Search results

The purpose of this paper is to elaborate the picture of the motivators for information behaviour by examining the nature of information need as a trigger and driver of information seeking.

A conceptual analysis was made by focussing on the ways in which researchers have conceptualised information need in models for human information behaviour (HIB). The study draws on conceptual analysis of 26 key studies focussing on the above topic.

Researchers have employed two main approaches to conceptualise information needs in the HIB models. First, information need is approached as a root factor which motivates people to identify and access information sources. Second, information need is approached as a secondary trigger or driver determined by more fundamental factors, for example, the information requirements of task performance. The former approach conceptualises information need as a trigger providing an initial impetus to information seeking, while the latter approach also depicts information need as a driver that keeps the information-seeking process in motion. The latter approach is particularly characteristic of models depicting information seeking as a cyclic process.

As the study focusses on information need, no attention is devoted to related constructs such as anomalous state of knowledge and uncertainty.

The study pioneers by providing an in-depth analysis of the nature of information need as a trigger and driver of information seeking. The findings refine the picture of motivators for information behaviour.

This research aimed to investigate the information-seeking behaviour (ISB) and information needs of different professional groups within the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector in the Republic of Ireland (i.e. for what purpose information is acquired), the information sources professional groups use (including in-house documentation, regulations, industry guidelines, standards and colleagues) and the factors, which influence professional groups' choice of information sources. Furthermore, the research explored the perceived level of support that exists towards knowledge and information sharing.

A quantitative non-experimental research design, comprising of a self-completion survey questionnaire, was used to examine a number of information-seeking variables: information triggers, information sources and source influencers as well as information sharing enablers. It was related to four professional tasks: process technology/process development, regulatory support and quality/compliance support and engineering.

The research provides new insights into the ISB of pharmaceutical professionals working within a highly regulated and high-performance production environment, including a greater understanding of the context in which professional groups experience information needs. The levels of agreement observed in relation to employees' perception of information-sharing enablers indicated an overall positive level of information sharing.

The study points to largely echoed previous findings which suggest that individual work role associated tasks prompt particular information needs. Further to this, work role associated tasks have a bearing on information source selection. Pharmaceutical professionals engaged in positive levels of information and knowledge sharing, relying on procedures, other colleagues and internal documentation as information sources. The participants also indicated a high level of agreement in respect to the value of available subject matter experts as information-sharing enablers.

Organisations should aim to create opportunities for adequate time to share information and organisational structures, facilitating an overall organisational culture of sharing. A focus on information sharing through forums, seminars, meetings and working groups could enhance information sharing, through the development of communities of practice.

Pharmaceutical professionals relied on trustworthiness and quality as professional' top information source-influencing factors. Furthermore, the study demonstrated that working within a high-performance, target-driven and time-constrained production environment brings a particular contextual impact, where frequent urgent information triggers are experienced. These contextual factors warrant further investigation.

A paucity of information exists with respect to the ISB of professionals, working within the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector, which is a sector known for its high level of information use and production. This paper offered an original empirical investigation of the ISB of professionals, working within the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector in the Republic of Ireland, focussing on key professional tasks. The research also addressed the level of support available for knowledge and information sharing.

This research aims to explore the nature of Chinese students' mental health information needs and to identify the online resources they use to meet those needs.

Data was collected from three Chinese research-oriented universities using semi-structured interviews and a survey. Twenty-five university students with varied backgrounds were selected for semi-structured interviews to explore the triggers and nature of their needs. Then, printed and online questionnaires were distributed to undergraduate and postgraduate students and 541 valid responses were processed for descriptive statistical analysis and variance analysis.

The following findings were incurred. First, the triggers of university students' mental health information needs mainly are mental health being in the news, personal interest in gaining mental health knowledge, mental health issues, required formal learning and preparation for mental health counselling. Second, eleven types of information are used, with an emphasis on employment pressure, study stress and self-understanding. Third, mental health information needs differ with mental health status and some social-demographic factors (including gender, urban or rural origin and educational stage). Fourth, information needs can be characterized as dynamic; complex and diverse but concentrated on a few types; ambiguous and hard for participants to define; private; stigmatized; self-dependent and substitutable. Fifth, Internet sources used to meet such needs are mainly search engines, Question and Answer platforms, public social media platforms. Finally, a model of mental health information needs was built based on the above findings to map the whole process from what triggers a need, to the content and characteristics of information need, and online resources used to meet those needs.

