Managing Digital Technologies: Evidence from a Field Experiment - 2

Last registered on March 14, 2022
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Managing Digital Technologies: Evidence from a Field Experiment - 2
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0009084
Initial registration date
March 11, 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 14, 2022, 8:53 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Anwar Adem
Affiliation
University of Nottingham
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Richard Kneller
PI Affiliation
University of Nottingham
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Cher Li
PI Affiliation
University of Nottingham
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2022-02-22
End date
2022-07-17
Keywords
Firms & Productivity
Additional Keywords
Web performance, Information Provision, Productivity, UK
JEL code(s)
D22, D24, D83, L25, L66
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
The question of how firms improve their overall performance is of paramount academic importance and often at the centre of economic policies of most countries. Recently, the literature emphasises the role of management practice in achieving higher firm performance across multiple dimensions. This project aims to causally identify the effect of efficient management practice on performance improvement of digital intangible assets: business websites. To this end, we aim to undertake an information provision field experiment that is designed to encourage firms to follow better management practice and assess its effect on their website performance. Specifically, we prepare a bespoke Digital Benchmark Report that enables companies to identify, analyse, and respond to their performance metrics in line with principles of continuous performance improvement. The Report provides information on a firm's key performance metrics which is also benchmarked against their industry peers. This will be undertaken on a sample of some 400 firms in two rounds. This study answers if information provision on website performance management acts as more than a reminder in affecting firms' decision to improve their website performance and adopt web-based technologies.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Adem, Anwar, Richard Kneller and Cher Li. 2022. "Managing Digital Technologies: Evidence from a Field Experiment - 2." AEA RCT Registry. March 14. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.9084-1.0
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The intervention is an encouragement design where we provide firms with information regarding their website performances. Specifically, the information consists of speed and search engine performance. The information is provided using snail mail and/or email addresses of firms.
Intervention Start Date
2022-03-16
Intervention End Date
2022-05-02

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Our primary outcome will be whether a firm's website performance improves and it adopts new website technologies.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary outcomes include assessing where firm's web traffic and financial performance improvement.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
This is a one-arm block randomised design. Within the block, firms are randomly assigned to one of two arms:
1. a control group or
2. an informational provision group.
Experimental Design Details
After we randomly assign firms into control and treatment groups, the experiment takes two stages. In the first stage, firms in the treated group will be provided with a letter of reminder about the importance of monitoring their website performance. In the second stage, firms in the treated group will be provided with information about their web performance which is benchmarked against their industry peers. Meanwhile, the second stage control group will be provided with reminder information about the importance of monitoring their website performance.
Randomization Method
We used Stata to carry out the randomisation.
Randomization Unit
Random assignment occurs at the firm-level.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
None
Sample size: planned number of observations
406 firms
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
203 firms or 50% of firms are assigned to the treatment group and the remaining 50% assigned to a control group
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