Factors affecting online research by nurses in Taiwan
| Date | 26 September 2008 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14684520810913972 |
| Published date | 26 September 2008 |
| Pages | 574-584 |
| Author | Hung‐Yi Lu,James E. Andrews,Hsin‐Ya Hou,Su‐Yen Chen,Yen‐Hwa Tu,Yung‐Chang Yu |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Factors affecting online research
by nurses in Taiwan
Hung-Yi Lu
Department of Communication and Graduate Institute of Telecommunications,
National Chung Cheng University, Chia-Yi, Taiwan
James E. Andrews
School of Library and Information Science, University of South Florida,
Tampa, Florida, USA
Hsin-Ya Hou
National Chengchi University, Chia-Yi, Taiwan
Su-Yen Chen
Department of Communication and Graduate Institute of Telecommunications,
National Chung Cheng University, Chia-Yi, Taiwan
Yen-Hwa Tu
Chia-Yi Veterans Hospital, Chia-Yi, Taiwan, and
Yung-Chang Yu
Graduate Institute of Business Administration,
National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan
Abstract
Purpose – The aim of this paper is to investigate predictors of online medical research by nurses.
Design/methodology/approach – A cross-sectional study was conducted and a representative
sample of nurses was selected from three Taiwanese hospitals from 1 January to 31 March 2007. A total
of 274 female nurses completed the questionnaire.
Findings – The results indicate that the expectancy value of internet characteristics, attitude
towards online information seeking and perceived credibility of online information significantly and
positively predict online information-seeking behaviour in nurses. Specifical ly, the multiple
hierarchical regression analysis revealed that the perceived credibility of online information is the
strongest predictive variable of online information seeking.
Originality/value – The findings of this study suggest that an important task for professional
health organisations is to educate nurses in assessing the reliability of medical information found on
the web, such as looking for credible institutional sites, verifying available information with that from
other sources or sites, and using common sense.
Keywords Attitudes, Onlineoperations, Nurses, Taiwan, Information retrieval
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The web has become one of the most important information resources for nurses
(Gosling et al., 2004), who previously worked with information sources in a pre-digital
era (McKnight, 2006). Researchers (Rasch and Cogdill, 1999) have found that the web
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OIR
32,5
574
Refereed article received
16 October 2007
Approved for publication
14 February 2008
Online Information Review
Vol. 32 No. 5, 2008
pp. 574-584
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1468-4527
DOI 10.1108/14684520810913972
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