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Valuing and representing information: the paradox of undervaluing information and overvaluing information producers

Department of Psychology, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens, Greece, sakalaki{at}panteion.gr

Smaragda Kazi

Department of Psychology, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens, Greece

Information's increasing importance in contemporary societies raises questions concerning laymen's valuation of information and of professionals producing information. The main hypotheses were: (a) potential sellers will underestimate information's value compared to that of material goods; (b) when potential buyers' involvement is high (that is high investment and high risk), sellers will demand even lower prices for information; (c) some important current functions and meanings of information are not assimilated in social representations of information; (d) by contrast, participants must overvalue the remuneration of professionals producing pure information (invention) compared to those who apply this information to produce material goods. An experimental study confirmed hypotheses (a) and (b). A second study to investigate the structure of information's social representations showed that the representation's central core is mainly composed of categories referring to traditional media, functions and technologies; contemporary functions and technologies are less frequent or absent. A third experimental study confirmed hypothesis (d).

Key Words: common knowledge • information/knowledge producers • involvement • lay thinking • remuneration of intellectual professionals • social representation • valuation of information

This version was published on April 1, 2009

Journal of Information Science, Vol. 35, No. 2, 153-164 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0165551508094936


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