity, Job Search, and Disclosure: A Field Experiment." AEA RCT Registry. August 05. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.8009-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Send emails to those you consider active job-seekers, using one of three versions. These three versions would be (1) the “standard” version with a list of available jobs, (2) a version with the same list of jobs, but also including a small image next to each listing that provides a job board website’s diversity score for the firm, and (3) a version with the same list of jobs, but instead of including the image for the diversity score it would include an image with one of the other scores calculated by a job board website.
Intervention Start Date
2021-06-19
Intervention End Date
2021-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
At a high level, the goal of this is to see whether higher diversity scores between firms further increase attention to a job posting and whether this behavior varies with the demographics of the job seeker.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Send emails to those you consider active job-seekers, using one of three versions. These three versions would be (1) the “standard” version with a list of available jobs, (2) a version with the same list of jobs, but also including a small image next to each listing that provides a job board website’s diversity score for the firm, and (3) a version with the same list of jobs, but instead of including the image for the diversity score it would include an image with one of the other scores calculated by a job board website.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
A computer randomizes users for different groups based on a number generated for each user of a job board website.
Randomization Unit
The randomization is at the individual level.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
100,000 potential users of a job board website
Sample size: planned number of observations
We plan to analyze more than 100,000 potential users of a job board website.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Each treatment arm will get more than 30,000 potential users interested in a job search.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Stanford University
IRB Approval Date
2021-05-19
IRB Approval Number
60700
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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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