The paper provides suggestions for university mental health services in developing more tailored knowledge contents via effective delivery methods to meet diverse needs of student groups.

This research is novel in using empirical data to build a holistic model that captures the context and the nature of mental health information needs of university students.

This paper aims to establish a theoretical search model on academic social networking sites (ASNSs).

Based on the characteristics of ASNSs and a previous extended sense-making model, this paper first presented an initial model of searching on ASNSs. Next, an online survey was conducted on ResearchGate to understand the search processes and outcomes with the help of a survey questionnaire. In total, 359 participants from 70 countries participated in this online survey. The survey results provided a basis for modifying the initial model.

Results showed that the theoretical model of searching on ASNSs included motives for searching on ASNSs, identification of needs, search triggered by information needs, search triggered by social needs and outcomes. The search triggered by information needs was significantly positively correlated with learning outcomes. Besides learning outcomes, searching on ASNSs could help user amplify their social networks and promote research dissemination.

Understanding users’ search habits and knowledge acquisition can provide insights for ASNSs to design an interface to support searching and enhance learning. Moreover, the proposed model can help users recognize their knowledge status and learning effects and improve their learning efficiency.

This paper contributes to establishing a theoretical model to understand users’ search process and outcomes on ASNSs.

This paper aims to clarify the effect of attitudinal ambivalence on resistance to anti-smoking persuasion through information processing styles. It was hypothesized that a high smoker’s ambivalence, induced by an anti-smoking persuasive message, triggers among smokers both a reflective and a non-reflective information processing. In turn, both the information processing styles were supposed to be predictors of the resistance to anti-smoking persuasion.

An experiment and a survey were conducted on a random sample of 347 smokers in this regard.

The findings indicated that smokers feel ambivalent toward anti-smoking messages in print ads and tend to process them both analytically and superficially. Also, it seems that only the analytical processing triggers resistance to anti-smoking persuasion.

The author reports on the importance of attitudinal ambivalence and information processing in the resistance to anti-smoking persuasion process. The paper should be of interest to readers in the areas of health communication and social marketing. This work seems to be important to the extent that few works have highlighted the causal and linear effect of a persuasive anti-smoking message on smokers’ ambivalence, information processing and resistance to persuasion. The findings in this paper seem interesting insofar, as they show the importance of the negative emotional appeal in the ambivalence, analytical information processing and resistance triggering.

With the shift to an information-based society and to the de-centralisation of information, information overload has attracted a growing interest in the computer and information science research communities. However, there is no clear understanding of the meaning of the term, and while there have been many proposed definitions, there is no consensus. The goal of this work was to define the concept of “information overload”. In order to do so, a concept analysis using Rodgers' approach was performed.

A concept analysis using Rodgers' approach based on a corpus of documents published between 2010 and September 2020 was conducted. One surrogate for “information overload”, which is “cognitive overload” was identified. The corpus of documents consisted of 151 documents for information overload and ten for cognitive overload. All documents were from the fields of computer science and information science, and were retrieved from three databases: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Digital Library, SCOPUS and Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA).

The themes identified from the authors’ concept analysis allowed us to extract the triggers, manifestations and consequences of information overload. They found triggers related to information characteristics, information need, the working environment, the cognitive abilities of individuals and the information environment. In terms of manifestations, they found that information overload manifests itself both emotionally and cognitively. The consequences of information overload were both internal and external. These findings allowed them to provide a definition of information overload.

Through the authors’ concept analysis, they were able to clarify the components of information overload and provide a definition of the concept.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the triggers, strategies and outcomes of collaborative information-seeking behaviours of researchers on the ResearchGate social networking site.

Data were collected from the population of researchers who use ResearchGate. The sample was limited to the Ph.D. students and assistant professors in the library and information science domain. Qualitative interviews were used for data collection.

Based on the findings of the study, informal communications and complex information needs lead to a decision to use collaborative information-seeking behaviour. Also, easy access to sources of information and finding relevant information were the major positive factors contributing to collaborative information-seeking behaviour of the ResearchGate users. Users moved from collaborative Q&A strategies to sharing information, synthesising information and networking strategies based on their needs. Analysis of information-seeking behaviour showed that ResearchGate users bridged the information gap by internalizing new knowledge, making collaborative decisions and increasing their work's visibility.

As one of the initial studies on the collaborative information-seeking behaviour of ResearchGate users, this study provides a holistic picture of different triggers that affect researchers' information-seeking on ResearchGate.

