Review Management

Last registered on July 12, 2022

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Review Management
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0009723
Initial registration date
July 09, 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
July 12, 2022, 1:50 PM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Yale University

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2022-06-29
End date
2022-06-30
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
The simple RCT tests an assumption that the "flagging" reviews in Glassdoor significantly increases the review's likelihood of being removed. Different from Twitter, Glassdoor does not involve in active content moderation process, and companies should not count on Glassdoor to spontaneously take down their unfavorable reviews. Any missing review is then likely the results of the company's effort.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Gong, Ping. 2022. "Review Management." AEA RCT Registry. July 12. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.9723-1.0
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
This is a reporting experiment, and the intervention is ``flagging'' the reviews.
Intervention (Hidden)
More specifically, I click "Report'', select "This review violates Glassdoor's guidelines'' from the drop-down menu, and then fill in the additional information "This review contains an R-word (i.e., 'retard' or 'retarded'). According to Glassdoor’s Review Guidelines bullet point #6, reviews that include 'discriminatory language targeted at an individual or group' are not allowed. The R-word is a slur. It is highly offensive and discriminatory and further entrenches stereotypes of persons with disabilities. In 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Rosa Act, which changed the term 'mental retardation' to 'intellectual disability' in federal law. The R-word is hurtful and should not be used as a synonym for 'stupid', regardless of whether it is aimed at people with disabilities.''
Intervention Start Date
2022-06-29
Intervention End Date
2022-06-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
I observe the actions taken by Glassdoor.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
I expect four types of potential responses from Glassdoor after receiving the report: (i) investigate the review and remove the review, (ii) investigate the review and retain the review, (iii) investigate the review and ask for updates to the review, and (iv) ignore the report.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
After obtaining a sample of reviews containing slurs, I randomly separate them into treatment and experimental arms. I also test balance in pre-treatment review characteristics including overall rating, current employee status, a variable indicating whether the slur describes people (not process), the age of the review, length of review, the voluntary disclosure of location, and the voluntary disclosure of job title.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
The randomization done in office by a computer.
Randomization Unit
A review
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
82
Sample size: planned number of observations
82
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
41
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number

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