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Literacy has been one of the most publicized societal problems of the past decade, and it is likely to continue as such for some time to come. Like many problems of modern society, it involves a variety of educational, social, and economic factors, and will therefore not be easily solved.

Information and digital literacy have recently received much interest, and they are being viewed as critical strategic organisational resources and skills that employees need to obtain in order to function at their workplaces. Yet, the role of employees' literacy seems to be neglected in current literature. This paper aims to explore the roles that information and digital literacy play on the employees' perception in relation to usefulness and ease of use of digital technologies and consequently their intention to use technology in the practices they perform at the workplace.

This paper builds a conceptual model with key constructs (information literacy and digital literacy) as new antecedents to the technology acceptance model and aims to establish that information literacy and digital literacy are indirect determinants of employees' intention to use digital technologies at the workplace. The data set used in this paper comprises of 121 respondents and structural equation modelling was used.

The findings reveal that both information literacy and digital literacy have a direct impact on perceived ease of use of technology but not on the perceive usefulness. The findings also show that both literacies have an indirect impact on the intention to use digital technology at work via attitude towards use.

Managers and decision-makers should pay close attention to the literacy levels of their staff. Because literacies are such an important skillset in the digital age, managers and chief information officers may want to start by identifying which work groups or individuals require literacy training and instruction, and then provide specific and relevant training or literacy interventions to help those who lack sufficient literacy.

This is one of the first studies to consider information literacy and digital literacy as new antecedents of the technology acceptance model at the workplace environment.

The workplace is a context of increasing interest in information literacy research, if not necessarily the most visible (Cheuk, 2017). Several studies have described contextual, relationship-based experiences of this subjective, knowledge-development focussed phenomenon (Forster, 2017b). What research contexts and methods are likely to be most effective, especially in workplaces which contain professions of widely differing ontologies and epistemological realities? The paper aims to discuss these issues.

An analysis and description of the value and validity of a “qualitative mixed methods” approach in which the thematic form of phenomenography is contextualised ethnographically.

This paper describes a new research design for investigation into information literacy in the workplace, and discusses key issues around sampling, data collection and analysis, suggesting solutions to predictable problems. Such an approach would be centred on thematic phenomenographic data from semi-structured interviews, contextualised by additional ethnographic methods of data collection. The latter’s findings are analysed in light of the interview data to contextualise that data and facilitate a workplace-wide analysis of information literacy and the information culture it creates.

Insights from recent research studies into information literacy in the workplace have suggested the possibility of an epistemologically justifiable, qualitative mixed methods design involving an ethnographic contextualisation of a thematic phenomenographic analysis of the information culture of an ontologically varied and complex workplace – with the potential for descriptive contextualisation, categorisation and generalisability.

This study provides a critical review of the literature on information literacy in the workplace and its relevant issues. The purpose of this study is to examine two elements: how the predominantly academic information literacy is experienced in the workplace; and review how academically based information literacy frameworks can be used to increase performance in the workplace.

A critical approach to information literacy was implemented for the introduction and background information by searching for scholarly publications referring to information literacy and information literacy in the workplace. Overall, 65 published articles in English were selected and found suitable.

According to the existing literature, very few frameworks tailored to specific workplaces have been discovered and were all found to be pertinent to academic settings that included researchers. The review revealed the perceived positive role of information literacy in raising work performance. The paper concludes that the benefit for information literate employees and employers is apparent, but those differences in academic information literacy and workplace information literacy are significant.

Information literacy frameworks for the workplace, when used, are still heavily reliant on the educational sector and need to be further researched in order for them to adequately address specific workplace contexts and their socially collaborative information literacy activities.

The purpose of this paper is to suggest a framework for workplace information literacy based on a case study at the Central University of Technology (CUT), Free State (South Africa).

The framework is based on a literature survey covering case studies from the private, public and academic sector and a case study conducted at the CUT, Free State (South Africa). A mixed methods approach was followed using questionnaires, individual interviews and focus group interviews. Descriptive statistics and qualitative data were collected.

The data analysis reveals a need as well as support for workplace information literacy. It addresses institutional buy-in, the need for alignment to the institutional strategy, inclusion of workplace information literacy in job descriptions, whether workplace information literacy should be optional or mandatory, whether it should address the needs of all staff members, the responsibility for a workplace information literacy programme, perceived benefits, etc.

