Abstract :
Among managers, those who are responsible for nonprofit
organizations in general and arts organizations
in particular have been an understudied group. These
managers have much in common with their for-profit
counterparts, but their environment also differs in significant
ways. The goal of this exploratory research effort
was to identify how senior administrators in fine arts
museums and symphony orchestras go about identifying
and acquiring the information they want to complete
a range of management tasks. Deciding when and where
to look for information, obtaining the “right” information
at the time it is needed, evaluating its credibility and utility,
and determining when “enough” information has
been collected are challenges facing this group of information
users every day. A multiple-case studies design
involving a replication strategy was selected to structure
the research process. Data were collected from 12 arts
administrators using a pretested interview protocol that
included the Critical Incident Technique. Patterns in the
data were identified, and the data were further reviewed
for disconfirming evidence. The study resulted in a list of
the types and sources of information that arts administrators
use as well as a list of the factors or “stopping
criteria” that influence them to end their informationseeking
process. A model describing the way in which
arts administrators go about acquiring the information
they want was also developed. The main findings of the
study are (a) arts administrators do not consider information
seeking to be a discrete management task, (b)
they rely heavily on direct personal experience to fill
their information-seeking needs, and (c) they are “satisficers”
when it comes to seeking information. Based on
Simon’s alternative to rational choice theory, satisficers
are people who are willing to pursue a “good enough”
option rather than the best possible option (maximizers)
(Simon, 1956). Since arts administrators have not been
studied in the context of LIS research before, understanding
more about where they go for information, what
factors influence the level of effort they are willing to
invest in seeking information, and how they decide when
they have “enough” information provides insights into
the information-seeking behavior of a new user group.
Furthermore, although this research effort is focused on
specific users in a specific field, the results from this
study may be compared to what we already know about
other user groups to confirm and expand existing models
of information-seeking behavior.