The authors examine how a not-for-profit organisation (NPO) coordinates NPO's actions during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic to remain focussed on strategic and operational goals.

The authors conducted a live case study of an NPO as the crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded. Drawing on a sensemaking perspective that incorporates sensegiving, the authors develop a framework of five types of organisational sensemaking. The authors analyse weekly planning meetings during which managers discussed past performance, forecast performance and the forecast duration of current cash reserves.

The authors show how three of the five types of organisational sensemaking helped to coordinate actions. The authors highlight how accounting information triggers organisational sensemaking processes; but depending on the type of organisational sensemaking, accounting information has little further role. The authors also show that the stability of decisions depends on the types of organisational sensemaking.

The authors show how coordination as a management control practice is enabled by organisational sensemaking within an NPO during a crisis. Organisational sensemaking enabled the agreement of actions, which enabled coordination. Accounting practices provided trigger mechanisms to facilitate organisational sensemaking.

Since this study is the first to examine sensemaking processes and accounting practices in coordination in an NPO in a pandemic, the authors contribute to the limited research on NPOs during crises and on the management control practice of coordination. The authors extend the accounting literature on sensemaking by showing that, whilst accounting triggers organisational sensemaking, accounting is only implicated in one type of organisational sensemaking and by revealing the different outcomes of the different types of organisational sensemaking.

The purpose of this paper is to show that uncertainty may be caused not only by a knowledge gap in the mind of a user with respect to a given subject or topic, but also by the various complexities associated with the information seeking and retrieval (IS&R) process in a digital environment.

Both quantitative and qualitative studies were conducted to collect data from users in the higher education sector regarding whether or not they experienced uncertainty in relation to the IS&R process. Analysis: a correlation analysis was undertaken to establish whether there were any relationships between information-seeking activities and information-seeking problems.

The findings of this research show that uncertainty existed at different stages of the IS&R process amongst users. It was established that uncertainty was caused by a number of information-seeking activities and information-seeking problems, and that such uncertainty could continue over the course of successive search sessions, leading to the proposal of a new model of uncertainty.

The proposed model of uncertainty should contribute to a better understanding of the issues related to IS&R in a digital environment.

A number of benefits could be realised in systems design from the application of this model in terms of reducing the negative impact of uncertainty, while at the same time helping users to gain from the positive aspects of uncertainty in IS&R.

The general consensus is that uncertainty is a mental state of users reflecting a gap in knowledge which triggers an IS&R process, and that the gap is reduced as relevant information is found, and thus that the uncertainty disappears as the search process concludes. However, in the present study it is argued that some form of uncertainty is always associated with some part of the IS&R process and that it also fluctuates throughout the IS&R process. Users may therefore feel uncertain at any stage of the IS&R process and this may be related to: the initial information need and expression of that need, the search process itself, including identification of relevant systems, services and resources; and the assessment of, and reaction to, the results produced by the search process. Uncertainty may be unresolved, or even increase, as the user progresses, often iteratively, through the IS&R process and may remain even after its completion, resulting in what may be called a persistent uncertainty. In other words, this research hypothesises that, in addition to the uncertainty that triggers the information search process (Wilson et al., 2000), users suffer from varying degrees of uncertainty at every stage of the information search and retrieval process, and that in turn, triggers different information-seeking behaviours.

Smartphone apps collect users' personal information, which triggers privacy concerns for app users. Consequently, app users restrict apps from accessing their personal information. This may impact the effectiveness of in-app advertising. However, research has not yet demonstrated what factors impact app users' decisions to use apps with restricted permissions. This study is aimed to bridge this gap.

Using a quantitative research method, the authors collected the data from 384 app users via a structured questionnaire. The data were analysed using AMOS and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA).

The findings suggest privacy concerns and risks have a significant positive effect on app usage with restricted permissions, whilst reputation, trust and perceived benefits have significant negative impact on it. Some app-related factors, such as the number of apps installed and type of apps, also impact app usage with restricted permissions.

Based on the findings, the authors provided several implications for app stores, app developers and app marketers.

This study examines the factors that influence smartphone users' decisions to use apps with restricted permission requests. By doing this, the authors' study contributes to the consumer behaviour literature in the context of smartphone app usage. Also, by explaining the underlying mechanisms through which the principles of communication privacy management theory operate in smartphone app context, the authors' research contributes to the communication privacy management theory.