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The purpose of this article is to elaborate the picture of the motivators for information seeking by comparing the conceptualizations of task‐based information needs and expectancy‐value theories.

The article is a conceptual analysis of major articles characterising task‐based information needs and expectancy‐value theories developed in psychology since the 1950s.

The conceptualizations of task‐based information needs approach the motivators for information seeking in terms of the informational requirements posed by tasks at hand. However, the ways in which such needs trigger and drive information seeking have not been specified in detail. Expectancy‐value theories provide a more elaborate picture of motivational factors by focusing on actors' beliefs about the probability of success in information seeking and the perceived value of the outcome of this activity.

The findings are based on the comparison of two research approaches only.

So far, information scientists have largely ignored the psychological theories of motivation. This study demonstrates the potential of such approaches by discussing an established psychological theory. The findings indicate that such theories hold a good potential to elaborate the models of task‐based information seeking in particular.

The purpose of this paper is to explore effects of individuals' social context on their perception of a task, for better understanding of social aspects of task-based information seeking behavior.

This study took a qualitative case approach and conducted semi-structured one-on-one interviews with 12 participants. A cross-context comparative approach was chosen to identify effects of the social contexts on individuals. For comparative analysis, the research population was tenured faculty members in two different disciplines, natural sciences and humanities. The interview data were analyzed and coded using NVivo12 through an open coding process.

The results demonstrate that the same task type is differently perceived by individuals in different social contexts. Reasons for the different perceptions in the different contexts are associated with social factors of the disciplines, specifically social norms and practices.

This study uses a novel theoretical framework, cognitive sociology, to examine social aspects of human perception in relation to task-based information seeking behavior, which has been little understood theoretically and empirically in the field of information science.

The purpose of this paper is to operationalise and verify a cognitive motivation model that has been adapted to information seeking. The original model was presented within the field of psychology.

An operationalisation of the model is presented based on the theory of expectancy-value and on the operationalisation used when the model was first developed. Data for the analysis were collected from a sample of seven informants working as consultants in Danish municipalities. Each participant filled out a questionnaire, kept a log book for a week and participated in a subsequent interview to elicit data regarding their information source behaviour and task motivation.

Motivation affected source use when the informants search for information as part of their professional life. This meant that the number of sources used and the preference for interpersonal and internal sources increased when the task had high-value motivation or low-expectancy motivation or both.

The study is based on a relatively small sample and considers only one motivation theory. This should be addressed in future research along with a broadening of the studied group to involve other professions than municipality consultants.

Motivational theories from the field of psychology have been used sparsely in studies of information seeking. This study operationalises and verifies such a theory based on a theoretical adaptation of this model made by Savolainen (2012c).

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.

The purpose of this paper is to develop information behaviour profiles for nursing students, to help inform information literacy programmes.

The methods include further analysis of quantitative findings (previously reported in part 1), together with qualitative research data collection and analysis. Critical incident type interviews with 11 students were transcribed and analysed using an interpretative categorisation method that used dendrograms for data display and analysis. From the regression analysis of the quantitative data, the micro-processes for information seeking were linked to learning styles, and then to personality traits to generate information seeking profiles. Integration of the qualitative findings led to development of a task-based information search model.

The start list of seven categories for qualitative analysis (derived from a literature review) was refined (one category added, one removed, with some relabelling). The quantitative data analysis revealed seven profiles (deep adventurer, deep identifier, deep investigator, strategic all-rounder, strategic collector, surface co-ordinator, surface skimmer, each linked to a particular learning style, personality trait, and preferred information seeking micro-processes).

The data were collected at only one university and the profiles and the model need to be validated with data from other groups of nursing students. The findings on micro-processes consolidate and extend previous research.

The profiles should inform information literacy programmes as they show that information search profiles may be more varied than assumed. The information search model extends previous task-based information search models.

The information search profiles have not been identified previously.

The purpose of this paper is to report the results and the methods of a study which applied grounded theory to the information-seeking behaviour of social scientists when searching Arabic and English academic databases using both languages.

The research applied the grounded theory approach using search experiments and semi-structured interviews. Think-aloud protocol during the experiment was used to capture the data from the subjects to allow a detailed analysis for the experiment. The semi-structured interviews followed each experiment and were analysed using the Strauss and Corbin (1990) version of the grounded theory, as were the think-aloud protocols.

The results of the think-aloud protocols and the semi-structured interviews suggest that the information needs of the subjects varied depending on the language used. In addition, it was discovered that social scientists followed more tactics in searching the Arabic database for the same tasks searched in English during the experiment. This allowed more search strategies and search tactics to appear in seeking information in Arabic language. The study also proposed a model to account for the cross-language information-seeking behaviour.

This study identifies and compares the information-seeking behaviour of the social scientists in Jordanian universities in searching both Arabic and English academic databases. Therefore, the findings of this study cannot be generalized to other Arab countries, unless there was similar context.

