The Impact of Politicians' Personality on Their Media Use

Even though political decisions are shaped based on interactions with different sources (e.g., sources within the party, expert reports, or meetings with citizens), the media are considered by politicians to be an especially important factor in their daily work. The media provide politicians with facts and commentary on the most salient issues on the public agenda, serve as a proxy for public opinion, and provide a way to learn the positions of other politicians. While the importance of the media for politicians is clear, it is also obvious that not all of them rely on it as an information source to the same extent. But what factors shape the media use of politicians? While previous studies examine this question mainly from an institutional perspective (e.g., being an opposition vs. coalition member), this study focuses on core individual-level differences. Building on previous research demonstrating that the Big Five personality traits of citizens have a considerable impact on their use of the media as an information source, we explore the same associations among a unique sample of 410 incumbent politicians from three countries (Belgium, Canada, and Israel). Our investigation finds that the more conscientious (i.e., hardworking, organized, and thorough) and the more open to experience (i.e., creative, imaginative, and sophisticated) a politician is, the less likely he or she will be to use the media as a source of information about political issues. In conclusion, we discuss the contribution of these results to our understanding of political representation and emphasize the consequentiality of personality traits to elite political behavior.