Public Trust in Organizations

Last registered on November 01, 2021

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Public Trust in Organizations
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0008458
Initial registration date
October 28, 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
November 01, 2021, 11:41 AM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
University of Konstanz
PI Affiliation
University of Bremen

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2021-11-02
End date
2022-06-30
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Public trust is crucial for the functioning of many organizations, such as central banks. Therefore, it is important to understand which institutional characteristics affect it. More specifically, we ask whether an individualistic or a collectivist structure makes an organization more trustworthy; and whether or not communication in the form of organizational mission-statements increases public trust. To address these questions, we study repeated versions of a basic trust game in which the trustee is an organization where decisions are either made by an individual or a collective. A game-theoretic analysis implies that public trust may or may not occur for a collectivist structure with overlapping terms of decision-makers but that public trust is impossible to achieve for an organization dominated by an individual. We propose a laboratory experiment to test our theoretical predictions and to assess the scope for trust when theory does not make unambiguous predictions.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Bao, Yongping, Sebastian Fehrler and Volker Hahn. 2021. "Public Trust in Organizations." AEA RCT Registry. November 01. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.8458-1.0
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2021-11-02
Intervention End Date
2022-03-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
cooperation rate
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We conduct 4 treatments varying the number of decision-makers in the organization and the structure of organizations.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Subjects are randomly assigned to one of the treatments in the lab.
Randomization Unit
Experimental sessions
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
1
Sample size: planned number of observations
432 subjects
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
126 subjects in collectivist treatment; 54 subjects in individualistic treatment.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
German Association for Experimental Economic Research e.V.
IRB Approval Date
2021-10-28
IRB Approval Number
hHfzcnUE
Analysis Plan

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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