A Cautionary Tale : An Experiment on the Stability of Business Environment Perceptions in a Firm Survey
Several studies in the literature have adopted attitude or perception-based survey questions to evaluate the business environment and its effect on firms. The Enterprise Surveys of the World Bank are not an exception. In the case of the Enterprise...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/791411617632412553/A-Cautionary-Tale-An-Experiment-on-The-Stability-of-Business-Environment-Perceptions-in-a-Firm-Survey http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35405 |
| id |
okr-10986-35405 |
|---|---|
| recordtype |
oai_dc |
| spelling |
okr-10986-354052022-09-20T00:10:28Z A Cautionary Tale : An Experiment on the Stability of Business Environment Perceptions in a Firm Survey Islam, Asif M. Rodriguez Meza, Jorge BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT FIRM SURVEY PERCEPTION OF CORRUPTION SURVEY BIAS SUBJECTIVE RESPONSE QUESTION ORDER ENTERPRISE SURVEY CONTEXT EFFECTS BUSINESS LICENSE PERMITS Several studies in the literature have adopted attitude or perception-based survey questions to evaluate the business environment and its effect on firms. The Enterprise Surveys of the World Bank are not an exception. In the case of the Enterprise Surveys, these questions involve rating an element of the business environment at the end of each section of the survey instrument. Such questions are often used but sometimes are inconsistent with responses elicited on the experience of the firm over a specific timeframe—experience-based questions. The literature is mixed as to whether perception-based questions are susceptible to anchoring or context effects. In this study, an experiment is set up to explore whether perceptions of the business environment are stable or vulnerable to the ordering of questions in the Enterprise Surveys questionnaire. The experiment entails randomizing the placement order of the perception-based questions at the end of a section or at the beginning of the survey. Significant question-order effects are uncovered only for perceptions of corruption and business licensing and permits but not the other elements, after accounting for a variety of factors. The study recommends that analysis in these two areas should go beyond perception-based questions and verify their findings with experience-based questions. 2021-04-08T16:16:16Z 2021-04-08T16:16:16Z 2021-04 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/791411617632412553/A-Cautionary-Tale-An-Experiment-on-The-Stability-of-Business-Environment-Perceptions-in-a-Firm-Survey http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35405 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9610 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English |
| topic |
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT FIRM SURVEY PERCEPTION OF CORRUPTION SURVEY BIAS SUBJECTIVE RESPONSE QUESTION ORDER ENTERPRISE SURVEY CONTEXT EFFECTS BUSINESS LICENSE PERMITS |
| spellingShingle |
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT FIRM SURVEY PERCEPTION OF CORRUPTION SURVEY BIAS SUBJECTIVE RESPONSE QUESTION ORDER ENTERPRISE SURVEY CONTEXT EFFECTS BUSINESS LICENSE PERMITS Islam, Asif M. Rodriguez Meza, Jorge A Cautionary Tale : An Experiment on the Stability of Business Environment Perceptions in a Firm Survey |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9610 |
| description |
Several studies in the literature have
adopted attitude or perception-based survey questions to
evaluate the business environment and its effect on firms.
The Enterprise Surveys of the World Bank are not an
exception. In the case of the Enterprise Surveys, these
questions involve rating an element of the business
environment at the end of each section of the survey
instrument. Such questions are often used but sometimes are
inconsistent with responses elicited on the experience of
the firm over a specific timeframe—experience-based
questions. The literature is mixed as to whether
perception-based questions are susceptible to anchoring or
context effects. In this study, an experiment is set up to
explore whether perceptions of the business environment are
stable or vulnerable to the ordering of questions in the
Enterprise Surveys questionnaire. The experiment entails
randomizing the placement order of the perception-based
questions at the end of a section or at the beginning of the
survey. Significant question-order effects are uncovered
only for perceptions of corruption and business licensing
and permits but not the other elements, after accounting for
a variety of factors. The study recommends that analysis in
these two areas should go beyond perception-based questions
and verify their findings with experience-based questions. |
| format |
Working Paper |
| author |
Islam, Asif M. Rodriguez Meza, Jorge |
| author_facet |
Islam, Asif M. Rodriguez Meza, Jorge |
| author_sort |
Islam, Asif M. |
| title |
A Cautionary Tale : An Experiment on the Stability of Business Environment Perceptions in a Firm Survey |
| title_short |
A Cautionary Tale : An Experiment on the Stability of Business Environment Perceptions in a Firm Survey |
| title_full |
A Cautionary Tale : An Experiment on the Stability of Business Environment Perceptions in a Firm Survey |
| title_fullStr |
A Cautionary Tale : An Experiment on the Stability of Business Environment Perceptions in a Firm Survey |
| title_full_unstemmed |
A Cautionary Tale : An Experiment on the Stability of Business Environment Perceptions in a Firm Survey |
| title_sort |
cautionary tale : an experiment on the stability of business environment perceptions in a firm survey |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2021 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/791411617632412553/A-Cautionary-Tale-An-Experiment-on-The-Stability-of-Business-Environment-Perceptions-in-a-Firm-Survey http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35405 |
| _version_ |
1764482958784200704 |