Cognitive needs and use of social media: a comparative study of gratifications sought and gratification obtained
| Published date | 31 January 2020 |
| Pages | 79-90 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/IDD-11-2019-0081 |
| Date | 31 January 2020 |
| Author | Ashfaq Hussain,Ghulam Shabir, Taimoor-Ul-Hassan |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Library & information services,Lending,Document delivery,Collection building & management,Stock revision,Consortia |
Cognitive needs and use of social media: a
comparative study of gratifications sought and
gratification obtained
Ashfaq Hussain
School of Media and Communication Studies, University of Central Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan and
Judges Library, Supreme Court of Pakistan, Lahore, Pakistan
Ghulam Shabir
School of Media and Communication Studies, University of Central Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan, and
Taimoor-Ul-Hassan
Faculty of Media and Communication Studies, University of Central Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this study is to compare the gratification sought and gratification obtained for cognitive needs from social media among
information professionals in the limelight of uses and gratification theory. Cognitive needs are related to knowledge, acquiring information,
comprehension etc., and gratification sought and gratification obtained are two distinct components of the uses and gratification theory.
Design/methodology/approach –For this quantitative research study, a self-administered survey questionnaire was used to collect data from the
participants of the study. Sample of this study was 700 information professionals who are necessarily users of social media.
Findings –Finding of this study depicted that gratification obtained and gratification sought from social media for cog nitive needs are different
from each other, and information professionals need to revisit their social media use for cognitive needs.
Research limitations/implications –The present study is limited to gratification sought and gratification obtained for cognitive needs among
information professionals.
Practical implications –This study has determined that information professionals need to revisit their social media use for cognitive needs, as the
obtained gratifications are different from gratification sought from social media.
Social implications –Social media provides versatility of information in different forms and large numbers of information prof essionals are the
users of social media around globe. Perceived use of social media for cognitive needs has been resulted into destructed gra tifications. This study has
brought the actual outcome of the use of social media to the audience so that they may rectify their social media use.
Originality/value –This study is a significant contribution for information professionals to review the gratifications sough tand obtaine dfrom socia l
media for cognitive needs. It has been established in this study that gratifications sought are significantly different from gratifications obtained from
social media among information professionals.
Keywords World Wide Web, Social media, Information professionals, Uses and gratifications, Gratifications obtained, Gratifications sought
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Cognitive needs are related to knowledge, acquiring
information, comprehension, etc.(Al-Ghamdi and Carlin,
2005;Leung, 2009;Stefanone et al., 2019;Wang and
Tchernev, 2012).Uses and gratification theory believes that the
selection of media and specified content to gratify a specified
need is purely a discretionof user and the user is independent in
choice. As per this theory, active users can evaluate and
examine different kinds of media to select the content and
media for gratifications of their cognitive need. Gratification
sought and gratification obtained are two distinct components
of the uses and gratification theory. Gratification sought has
been identified as corresponding needs for the use of social
media, whereas gratification obtained has been considered as
the actual outcome or gained gratifications(Bae, 2018;Billings
et al.,2017;Ganet al., 2017;Hwang and Lombard, 2005;Ishii
et al.,2017;Johnson, 2014;Karimi et al.,2014;LaRose and
Eastin, 2004;Oladosu et al., 2017;Palmgreen et al.,1980;
Sohn et al.,2018;Stefanone et al., 2019;Wang andZhu, 2012;
Wang and Tchernev,2012;Zhang, 2013).
People use social media with different needs to gratify, and
social media provi de versatility of i nformation in the f orm of
pictures, videos, posts, tweets, live streams, stories , messages,
etc. to gratify these ne eds (Du, Kerkhof and Van
Koningsbruggen, 2019;Huang et al., 2014;Lee and Ma,
Thecurrentissueandfulltextarchiveofthisjournalisavailableon
Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/2398-6247.htm
Information Discovery and Delivery
48/2 (2020) 79–90
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 2398-6247]
[DOI 10.1108/IDD-11-2019-0081]
Received 4 November 2019
Revised 12 December 2019
Accepted 1 January 2020
79
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