Publication
Title
Surviving information overload : how elite politicians select information
Author
Abstract
Information in politics is overabundant. Especially elite politicians are bombarded with information. Politicians must be selective to stay on top of the information torrent. Aggregate-level work within the bounded rationality framework showed that information selection is at the core of decision making. Yet, an answer to the question as to how individual elite politicians go about selecting information is lacking. We know that they unavoidably do, but how exactly they perform this selection task remains largely unknown. The article draws on interviews with 14 party leaders and ministers in Belgium about their information processing. We present a typology, and a funnel, of consecutive information selection mechanisms and attitudes. Politicians partially outsource their information selection to procedures and/or staffers, they personally apply rigorous rules of thumb about what to attend to and what not, and they compensate the pressure and constant risk of messing up with a large dose of self-confidence.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Governance: an international journal of policy and administration. - Oxford
Publication
Oxford : 2017
ISSN
0952-1895 [print]
1468-0491 [online]
DOI
10.1111/GOVE.12209
Volume/pages
30 :2 (2017) , p. 229-244
ISI
000397490000006
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
Information-processing by individual political actors. The determinants of exposure, attention and action.
Information-processing by individual political actors. The determinants of exposure, attention and action in a comparative perspective (INFOPOL).
Publication type
Subject
Law 
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 30.11.2016
Last edited 09.10.2023
To cite this reference