Information encountering and sharing behaviour of research students in an online environment
| Published date | 15 July 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-10-2018-0232 |
| Pages | 500-517 |
| Date | 15 July 2019 |
| Author | Waqar Ahmad Awan,Kanwal Ameen,Saira Hanif Soroya |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
Information encountering and
sharing behaviour of research
students in an online environment
Waqar Ahmad Awan
Department of Information Management,
University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan and
Department of Library and Information Science,
University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan, and
Kanwal Ameen and Saira Hanif Soroya
Department of Information Management,
University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
Abstract
Purpose –Information behaviour exists in two forms: first when information is sought with a clear purpose
and second, when we encounter it accidentally or serendipitiously. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the
information encountering (IE) and encountered information sharing (EIS) behaviour of research students in
an online environment.
Design/methodology/approach –The quantitative research approach was applied to carry out this
research. The authors selected 120 MPhil and PhD research students (who research information as
a part of their assignments) from six departments as sample for the study. Out of 120 research students, 93
returned the filled questionnaires. The collected data were analysed in SPSS version 22. First,
descriptive statistics to estimate the IE and sharing behaviour; and later one-way ANOVA and post hoc
comparisons using the Tukey HSD tests were applied to investigate the EIS based on the frequency of
internet usage.
Findings –The findings indicate that the mean scores of the responses remain between “sometimes”and
“often”, in all the behavioural sub-constructs of the model of IE, i.e. noticing, stopping, examining, capturing,
storing (keeping), sharing and returning. The extended model proved to be valid in an online environment in
the context of Pakistani culture. While estimating EIS, the results indicated significantly higher sharing and
large effect size among the research students who used the internet from 11 to 15 h a week than those who
used it between 6 and 10 h.
Practical implications –Keeping in view the result s the research students a nd parent organisatio ns
(universities) worki ng for the improvement of research ra nking and research students’better performance,
should know that resea rch information is not only act ively acquired but also huge amo unt of information is
accidentally encount ered and shared. There fore, the universitie s should train their rese arch students to
enhance the informatio n sharing of encountered information. That wi ll promote the research culture and
may enhance the speed of lea rning, research work and ultimately result in competitive advantage, without
any extra effort.
Originality/value –This is the first study of its type in Pakistan to measure the IE behaviour of research
students in an online environment. Moreover, it is the first study which investigates the extended model of IE
using a quantitative approach in the Pakistani research environment, which originated in Japan via
qualitative research approach.
Keywords Encountered information sharing, Information behaviour of research students,
Information encountering, Information encountering behaviour, Information sharing behaviour,
Serendipitous information retrieval
Paper type Research paper
Aslib Journal of Information
Management
Vol. 71 No. 4, 2019
pp. 500-517
© Emerald PublishingLimited
2050-3806
DOI 10.1108/AJIM-10-2018-0232
Received 18 October 2018
Revised 19 January 2019
3 April 2019
Accepted 10 April 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2050-3806.htm
The author would like to thank Kevin Wise, Sanda Erdelez and Shaheen Majid for the permission to
use their survey instruments.
500
AJIM
71,4
Introduction
Information Encountering (IE) was coined by Erdelez (1995) in her doctoral thesis and
defined as: “a form of information acquisition that is not planned or anticipated. It is
characterised by users’low involvement or no involvement in looking for information that
was acquired, and by a low expectation or no expectation that such information will be
acquired (p. 3)”.
Encountering information (EI) built a knowledge base in the analogue environment,
but it rose especially due to the interlinked environment via the World Wide Web. Studies
have established that EI is as beneficial for users as purposefully sought information in
competitive advantages and organisational thriving (Dixon, 2000; Dyer and Singh, 1998).
It may result in getting advantageous knowledge base and its generation. Previously,
researchers (e.g. Brown, 1999; Ellis et al., 1993; Krikelas, 1983; Lambert and Loiselle, 2007)
focused on information behaviour without differentiating between purposive information
seeking and unintentional encounters. However, IE has grabbed the attention of
researchers for quite some time. The five-stage model of IE by Erdelez (2004) originated in
the context of the US A culture as a result of t he qualitative ex ploration. Late r, the model
was extended to the seven steps by Awamura (2006) in the context of the Japanese culture
based on another qualitative exploration. Encountered Information sharing (EIS) is a
closely related behaviour associated withIE.Theneedtomeasurethesharing
behaviour of encountered information was identified by Erdelez (1995), but it remained
unexplored till Erdelez and Rioux (2000) worked on sharing behaviour of encountered
information. Sharing of the encountered information may result in a collective advantage,
as it may create awareness, speed up the research process in organisations and
provide fast solutions.
The present study has been designed to determine the IE and EIS behaviour of research
students in the Pakistani culture, using a quantitative design taking a sample of research
students enroled in MPhil (two year research degree after completing 16 years Master’s
programme) and PhD (after completing 18 years) who often have to search information as a
part of their research assignments, in an online environment.
Statement of the problem
The online environments, being dynamic, interactive and highly enriched with hyperlinks
and multimedia, provide users with increased chances of IE and EIS. Studies have been
carried out on the conceptual framework of IE (Erdelez, 1997), understanding IE on the Web
(Erdelez and Rioux, 2000), understanding the connection between purposive information
seeking and encountering (Pálsdóttir, 2010), capturing IE embedded in exploratory web
searchers (Miwa et al., 2011) and managing the EI in information literacy instruction
(Stewart and Basic, 2014). The studies indicated that IE is as common a practice as
information seeking.
IS, without differentiating between active and passive information, has emerged as an
area of interest for researchers also. Online environments are mostly used by students of
higher research degrees (MPhil and PhD) for seeking and sharing information related to
their class tasks. This online environment has increased opportunities for sharing the
encountered information. The IE and EIS behaviours need to be explored in online
environments. Erdelez and Rioux (2000) also reported that the acquiring and sharing of
encountered information is common among internet users, yet it is seldom examined in the
literature of information studies. IE and EIS are common practices related to information
behaviour, yet they have remained “less-explored”areas in international literature and
“unexplored”in national literature. Therefore, the present study is designed to empirically
measure the frequencies and practices of IE, and EIS in the online environment using a
quantitative approach in the Pakistani culture.
501
IE and sharing
behaviour of
research
students
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