Few studies have investigated information-seeking behaviour using academic Arabic databases and proposed information-seeking behaviour models. No studies have compared information-seeking behaviour when using Arabic and English academic databases. The value of the current study arises by being the first study to identify and compare the information-seeking behaviour of social scientists by using grounded theory and proposing a cross-language information-seeking behaviour model.

The purpose of this paper is to build a unified model of human information behavior (HIB) for integrating classical constructs and reformulating the structure of HIB theory.

This paper employs equilibrium perspective from partial equilibrium theory to conceptualization and deduction, starting from four basic assumptions.

This paper develops two models to incorporate previous HIB research approaches into an equilibrium-analysis-oriented information supply-demand (ISD) framework: first, the immediate-task/problem-based and everyday life information-seeking (ELIS)-sense-making approaches are incorporated into the short-term ISD model; second, the knowledge-construction-oriented and ability-based HIB research approaches are elaborated by the long-term ISD model. Relations among HIB theories are illustrated via the method of graphical reasoning. Moreover, these two models jointly reveal the connection between information seeking in immediate problematic situations and long-term ability improvement.

The equilibrium framework enables future research to explore HIB from three perspectives: stages: group the classical concepts (e.g. anomalous state of knowledge, uncertainty) into different stages (i.e. start state, process, goal state) and see how they interact with each other within and across different stages; forces: explore information behaviors and information-related abilities as information supply and demand forces, and see how different forces influence each other and jointly motivate people to pursue the equilibriums between outside world and mental model; and short term and long term: study the connections between short-term information seeking and long-term ability improvement at both theoretical and empirical levels.

Using self-determination motivation theory as a theoretical framework, the purpose of this paper is to examine information seeking motivation at the domain level in higher education setting.

Confirmatory factor analysis was used to validate the Information Seeking Motivation Scale – College Version (ISMS – C).

ISMS – C was validated in the information seeking context. Consistent with self-determination theory (SDT), the results imply that students approach research tasks for both controlled and autonomous reasons.

All constructs representing extrinsic and intrinsic motivation on a continuum were confirmed. However, amotivation proved difficult to define with the current sample. Additional studies need to be conducted in higher education setting in order to confirm its existence.

Given that the situational motivation is contingent on domain-level motivation, the ISMS – C scale can be helpful in promoting lasting intrinsic information seeking motivation at that level.

Consistent with the subjectivist orientation in information sciences which aims to account for cognitive and affective forces behind information need, ISMS constructed in the current study is one of the first measurement instruments to account for a spectrum of information seeking motivations at the domain level.

The purpose of this paper is to elaborate the picture of the motivators for information seeking by comparing two cognitive psychological approaches to motivation: self-determination theory (SDT) and expectancy-value theories (EVTs).

The study draws on the conceptual analysis of 31 key investigations characterizing the nature of the above theories. Their potential is examined in light of an illustrative example of seeking information about job opportunities.

SDT approaches motivation by examining the degree to which one can make volitional choices while meeting the needs of autonomy and competence. Information-seeking behaviour is most volitional when it is driven by intrinsic motivation, while such behaviours driven by extrinsic motivation and amotivation are less volitional. Modern EVTs approach the motivators for information seeking by examining the individual’s beliefs related to intrinsic enjoyment, attainment value, utility value and relative cost of information seeking. Both theories provide useful alternatives to traditional concepts such as information need in the study of the motivators for information seeking.

As the study focusses on two cognitive psychological theories, the findings cannot be generalised to all represent all categories relevant to the characterisation of triggers and drivers of information seeking.

Drawing on the comparison of two cognitive psychological theories, the study goes beyond the traditional research approaches of information behaviour research confined to the analysis of information needs.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate information retrieval (IR) in the context of authentic work tasks (WTs), as compared to traditional experimental IR study designs.

The participants were 22 professionals working in municipal administration, university research and education, and commercial companies. The data comprise 286 WTs and 420 search tasks (STs). The data were collected in natural situations. It includes transaction logs, video recordings, interviews, observation, and daily questionnaires.

The analysis included the effects of WT type and complexity on the number of STs, queries, search keys and types of queries. The findings suggest that simple STs are enough to support most WTs. Complex WTs (vs more simple ones) and intellectual WTs (vs communication, support and editing WTs) include more STs than other WT categories.

Further research should address the problems related to controllability of field studies and enhance the use of realistic WT situations in test-based studies, as well.

The study is an attempt to bring traditional IR studies and realistic research settings closer to each other. Using authentic WTs when studying IR is still rare. The representativeness of the WT/ST types used in interactive IR experiments should be carefully addressed: in the work flow, people seldom consciously recognise separate “STs”. This means that STs may mainly be an academic construct even to the point that studying IR without a decent context does violence to the further understanding of the phenomenon.