ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Higher Education
No Silver Bullet for Online Survey Response Propensity: Evidence from Saudi Faculty and Graduate Students
Provisionally accepted
- King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia
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Survey methodology in higher education represents a cornerstone of educational research, with survey participation metrics serving as a key indicator of methodological rigor and validity. This study investigated the factors influencing self-reported response propensity among faculty members and graduate students within a Saudi higher-education context. Using a cross-sectional design, data were collected through a web-based questionnaire from 112 participants, including 41 faculty members and 71 graduate students from the College of Education. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) using SmartPLS 3.0 was employed to evaluate both measurement and structural models. The results indicated that all design-related factors significantly and positively influenced the likelihood of responding to online academic surveys. Among these factors, Authority/Belonging exerted the strongest effect on response propensity (f² = 2.109), followed by Reminders/Advance Notice (f² = 1.049), Ethical Issues (f² = 0.934), Survey Structure (f² = 0.815), and Motivation/Incentives (f² = 0.735). These findings highlight the pivotal role of credibility cues, ethical transparency, and structured follow-up strategies in enhancing response propensity. The
Keywords: Higher Education 3, Online Survey Methodology 1, PLS-SEM 4, Saudi Arabia5, Survey Response Propensity 2
Received: 18 Dec 2025; Accepted: 19 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Al-Abdullatif. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Fatimah Abdullah Al-Abdullatif
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