Effects of COVID information on Consumer Behavior and Policy Preferences

Last registered on March 10, 2022
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Effects of COVID information on Consumer Behavior and Policy Preferences
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0009070
Initial registration date
March 08, 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 10, 2022, 9:00 PM EST

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
Jonathan Rothwell
Affiliation
Gallup
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2020-12-01
End date
2020-12-07
Keywords
Behavior, Health
Additional Keywords
COVID, consumer behavior, policy preferences, polarization, media effects
JEL code(s)
C91, D83, E21, E71, I38
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.
Abstract
We investigate the role of information exposure in shaping attitudes and behaviors related to the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic and whether baseline political affiliation and news diet mediate effects. We randomly assigned 5,009 U.S. adults to nine brief text-based segments related to the dynamics of the pandemic and the safety of various behaviors, estimating the effects on 15 binary outcomes related to COVID-19 policy preferences, expected consumer behavior, and beliefs about safety. Average effects reach significance (95% CI) in 47 out of 120 models and equal 7.4 ppt. The baseline effects are large for all outcomes except beliefs. By contrast, interaction effects by political party and media diet are significant for beliefs but rarely significant for policy and behavioral attitudes. These findings suggest partisan policy and behavioral gaps are driven, at least in part, by exposure to different information and that equalizing information sources would lead to partisan convergence in policy preferences and aspects of consumer behavior.
External Link(s)
SSRN working paper

Registration Citation

Citation
Rothwell, Jonathan. 2022. "Effects of COVID information on Consumer Behavior and Policy Preferences." AEA RCT Registry. March 10. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.9070-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

Sponsors

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
In December of 2020, we launched an experiment using the Franklin Templeton-Gallup Economics of Recovery Study containing nationally representative data from 5,009 U.S. adults. Respondents were randomly assigned to one of nine conditions. These conditions were akin to news or information that respondents may have seen as media headlines, shared social media content, or summary messages from radio or television segments. The research team purposely chose segments that conveyed more or less alarming information, while requiring the segment to be accurate, fact-based, and objectively stated. The goal of the experiment was to test the effects of high-quality information that could be readily sourced and confirmed as originating from credible public agencies or experts.
Intervention Start Date
2020-12-01
Intervention End Date
2020-12-07

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
We have 15 outcomes. Eight are measures of policy preferences, defined as support or no support for various COVID restrictions. We have four measures of planned consumer behavior within the next 30 days, and 3 measures of other beliefs about the safety of being in public, the extent to which the virus is locally under control, and plans for the vaccine. We use the most salient and alarming news segment as our reference group. Salience was determined by text search of online news websites. Thus, causal effects are calculated with respect to groups that saw widely shared negative messages.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
All outcomes are coded as binary variables to distinguish support, likelihood of consumer behavior, or belief.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
We test for interaction effects between our treatments and political party affiliation and with news diet.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Party is self-identified and news diet is measures in the survey instrument prior to the experimental exposure.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Using a nationally-representative sample of U.S. adults, we test whether information segments affect the following outcomes:
-Policy support for COVID restrictions
-Plans to engage in travel and in-person dining
-Confidence in safety of going out in public
-Belief that virus is under control
-Plans to take COVID vaccine

We also test whether these effects differ for Democrats relative to Republicans and consumers of a liberal media diet compared to a conservative media diet.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Computer
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
0
Sample size: planned number of observations
5009 adults living in the United States
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
556 across nine groups.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Gallup, Inc. IRB #1
IRB Approval Date
2020-06-30
IRB Approval Number
2020-06-01
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
December 07, 2020, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
December 07, 2020, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
0
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
5009
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
Approximately 556
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

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Program Files

Program Files
No
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Abstract
We investigate the role of information exposure in shaping attitudes and behaviors related to the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic and whether baseline political affiliation and news diet mediate effects. We randomly assigned 5,009 U.S. adults to nine brief text-based segments related to the dynamics of the pandemic and the safety of various behaviors, estimating the effects on 15 binary outcomes related to COVID-19 policy preferences, expected consumer behavior, and beliefs about safety. Average effects reach significance (95% CI) in 47 out of 120 models and equal 7.4 ppt. The baseline effects are large for all outcomes except beliefs. By contrast, interaction effects by political party and media diet are significant for beliefs but rarely significant for policy and behavioral attitudes. These findings suggest partisan policy and behavioral gaps are driven, at least in part, by exposure to different information and that equalizing information sources would lead to partisan convergence in policy preferences and aspects of consumer behavior.
Citation
Rothwell, Jonathan T. and Makridis, Christos and Ramirez, Christina and Desai, Sonal, COVID-19 Information Treatments Shift Related Policy Preferences and Plans for Consumer Behavior (June 3, 2021). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3859751 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3859751
URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3859751

Reports & Other Materials