Alternative, Mainstream, and Everything In Between: Information-Seeking Repertoires in Prolonged Crises

Abstract

Despite a rapidly changing media environment, research on information-seeking during crises has often departed from traditional assumptions, focusing either on organizational communication perspectives or on how individuals turn to single sources. This dissertation introduces a novel framework for understanding how individuals combine different types of sources in so-called information-seeking repertoires during a societal crisis.

The thesis comprises four studies conducted in the context of prolonged, oscillating, societal crises. It advances our understanding of how individuals combine information sources and how such repertoires change across phases of a societal crisis. It contributes by offering insights into (i) the dual nature of information-seeking repertoires as both stable and dynamic in prolonged, oscillating, crises, (ii) the role of individual factors such as trust and emotions in shaping repertoires, and (iii) differences in informationseeking dynamics across social groups. Taken together, the findings highlight the value of moving beyond information-seeking from single sources to analyze the combination of sources individuals use, with implications for both theory and crisis communication practice.