The Information Gathering Practices of City Officials

Abstract

<jats:p>The pressures on city officials warrant much more research into their evaluations of the sources of information available to them. In more complex times, are they turning more to technical and professional informational supports? How does their reliance on such sources compare to their use of other sources such as the media and contacts with the public? Do mayors and city managers differ on such questions, as one might expect? Using a more elaborate set of questions about this topic than used in previous research, this survey of mayors and city managers in Florida asked them to rate the importance of the information sources they use in decision making. The results permitted comparisons of a public responsiveness model of information-use and a professional-technical model, which usually have been treated separately in previous research. Results indicate that the mayors and city managers showed marked similarities, with the vast majority concentrating on contacts with the public. Far fewer find professional and technical sources and media sources particularly useful. City managers thus showed less reliance than we expected on technical-professional sources, except for some tendencies to do so (1) more than mayors, (2) more in larger cities, and (3) more when they feel government should be less active. The study thus supports researchers who have suggested that city managers play a stronger political and public relations role than idealized conceptions of their role suggest More importantly, it contributes some useful findings about information use by city officials and suggests important avenues for further research.</jats:p>