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Firms’ demand for working from home during a pandemic - a discrete choice experiment in Poland.

Last registered on March 04, 2022
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Firms’ demand for working from home during a pandemic - a discrete choice experiment in Poland.
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0008796
Initial registration date
March 03, 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 04, 2022, 9:14 AM EST

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

Locations

Country
Poland
Region
Mazowieckie

Primary Investigator

Name
Mateusz Smoter
Affiliation
Institute for Structural Research
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Piotr Lewandowski
PI Affiliation
Institute for Structural Research, Institute of Labour Economics
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Katarzyna Lipowska
PI Affiliation
Institute for Structural Research, University of Warsaw
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2022-03-15
End date
2022-09-30
Keywords
Behavior, Labor
Additional Keywords
Working from home, willingness to pay, COVID-19, discrete choice, employers
JEL code(s)
J22, 31, C35
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed working from home from a rarity to a widely adopted job amenity that reduces exposure to the virus and changes the organization of work. Our project aims to assess firms’ preferences towards working from home. It will evaluate to what extent these preferences depend on subjective and objective assessments of COVID-19 related risks, and to what extent on individual and firm characteristics. To this aim, we will conduct a discrete choice experiment to estimate employers’ willingness to pay for a job amenity – working from home.

The project will contribute to the understanding of social behavior, especially regarding the organization of work and firms’ hiring practices during a pandemic and its aftermath.

This project is a follow-up of the research in which we investigated workers' preferences to work from home (RCT ID: AEARCTR-0007373). Within this research, we will investigate the employers’ preferences.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Lewandowski, Piotr, Katarzyna Lipowska and Mateusz Smoter. 2022. "Firms’ demand for working from home during a pandemic - a discrete choice experiment in Poland.." AEA RCT Registry. March 04. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.8796-1.0
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Discrete choice experiment - study participants (employers and HR specialists) will choose between hypothetical profiles of the candidates applying for a job offer. The profiles will differ in terms of wages and candidates' willingness to work from home.
Intervention Start Date
2022-03-31
Intervention End Date
2022-04-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Willingness to pay (WTP) for work from home.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Willingness to choose a candidate who work from home
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The study will be based on the internet survey (CAWI). In the first part of the survey, we will collect basic information about participants’ socio-demographic characteristics and characteristics of their company. Afterwards, we will introduce a discrete choice framework and ask all participants to state their preferences over hypothetical candidates applying for a job offer. The candidates will differ in terms of expected wages and willingness to work from home. Each study participant will be shown five screens. On each screen, there will be profiles of two candidates applying for a job offer. Each pair of candidates will vary in terms of two attributes: the willingness to work from home and the expected wage. Candidate A will be willing to work from the office, Candidate B from home: 5 days a week or 2-3 days a week. The number of days possible to work from home in the case of Candidate B will be selected randomly (with equal probability). The expected wage of the Candidate A will be equal to the standard wage at this position in the company. The wage in the case of the Candidate B will be randomized (uniform distribution) in the range of {-24%,-20%,-16%,…,0,…,16%,20%,24%} deviations from the expected wage of the Candidate A.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Vignette's attributes will be randomized by a computer.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
The design is not clustered.
Sample size: planned number of observations
We plan to recruit 1300 individuals - employers and HR specialists who are responsible for hiring new employees. We plan to present 5 choice sets to each participant. It will give us 6500 observations (choices).
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
1300 individuals.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Rector's Committee for Ethics of Research with Human Participants, University of Warsaw
IRB Approval Date
2022-02-11
IRB Approval Number
125/2022
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