Assessment and decision making in the Swedish public employment service - Differences in communicating misconduct in the unemployment benefit system

Last registered on January 28, 2022
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Assessment and decision making in the Swedish public employment service - Differences in communicating misconduct in the unemployment benefit system
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0008907
Initial registration date
January 28, 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
January 28, 2022, 10:38 AM EST

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

Locations

Country
Sweden
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Niklas Ottosson
Affiliation
Inspektionen för Arbetslöshetsförsäkringen
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Ali Ahmed
PI Affiliation
Linköping University
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PI Name
Mark Granberg
PI Affiliation
Linköping University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2022-02-01
End date
2022-03-04
Keywords
Behavior, Gender, Governance, Labor, Welfare
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study sets out to investigate the assessment and decision making of administrators working at the Swedish Public Employment Service.
Focus is on whether perceived gender or ethnicity affects outcomes.

This pre-registration covers the collection of data through the use of a vignette experiment aimed at the administrators.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Ahmed, Ali, Mark Granberg and Niklas Ottosson. 2022. "Assessment and decision making in the Swedish public employment service - Differences in communicating misconduct in the unemployment benefit system." AEA RCT Registry. January 28. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.8907-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2022-02-01
Intervention End Date
2022-03-04

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Whether or not an administrator choses to send information that could lead to punitive action among recipients of unemployment benefits.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Consistecy in decision making between administrators. Interactions between respondents' background characteristics, for example sex, age and work experience.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
This is a vignette experiment in an online survey setting on a set of public sector workers in Sweden.

Respondents will be given information about a fictitious but realistic situation involving a job seeker possibly not living up to the requirements to receive unemployment benefits. The study is aimed at seeking out potential differential treatment of groups by administrators.
Experimental Design Details
Each situation includes a name and the pronouns for the fictitious job seeker in question. Repsondents will be randomly assigned either a male or female, and either a Swedish or Arabic name.
Randomization Method
Computer randomization
Randomization Unit
Unconditional randomization
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
One
Sample size: planned number of observations
Sample size consists of roughly 5280 potential respondents (administrators).
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Not applicable
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
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