Promoting written employment contracts: evidence from a randomised awareness campaign
通过科特迪瓦的随机实验，评估群体意识运动能否改变农民对书面合同的偏好，发现该运动增加了农民对书面合同及工人福利条款的偏好，并促使他们采取实际签约步骤。
Abstract Written employment contracts may improve the conditions of agricultural workers in developing countries, but farmers as employers often prefer less formal oral arrangements. We evaluate whether farmers’ preferences, which are deeply rooted in traditional norms, can be influenced through a group awareness campaign. In a randomised experiment in Côte d’Ivoire, we show that such a campaign increases farmers’ preferences for written contracts and for contract features involving social benefits for workers. The campaign also increases farmers’ likelihood to initiate concrete steps towards signing a contract with their workers. We conclude that group-based interventions can change farmers’ traditional views about employment relations.