Information need as trigger and driver of information seeking: a conceptual analysis
| Date | 16 January 2017 |
| Pages | 2-21 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-08-2016-0139 |
| Published date | 16 January 2017 |
| Author | Reijo Savolainen |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management |
Information need as trigger and
driver of information seeking:
a conceptual analysis
Reijo Savolainen
Faculty of Communication Sciences, University of Tampere, Finland
Abstract
Purpose –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.
Design/methodology/approach –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.
Findings –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.
Research limitations/implications –As the study focusses on information need, no attention is devoted
to related constructs such as anomalous state of knowledge and uncertainty.
Originality/value –The study pioneers by providing an in-depth analysis of the nature of informationneed
as a trigger and driver of information seeking. The findings refine the picture of motivators for information
behaviour.
Keywords Information behaviour, Information need,Information seeking, Models of informationbehaviour,
Models of informationneed, Motivators for information seeking
Paper type Conceptual paper
Introduction
The question of what motivates information seeking belongs to the perennial issues of
research on human information behaviour (HIB). Even though this issue has been examined
since the 1960s, the picture of the factors triggering and driving information seeking is still
fragmented and somewhat unclear. The multiplicity of such factors is recently elucidated by
Robson and Robinson (2013, pp. 184-185). According to them, the factors that affect
information behaviour include, for example, context: the environment in which an
information actor operates. This includes location, social influences, culture, activity-related
and work-related factors, finances and technology. As an umbrella term, context may also
include personal factors: demographics, expertise and psychological factors. Second, an
information actor’s knowledge, education, training and experience relevant to a subject area,
task or use of information sources can affect information seeking. Third, there is a host of
psychological factors: an information actor’s personality and mental processes including:
self-perception and self-efficacy, perception of the knowledge gap, cognitive dissonance,
perception of risk, ability to cope with stress; and thoughts and feelings while searching for
information. Finally, there are an information user’s needs, wants and goals giving impetus
to information seeking. Factors such as these may be internally or externally prompted, and
they can be recognised or unrecognised, anticipated or unexpected, cognitive or affective.
The present study contributes to HIB research by focussing on information need –a key
construct making it intelligible why people initiate and continue the information-seeking
process. Based on conceptual analysis, an attempt will be made to clarify how researchers
Aslib Journal of Information
Management
Vol. 69 No. 1, 2017
pp. 2-21
© Emerald PublishingLimited
2050-3806
DOI 10.1108/AJIM-08-2016-0139
Received 23 August 2016
Revised 30 November 2016
Accepted 5 December 2016
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2050-3806.htm
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AJIM
69,1
have defined information need in diverse HIB models, and what kind of strengths and
limitations can be identified in these approaches.
So far, the major studies on information need date back to the period ranging from the
late 1960s to the 1990s. These contributions include Taylor’s (1968) study on question-
negotiation in the context of reference interviews, Wilson’s (1981) article on user studies
and information needs, and Wilson’s (1997) general model of information behaviour.
The triggers and drivers of information seeking have been characterised by alternative
concepts such as anomalous state of knowledge (ASK) (Belkin et al., 1982), gap (Dervin,
1983) and uncertainty (Kuhlthau, 1993). Since the 1990s, there has been a continued interest
in the construct of information need (e.g. Bruce, 2005; Hasler et al., 2014; Lundh, 2010).
Recently, based on the detailed analysis of Taylor’s (1968) classic model, Cole (2012)
proposed a theory of information need for information retrieval (IR). Cole’s seminal study
demonstrates that the construct of information need can be elaborated further as a factor
explaining why people engage in information seeking. There is also a renewed practical
interest in the analysis and assessment of information needs of library clients because
understanding such needs is essential to providing effective service and appropriate
collections in both face-to-face and virtual library services (Dorner et al., 2014).
The present study refines the picture of information need by focussing on two issues that
have been neglected in previousinvestigations.The first issue deals withthe question whether
information need is a factor that primarily explains why people engage in information seeking,
or whether information need is a secondary factor determined by other, more fun damental
factors. The second issue focusses on the temporal dimension of the effect of information need
on the information-seeking process. In general, the duration or persistence of such effects can
be conceptualised from two major viewpoints. First, information need may be conceived as a
trigger providing an initial impetus to information seeking. Second, information need may be
approached as a driver keeping information seeking in motion for a longer time. The main
research idea draws on the cross-tabulation of the above issues: how is the construct of
informationneedconceptualisedasatriggeranddriverifitisapproachedasaprimaryvs
secondary motivator for information seeking?
To give background, the terms trigger and driver can be characterised by drawing on
dictionary definitions. Trigger not only denotes “a lever on a gun”but more generally
“something that causes something else to happen”. As a verb, trigger means “to cause
(something) to start or happen”(Merriam-Webster, 2016d). Similarly, drive and driver have
multiple meanings. Drive may denote, for example, “to direct the movement of a car”and “to
set or keep in motion or operation”(Merriam-Webster, 2016b). In general, the verb drive
implies “imparting forward and continuous motion and often stresses the effect rather than
the impetus”(Merriam-Webster, 2016a). Driver not only refers to “a person who drives a car,
truck, etc.”, but it also denotes more generally “one that provides impulse or motivation”
(Merriam-Webster, 2016c). In the present study –drawing on the above definitions –factors
giving an initial impetus to information seeking are labelled as triggers, while factors
sustaining the information-seeking process are referred to as drivers.
Information needas a factor propelling information-seeking behaviour was selected as the
object of the study for two mainreasons. First and most importantly, due toa relatively long
research tradition, there is a rich variety of HIB modelsconceptualising informationneed as a
trigger and driver of information behaviour.Conceptualizations presented in the HIB models
are particularlyrelevant for the present studybecause they provide perhaps the mostspecific
characterizations of the main componentsof information behaviour,including the construct of
information need. Second, even though information need is probably the most widely used
construct explaining why people engage in information seeking, this concept is still vague
(Case and Given, 2016, pp. 79-96; Ford, 2015, pp. 29-45). This suggests that there is aneed to
examine further the nature of information need as central concept of HIB research.
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Information
seeking
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