Information source importance, quality evaluation, and scanning for China’s political environment: A government official’s perspective

Due to China’s political and economic systems, the government at all levels is an important stakeholder for corporations there. Government affairs managers strive at collecting and analyzing information on upcoming government initiatives and policies that link to organizations’ strategic decision making. This study examines how Chinese government officials prioritize sources for government information and evaluate information quality gathered from each source in China’s political and cultural context. 82 Chinese government officials participated in the survey online and by mail. TV, government officials/party members, newspapers, and government web sites were the most important information sources. Information quality from each source was perceived differently in six aspects: trustworthiness, timeliness, usefulness, accessibility, conformability, and cultural sensitivity. Government officials’ title, media use, and media trust had effect on their evaluation of information source and quality. Implications were provided to government affairs mangers in China by triangulating previous findings from the corporate manager’s perspective.