On the relationship between job satisfaction and non-response in employee attitude surveys: A longitudinal field study

A longitudinal modelling approach is used to examine the effect of job satisfaction on survey non‐response in an applied employee attitude survey. Members of a large electronics company were invited to participate in the survey in each of four consecutive years. Logistic autoregressive modelling revealed a significant effect of prior non‐response on subsequent non‐response. The odds of responding to the survey in any given year were more than twice as high for individuals who had responded to the same survey 1 year before, as compared with those who did not. Prior job satisfaction was also significantly related to subsequent survey non‐response. Participants who were more satisfied on a given occasion were more likely to respond 1 year later than those who were less satisfied. At the facet level, satisfaction with supervisors contributed incrementally to the prediction of survey non‐response in subsequent years. Implications for the theoretical and methodological development of non‐response research and for the practical implementation of employee attitude surveys are discussed.