Mass Media as a Source of Information for Making Business Decisions (a Case Study of the Russian Financial Sector)

Section: Sociology of Journalism

This paper presents the results of a study, which aim was to find out how members of the Russian business use media information and to what extent they trust it. A number of in-depth interviews with members of the Russian financial sector were conducted. The study showed that the role of mass media in the process of decision making is seen as secondary. However, there are reasons to believe that quality mass media are not a critically important but necessary source of information for making efficient business decisions. First and foremost, this is so because of the established standards of practice in quality media, including editorial selection of information.

Allen D. (2011) Information Behavior and Decision Making in Time-Constrained Practice: A Dual-Processing Perspective. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 62 (11): 2165–2181. DOI: 10.1002/asi.21601

Berryman J. M. (2008) Judgements During Information Seeking: a Naturalistic Approach to Understanding the Assessment of Enough Information. Journal of Information Science 34 (2): 196–206. DOI: 10.1177/0165551507082589

Daft R. L., Lengel, R. H. (1984) Information Richness. A New Approach to Managerial Behavior and Organization Design. Research in Organizational Behavior 6: 191–233. DOI: 10.21236/ada128980

Frey D. (1981) Postdecisional Preference for Decision Relevant Information as a Function of the Competence of Its Source and the Degree of Familiarity with This Information. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 17 (1): 51–67. DOI: 10.1016/0022-1031(81)90006-8

Gerbner G., Gross L., Morgan M., Signorielli N. (1980) The “Mainstreaming” of America: Violence Profile No. 11. Journal of Communication 30 (3): 10– 29. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1980.tb01987.x

Gregory W. L., Cialdini R. B., Carpenter K. M. (1982) Self-Relevant Scenarios as Mediators of Likelihood Estimates and Compliance: Does Imagining Make It So? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 43 (1): 89–99. DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.43.1.89

Hammond K. R. (2010) Intuition, No!... Quasirationality, Yes! Psychological Inquiry 21 (4): 327–337. DOI: 10.1080/1047840X.2010.521483

Jonas E., Schulz-Hardt S., Frey D., Thelen N. (2001) Confirmation Bias in Sequential Information Search After Preliminary Decisions: an Expansion of Dissonance Theoretical Research on Selective Exposure to Information. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 80 (4): 557–571. DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.80.4.557

Jonas E., Traut-Mattausch E., Frey D., Greenberg, J. (2008) The Path or the Goal? - Decision vs. Information Focus in Biased Information Seeking after Preliminary Decisions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 44 (4): 1180– 1186. DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2008.02.009

Kahai S. S., Cooper R. B. (2003) Exploring the Core Concepts of Media Richness Theory: the Impact of Cue Multiplicity and Feedback Immediacy on Decision Quality. Journal of Management Information Systems 20 (1): 263–299. DOI: 10.1080/07421222.2003.11045754

Kahneman D., Lovallo D. (1993) Timid Choices and Bold Forecasts: a Cognitive Perspective on Risk Taking. Management Science 39 (1): 17–31. DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.39.1.17

Katz E., Blumler J. G., Gurevitch M. (1974) Utilization of Mass Communication by the Individual. In J. G. Blumler, E. Katz (eds.) The Uses of Mass Communications: Current Perspectives on Gratifications Research. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications. Pp. 19–31.

Klapper J. T. (1960) The Effects of Mass Communication. New York: The Free Press.

Lasswell H. D. (1948) The Structure and Function of Communication in Society. In L. Bryson (ed.) The Communication of Ideas. New York: Harper and Row. Pp. 37–51.

Lazarsfeld P. F., Berelson B., Gaudet H. (1944) The People’s Choice: How the Voter Makes up His Mind in a Presidential Campaign. Columbia University Press. 

Lewin K. (1943) Forces Behind Food Habits and Methods of Change. In The Problem of Changing Food Habits. Report of the Committee on Food Habits. Washington: National Academy of Sciences. Pp. 35–65.

Lippmann W. (1922) Public Opinion. Harcourt, Brace.

McCombs M., Shaw D. (1972) The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media. Public Opinion Quarterly (36): 176–187. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/267990

Mishra J., Allen D., Pearman A. (2015) Information Seeking, Use, and Decision Making. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology 66 (4): 662–673. DOI: 10.1002/asi.23204

Sinclair M. (2010) Misconceptions About Intuition. Psychological Inquiry 21 (4): 378–386. DOI: 10.1080/1047840X.2010.523874

Shoemaker P., Vos T. (2009) Gatekeeping Theory. New York: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203931653

Valkenburg P., Peter J. (2013) The Differential Susceptibility to Media Effects Model. Journal of Communication 63 (2): 221–243. DOI: 10.1111/jcom.12024