Which Businesses Answer Surveys? Evidence from Dutch Administrative Data

I leverage a unique administrative register covering the universe of establishments in the Netherlands to examine how characteristics differ between establishments that do and do not respond to business surveys. Only 19% of Dutch establishments responded to regional business surveys in 2022. Responsive establishments employ fewer people, and exhibit higher parttime employment rates, than unresponsive establishments. Sectoral response rates vary by up to 32 percentage points. Enterprises registered to residential addresses comprise over 70% of establishments, yet exhibit response rates 18 percentage points lower than an average office. However, controlling for contact probability reveals that the majority of sectoral and occupational variation in response rates can be traced back to differences in contact probability rather than responsiveness. These findings highlight challenges in the representativeness and generalizability of business survey data, as well as opportunities to improve the design of business surveys.