Understanding faculty survey nonrespondents: Their characteristics, organizational citizenship behaviors, workplace attitudes, and reasons for nonparticipation

College and university administrators frequently survey their faculty to inform decisions affecting the academic workplace. Higher education researchers, too, rely heavily on survey methodologies in their scholarly work. Survey response rates, however, have been declining steadily for decades, and when nonrespondents and respondents systematically differ on variables relevant to the instrument, the resulting nonresponse bias may lead those interpreting the data to erroneous conclusions. Despite the potentially corrosive impact of nonrandom missing data, relatively few scholarly studies—and fewer organizational reports—consider or control it.

Guided by the framework of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), this research proposed to determine if faculty who respond to institutional surveys differ meaningfully from those who do not. Interpretation and implications of these findings are discussed for administrators and researchers, with particular consideration given to the faculty context of shared governance.