Abstract
Performance information research has grown rapidly over the last decade with much research emphasizing the importance of how information is framed, presented, and communicated by using a distinct rhetorical appeal. In this study, we examine how the framing, format, and rhetoric of performance information influences preferences among elected politicians. We study the direct effects of how information is presented. We also argue that performance information is always a mixture of different frames, formats, and rhetorical appeals and that it is therefore important to account for interaction effects. Using a large-scale survey experiment with responses from 1,406 Italian local politicians, we find that framing and ethos-based rhetoric affect politicians’ responses to performance information. We also find that the format of presentation is important in several ways. Thus, politicians are more likely to support the status quo when information is presented graphically rather than textually, and a graphical format furthermore reduces the impact of ethos-based rhetoric and – to a lesser extent – the impact of equivalence framing.
Highlights
Performance information research has grown rapidly over the last decade with much research emphasizing the importance of how information is framed, presented, and communicated by using a distinct rhetorical appeal
They tend to examine the explanatory factors in isolation bias in the interpretation of performance information in political systems will likely be a product of framing, rhetoric, and format
The results show that framing of performance information has a strong effect on politicians’ preferences, as does rhetoric and presentation format, to a lesser extent
Summary
Performance information research has grown rapidly over the last decade with much research emphasizing the importance of how information is framed, presented, and communicated by using a distinct rhetorical appeal. Empirical studies of the literature on framing, format, and rhetoric are Baekgaard et al, 2019 largely based on samples drawn outside political systems (see e.g., Druckman, 2001; Tait et al, 2010) They tend to examine the explanatory factors in isolation bias in the interpretation of performance information in political systems will likely be a product of framing, rhetoric, and format. We study actual political decision-makers (rather than random samples of citizens) and examine (in a largen 3 x 4 x 2 survey experimental design) how framing, rhetoric, and format interact when information is presented. They demonstrate that the provision of performance data on elected officials who show low performance encourages greater responsibility attribution to bureaucratic leaders In line with these results, we expect that the framing of information matters to how the information is interpreted by political decision-makers
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