Are Publicly Available Online Businesses Lists Appropriate to be used as Sampling Frames in Croatian Business Surveys?

Abstract

Abstract Background: In order to conduct a probability business survey, a high quality sampling frame of enterprises is needed. Objectives: The goal of the paper is to investigate publicly available online businesses lists which can be used as sampling frames in business surveys in Croatia and to find out whether they have a satisfactory quality level. Methods/Approach: Publicly available businesses lists in Croatia are examined and their appropriateness for use in different modes of data collection as business sampling frames is inspected. The advantages and disadvantages of businesses lists are discussed and compared. Results: Overall 11 online businesses lists are considered as business sampling frames in the paper. The comparison analysis has shown that businesses lists from the government institutions are the best choice when business surveys are conducted face-to-face, by mail and/or by telephone. However, none of the observed businesses lists is good enough to be used in a business web survey. Conclusions: The research has shown that the publicly available online businesses lists are of a satisfactory level of quality only if traditional data collection modes are used. Unfortunately, they are not appropriate in business web surveys. Therefore, the development of a business register in Croatia is a prerequisite for conducting probability and representative business web surveys in the future.