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The study investigates the information-related challenges as well as the practices adopted by early-career researchers during transitions between roles and institutions. Its primary goal is to delve into how information behaviors serve as scaffolding during significant life shifts. Moreover, the research aims to provide actionable insights based on this scaffolding concept for individuals navigating transitions.

This preliminary and exploratory study took a phenomenological approach to examine the role of information seeking and personal information management (PIM) behaviors during life transitions. In-depth semi-structured interviews were held with 15 early-career researchers from various disciplines, who were about to finish their PhDs or had recently graduated.

By employing information seeking and PIM practices, participants were able to address three main information challenges that arose during the transition process: the timing of information behavior, the nature of information and the social components of the transition. The use of networked and independent information seeking/validation practices enabled to establish a sustainable network of transition-related information, reducing uncertainty. PIM practices helped planning the transition, maintaining information over the long-term and gaining control over personal information.

This study underscores the significance of information behaviors, encompassing both information seeking and PIM, as scaffolding mechanisms during crucial life transitions. It offers essential insights that can guide the creation of impactful interventions and resources. Additionally, the research illuminates the pressing demand for more in-depth exploration in this domain.

The higher-level aim of this study is to investigate the impact of health information needs satisfaction on the fear of COVID-19 for the general population. The investigation is theoretically grounded on Wilsons’ model of information seeking in the context of inquesting the reasons for seeking health information as well as the information sources the general population deploy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This cross-sectional survey examines the correlations between health information seeking behavior and the COVID-19 generated fear in the general population through the application of a specially designed structured questionnaire which was distributed online. The questionnaire comprised four main distinct research dimensions (i.e. information needs, information sources, obstacles when seeking information and COVID-19 generated fear) that present significant validity levels.

Individuals were motivated to seek COVID-related health information to cope with the pandemic generated uncertainty. Information needs satisfaction as well as digital health literacy levels is associated with the COVID-19 generated fear in the general population. Finally, a conceptual framework based on Wilsons’ macro-model for information seeking behavior was developed to illustrate information needs satisfaction during the pandemic period. These results indicate the need for incentives to enhance health information needs satisfaction appropriately.

The COVID-19 generated fear in the general population is studied through the information seeking behavior lenses. A well-studied theoretical model for information seeking behavior is adopted for health-related information seeking during pandemic. Finally, digital health information literacy levels are also associated with the fear of COVID-19 reported in the authors’ survey.

Social media have been playing a critical role in seeking and sharing health related information and consequently shaping individuals’ health behaviors. This study investigates how information seeking about Covid-19 vaccine on social media is related to vaccine receiving intentions. The study furthers explores the association of trust in social media and uncertainty about Covid-19 with information seeking and the moderating role of prior social media experience on this association.

We developed a questionnaire and collected data from 525 educated social media users through “Google Forms.” Further, we applied ordinary least squares (OLS) regress to test the study hypothesis.

We noted that trust in social media and uncertainty about Covid-19 vaccine positively influenced information seeking which further positively affected vaccine receiving intentions. However, the moderating effect of prior social media experience was not only noted as weak but also found negatively affecting the associations of trust in social media and uncertainty about Covid-19 vaccine with information seeking.

The findings provide insights into understanding of public perceptions regarding Covid-19 vaccine in the cultural contexts of a developing country. Further, it informs about the public patterns of seeking information related to health issues on social media, an understanding which may likely benefit policymakers, health care providers and researchers to understand the antecedents and behavioral outcomes of seeking information through social media during health crisis. The study also elucidates the leveraging power of social media to motivate the public to accept the Covid-19 vaccines.

The study uniquely combines the antecedents and behavioral outcomes of information seeking through social media in the particular context of Covid-19. It further extends the literature by introducing the conditional role of prior social media experience.

Quality of life is dependent on a healthy lifestyle and the self-care behavior of individuals. The study's purpose is to find out the determinants of individuals' self-care behavior. As such, self-care behavior is influenced by several factors that include individual knowledge, available information sources and their use, information-seeking related skills and cognitive state.

A quantitative research design followed using a questionnaire-based survey method. A total of 384 responses from the Pakistani public were collected using the convenience sampling technique. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed for examining the possible link between the variables.

Health literacy, Internet and social media use, and health information-seeking behavior had a direct/indirect positive impact on self-care behavior, but health anxiety had a negative impact. Health literacy and health information-seeking behavior positively mediated the relationship among Internet and social media use health anxiety and self-care.

Improving health literacy appears to be key to supporting better self-care, but it is an exploratory study, more research is required to confirm these findings. Policymakers, health professionals and information professionals should work together to improve health literacy and support informed self-care among the population.

Thus far, no previous study has examined the collective role of social media exposure, health anxiety, health literacy and health information-seeking behavior as predictors of self-care behavior. Although self-care behavior among the general population might be different compared to chronic patients, only few studies have examined the former as a unit of analysis.

Based on the social interaction theory and trust theory, this study investigates the switching of users on social question and answer (Q&A) platforms from knowledge seekers to knowledge contributors.

We used Python to gather data from Zhihu, performed hypothesis testing on the models using Poisson regression and finally conducted a mediation effect analysis.

The findings reveal that knowledge seeking impacts users' motivation for information interaction, emotional interaction and trust. Notably, information interaction and trust exhibit a chained mediation effect that subsequently influences knowledge contribution.

Current studies on user knowledge behavior typically examine individual actions, rarely connecting knowledge seeking and knowledge contribution. However, the balance of knowledge inflow and outflow is crucial for social Q&A platforms. To cover this gap, this paper empirically investigates the switching between knowledge seeking and knowledge contribution based on the social interaction theory and trust theory.

