Correlates of Response Outcomes among Organizational Key Informants

Abstract

Response rate research among individual respondents is applied to key-informant methodology in organizational research. Five organizational samples (two industry-specific samples and three cross-industry samples) are examined to assess the extent to which research procedures, informant characteristics, and organizational characteristics affect response outcomes. Three response outcomes are of interest: response rates (proportion of sample participating), response speed (number of days to respond), and amount of missing data. Response rates in the five samples ranged from 19% to 71%. Research procedures are related to response outcomes, but the data are mostly suggestive and not conclusive with respect to the relationships of informant and organizational characteristics to response outcomes. Implications of these results for key-informant methodology are discussed.