Survey response rate levels and trends in organizational research

TLDR

Electronic data collection methods such as email, phone, and web can achieve response rates comparable to or higher than traditional mail. The study investigates survey response rates in organizational research. The authors analyzed 1,607 studies from 2000–2005 across 17 journals, identified 490 survey studies covering over 100,000 organizations and 400,000 individuals, and examined their response rates. Average individual‑level response rates were 52.7 % (SD 20.4) and organization‑level rates 35.7 % (SD 18.8); rates remained stable over the decade, were higher in U.S.

Abstract

This study examines the response rates for surveys used in organizational research. We analysed 1607 studies published in the years 2000 and 2005 in 17 refereed academic journals, and we identified 490 different studies that utilized surveys. We examined the response rates in these studies, which covered more than 100,000 organizations and 400,000 individual respondents. The average response rate for studies that utilized data collected from individuals was 52.7 percent with a standard deviation of 20.4, while the average response rate for studies that utilized data collected from organizations was 35.7 percent with a standard deviation of 18.8. Key insights from further analysis include relative stability in response rates in the past decade and higher response rates for journals published in the USA. The use of incentives was not found to be related to response rates and, for studies of organizations, the use of reminders was associated with lower response rates. Also, electronic data collection efforts (e.g. email, phone, web) resulted in response rates as high as or higher than traditional mail methodology. We discuss a number of implications and recommendations.