This study aims to investigate the everyday life information seeking behavior of transgender people in Pakistan.

A quantitative study, based on a survey design, was conducted to explore the everyday information needs of transgender people along with the types and frequency of using information sources. This study further explored the barriers to seeking everyday life information. Data were collected from 378 transgender people from Pakistan.

Music related information was the most important daily life information need and television appeared as one of the primary information sources frequently consulted by the transgender people. The respondents revealed a variety of challenges in accessing information including lack of education, lack of understanding about available information sources, biased treatment by the public and lack of technological skills. Furthermore, a statistically significant difference was found in everyday information needs and sources consulted on the basis of their age and education.

The findings provide a guideline to educate information providers, government agencies and other stakeholders about the information needs of this marginalized community in Pakistan. This study also suggests ways in which stakeholder may improve information systems and services to better assist transgender people.

Targeting the common functions of the Zhejiang Library website, elderly individuals were invited to complete six experimental tasks on the improved website interfaces, and subjective data (PAD emotion scale and usability evaluation) and objective data (eye movement data) were recorded to verify the effects of graphic layout and navigation position on the information-seeking experience of elderly individuals.

This study analyzes the effect of the graphic layout and navigation position of the Zhejiang Library’s website interface on the emotional state, perceived usability and information-seeking time of elderly individuals, with the aim of providing guidance and suggestions for the elderly-oriented reform of the public library website.

The experimental results show that the graphic layout has a significant effect on the emotional state and perceived usability of elderly individuals, and the navigation position has a significant effect on the information-seeking time; the interaction between graphic layout and navigation position exerts a significant effect on the information-seeking time of elderly individuals. The eye movement data show that elderly individuals have a better information-seeking experience when the top navigation bar and image-text matched arrangement are used for the interface layout.

This study adopts a new approach combining subjective data and eye movement data to evaluate the effect of the public library website’s interface layout on the information-seeking experience for older people. The findings can provide a theoretical basis and methodological support for the elderly-oriented reform of public library websites. They can also provide scientific design suggestions for age-friendly interface layouts of other Internet products and service applications.

The aim of this study is to investigate how the information needs satisfaction of visual art teachers affects their creativity. Visual art teachers’ information seeking behaviour and specifically the association of information needs satisfaction with creativity has been an understudied area, despite competent information seeking being considered essential for high quality practices of art teachers.

A questionnaire survey was developed addressing the information seeking behaviour of art teachers, informed by Wilson’s model (1981), including visual art teachers’ information needs, information resources, obstacles faced while seeking information and the perceived impact of information needs satisfaction on visual art teachers’ creativity.

The study included 298 visual art teachers in Greece. The results demonstrated that the key information needs of art teachers were mainly related to materials’ properties, techniques for creating artwork and artwork promotion methods. Online information sources were the preferred sources of art information, followed by colleagues, personal collections and visits to galleries and museums. Our study identified lack of time, lack of specialized libraries and copyright, as the main barriers to information seeking.

Information about art plays a substantial role in visual art education, while visual art teachers’ information needs satisfaction positively influences their creative endeavours. There is a need to further explore the digital information needs of visual art teachers.

Seekers who visit professional virtual communities (PVCs) are usually motivated by knowledge-seeking, which is a complex cognitive process. How do seekers search for knowledge, and how is their search linked to prior knowledge or PVC situation factors? From the cognitive process and interactional psychology perspectives, this study investigated the three-way interactions between seekers’ expertise, task complexity, and perceptions of PVC features (i.e. knowledge quality and system quality) on knowledge-seeking strategies and resultant outcomes.

A field experiment was conducted with 119 seekers in a PVC using a 2 × 2 factorial design of seekers’ expertise (i.e. expert versus novice) and task complexity (i.e. low versus high).

The study reveals three significant insights: (1) For a high-complexity task, experts adopt an ask-directed searching strategy compared to novices, whereas novices adopt a browsing strategy; (2) For a high-complexity task, experts who perceive a high system quality are more likely than novices to adopt an ask-directed searching strategy; and (3) Task completion time and task quality are associated with the adoption of ask-directed searching strategies, whereas knowledge seekers’ satisfaction is more associated with the adoption of browsing strategy.

We draw on the perspectives of cognitive process and interactional psychology to explore potential two- and three-way interactions of seekers’ expertise, task complexity, and PVC features on the adoption of knowledge-seeking strategies in a PVC context. Our findings provide deep insights into seekers’ behavior in a PVC, given the popularity of the search for knowledge in PVCs.

The primary objective was to develop a user-centered mobile health application (app) tailored to the specific health information needs of among immigrant women from diverse backgrounds in Korea.

In-depth interviews were conducted with 24 immigrant women to gain insights into their health information-seeking behavior. Based on the findings, a mobile app was designed and developed. A beta version of the app underwent validation by an MD and seven expert reviewers who assessed the app for content accuracy and conformance to mobile heuristics. Last, immigrant women (n = 12) evaluated the usability of the app.

The study revealed that the interviewed immigrant women had strong health information needs related to pregnancy and parenting. Most of them used multiple sources to find and verify health information. Language barriers were identified as a major obstacle to accessing and evaluating health information. The results of the user test indicated that the app effectively facilitated study participants' search for reliable health information, meeting their specific needs.

This research extended the literature by addressing the limited availability of mobile apps tailored to the health information needs of immigrant women in Korea.

By incorporating multilingual support and focusing on pregnancy and parenting information, the health app serves as a valuable tool to bridge the gap in health information access and to facilitate the well-being of immigrant women in the country.