The Level of Detail in Relative Performance Information – Effects of Median and Distribution Reporting in the Workplace

Last registered on November 05, 2021

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

The Level of Detail in Relative Performance Information – Effects of Median and Distribution Reporting in the Workplace

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0008463

Initial registration date

November 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

November 05, 2021, 7:48 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country

Germany

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Timo Vogelsang

Affiliation

Frankfurt School of Finance and Management

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Matthias Mahlendorf

PI Affiliation

Frankfurt School of Finance and Management

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Mischa Seiter

PI Affiliation

Ulm University

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Maximilian Kohler

PI Affiliation

Ulm University

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2021-08-01

End date

2022-12-31

Keywords

Firms & Productivity, Labor

Additional Keywords

Relative Performance Information, Field Experiment, Social Comparison, Performance Distribution

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

A central choice in designing social comparison is whether to provide an aggregated reference point or the distribution of peer performance. To test the performance effects of this design choice in the workplace, we will conduct a field experiment with a German retail chain. We randomly assign store employees to a control group that only receives information about their own performance, one treatment group that additionally gets information about the aggregate performance (median) of the other employees and a second treatment group that receives the whole performance distribution (deciles). We expect both treatments to increase the performance of the employees. As we introduce relative performance information in an ahead-seeking environment, we expect that providing information on peer performance will increase performance variance and that providing the median will lead to a larger performance variance than providing the performance distribution. This is important because higher performance variance might allow to identify top performers, but at the same time also carries the risk to create disutility due to inequality.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Kohler, Maximilian et al. 2021. "The Level of Detail in Relative Performance Information – Effects of Median and Distribution Reporting in the Workplace." AEA RCT Registry. November 05. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.8463-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

Intervention Start Date

2021-11-03

Intervention End Date

2022-02-04

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Average Sales per Transaction

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Survey responses (satisfaction, stress, team behavior), sales, number of transactions,

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

We will introduce a digital app that enables sales employees in the butchery, cheese, and fish departments to analyze their average receipt. Our study’s experimental design consists of a control group (CON) and two randomly assigned treatment groups (MED, DIS). The control group and the treatment groups each receive different reports in the digital app, which are updated every two weeks. The intervention will take place in two phases. In phase one, employees of all groups receive the basic design of the control group over a period of one month (already started in October 2021). In the experimental phase (second phase), treatment groups are informed of the median performance (MED) and performance deciles (DIS) of employees in their department across comparable stores (of similar size) over a period of 3 months. The reports are completely anonymous and do not allow conclusions about individual performance data of peers.

Control Group (CON)
To avoid possible contamination effects due to the implementation of the app and effects that are driven simply by increased attention on the new performance metric employees in the CON group receive a report about their average receipt too. They will be informed about their average receipt of the past two weeks as well the development of their average receipt over the last six weeks. In order to be able to distinguish the effect of the treatments from the effect of the introduction of the app, employees of all groups receive only the design of the CON group in the first phase of the experiment.

Treatment Median (MED)
Employees in the MED treatment group receive a report similar to the control group. In addition, they receive the median of employees from their department from comparable stores over the last two weeks. Below the chart on the median of the comparison group, employees are informed in a sentence whether their average receipt exceeds the median average receipt of the comparison group or not.

Treatment Distribution (DIS)
Employees in the DIS treatment group receive a report similar to the control group. In addition, they receive the average receipt of the performance deciles of employees from their department from comparable stores over the last two weeks. Below the graph on the deciles of the comparison group, employees are informed in a sentence to which decile they belong.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Stratified cluster randomization. We stratify our randomization based on store size (which is also a proxy for the number of employees and length of the sales counter) and average sales per transaction prior the experiment (as a proxy for potential leeway to further increase the outcome variable).

Randomization Unit

Store level

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

42 stores

Sample size: planned number of observations

approx. 700 employees

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

Control Group: 14 stores, approx. 220 employees
MED: 14 stores, approx. 220 employees
DIS: 14 stores, approx. 220 employees

Please note that the eventual number of employees can change due to fluctuation.

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

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB