This study seeks to understand how to incentivize mobile money agents to share information with customers through displaying official MTN mobile money tariffs. We will examine this question using a randomized controlled trial (RCT).
The RCT will include two stages: first, we will offer agents an official tariff poster; and second, among the agents who were offered the poster, we will offer additional incentives for them to display the poster. The first stage will thus test how transparent the mobile money market is without any manipulation; while the second stage will examine the broader market impacts of transparency induced by incentives for posting tariffs. Namely, we want to understand if financial reward, competition with other agents or reputational incentives motivate agents to engage in transparent business practices. We will examine each incentive by implementing three unique treatments incentivizing tariff posting. Each intervention could be implemented on a large scale, meaning the RCT will offer direct guidance to policymakers on potential methods to create a more transparent market. The study will take place in 175 communities in rural Ghana.
The study team is well-suited to execute this research endeavor having just concluded a similar pilot study with promising and illuminating results. The pilot study found that financial reward alone does not appear to alter agent behavior. Individual agents who were offered the lottery were not more transparent than agents who were offered nothing. Competition with other agents and agents’ reputation with customers forces agents to be more transparent.
Agents know they are competing with other agents for customers, and often offer regular customers cash rewards or gifts. With some encouragement, transparency could be a new domain on which agents compete with each for customers’ business and loyalty.
The pilot study also enabled us to refine the study design. Based on preliminary results, the scale up will include a few modifications. The full scale RCT will include a two stage randomization; improve the communication plan; and modify one treatment arm to improve measurement.
Mobile money agents are a crucial, though understudied, part of the mobile money ecosystem. Mobile money providers and customers all rely on mobile money agents. The agents act on behalf of the provider and interface directly with the customer. Customers use agents to withdraw, deposit and even send mobile money, meaning customers need agents to fully utilize their mobile money accounts. This study will provide insights about agent behavior, market dynamics and how transparent mobile money markets are. We will shed light on why tariff posting works, results that are novel both for academic and policy purposes.
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