The proposed framework can be used at the CUT, Free State. As a general framework it can also be used in other academic contexts as well as in the public and private sector.

Although several studies on workplace information literacy have been reported, the literature survey did not trace a suitable framework that can guide the design and implementation of workplace information literacy in academic contexts. This paper intends to contribute towards filling this gap.

This study aims to understand the role of digital literacies as a moderator between employee engagement and its antecedents, namely, workplace digitalisation and innovative culture.

A total of 256 valid samples were used in the analysis. The respondents were individuals used as management-level executives in companies located in Selangor/Kuala Lumpur. The model was tested using structural equation modelling.

The findings reveal that there exists a significant association between employee engagement and its antecedents, namely, workplace digitalisation and innovative culture. Digital literacies are found to moderate the relationships between workplace digitalisation-employee engagement and innovative culture-employee engagement.

This paper provides new insight to the practitioners about the role of digital literacies in raising employee engagement in the digital workplace.

These findings enrich the literature on employee engagement, whereby, improving employee digital literacies strengthens employee acceptance to workplace digitalisation and benefit from the innovative culture to stay engaged.

The purpose of this paper is to draw on the outcomes of an Higher Education Academy funded project, Literacies for Employability (L4E) to contribute to discussion of the interface between university learning and workplace settings and the focus on employability that dominates the English context. The paper will be of interest to colleagues from any discipline who have an interest in critical (re)readings of employability and practical ways of engaging student in ethnographic approaches to understanding workplace practices, particularly those with an interest in professional, work-based, or placement learning.

L4E is grounded in social theories of communication from Sociology and Education that understands literacy as a complex social activity embedded in domains of practice. These ideas recognise workplaces as domains that are highly distinctive and diverse contexts for literacy (rather than generic or standard) and that to be successful in particular workplace settings students must be attuned to, and adaptive and fluent in, the nuanced literacy practices of that workplace. However, evidence suggests (Lea and Stierer, 2000) that HE students (and teachers) rarely experience overt teaching about literacy in general or workplace literacies in particular.

This project developed a framework to scaffold and support this process across the disciplines so that students can develop the attitudes and behaviours they will need to be successful in the workplace.

The approach chimes with recommendations from Pegg et al. (2012) that employability is most effectively developed through a focus on more expansive, reflexive approaches to learning and through “raising confidence […] self-esteem and aspirations” (Pegg et al., 2012, p. 9).

This research investigates the ways in which English as a second language (ESL) learners used autodocumentary photography in a learner centered workplace literacy program to solve problems and facilitate language learning. By using learner‐generated photos and stories as the basis for the curriculum in a critical approach to literacy, insights were gained into the ways in which these workers perceived their lives and learning in a new culture. Additionally, the ways in which they adapted to and changed the environment of their workplace were assessed. Implications for workplace educators include the responsibilities to foster the development of critical awareness and empowerment in learners and to consider the transformative possibilities of workplace learning.

The aim of this chapter is to frame the key issues in workplace information literacy. This chapter is the personal experiences and observations of the author with over 30 years of experience in intranets, corporate libraries and product development. The workplace is not a single or uniform population, as can be said broadly about mass markets like consumers, K-12 students, or undergraduate scholars. Workplaces are defined as the workers in both not-for-profit and for-profit sectors who are tasked with running the organization and delivering services to end users like learners, customers, clients, patients, etc. This chapter explores these issues and frameworks through key target audiences in commercial and institutional workplace environments such as:

• Teachers (as opposed to students)

• Faculty (professors as opposed to young scholars)

• Corporate administrators and business decision-makers, executive, professionals, consultants, accountants, auditors, MBAs, managers

• Medical professionals such as doctors, nurses, pharmacists

• Lawyers (in both private practice and internal corporate and government work)

• Engineers

• Creative professions (artists, advertisers, marketers, etc.)

Teachers (as opposed to students)

Faculty (professors as opposed to young scholars)

Corporate administrators and business decision-makers, executive, professionals, consultants, accountants, auditors, MBAs, managers

Medical professionals such as doctors, nurses, pharmacists

Lawyers (in both private practice and internal corporate and government work)

Engineers

Creative professions (artists, advertisers, marketers, etc.)