Information Seeking Motivation Scale development: a self-determination perspective
| Date | 11 September 2017 |
| Published date | 11 September 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-03-2017-0032 |
| Pages | 1034-1052 |
| Author | Ana Dubnjakovic |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
Information Seeking Motivation
Scale development: a
self-determination perspective
Ana Dubnjakovic
University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA
Abstract
Purpose –Using self-determination motivation theory as a theoretical framework, the purpose of this paper
is to examine information seeking motivation at the domain level in higher education setting.
Design/methodology/approach –Confirmatory factor analysis was used to validate the Information
Seeking Motivation Scale –College Version (ISMS –C).
Findings –ISMS –C was validated in the information seekingco ntext.Consistent with self-determination theory
(SDT), the results imply thatstudents approach research tasks for both controlled and autonomous reasons.
Research limitations/implications –All constructs representing extrinsic and intrinsic motivation on a
continuum were confirmed. However, amotivation proved difficult to define with the current sample.
Additional studies need to be conducted in higher education setting in order to confirm its existence.
Practical implications –Given that the situational motivation is contingent on domain-level motivation,
the ISMS –C scale can be helpful in promoting lasting intrinsic information seeking motivation at that level.
Originality/value –Consistent with the subjectivist orientation in information sciences which aims to
account for cognitive and affective forces behind information need, ISMS constructed in the current study is
one of the first measurement instruments to account for a spectrum of information seeking motivations at the
domain level.
Keywords Intrinsic motivation, Self-determination theory, Academic libraries, Extrinsic motivation,
Information Seeking Behaviour Scale, Measurement testing and instruments
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Human motivation is a widely debated construct in psychology. Social sciences as well as
education and health sciences have adopted numerous psychological theories in an effort
to understand motivational forces behind many human activities from dieting
(e.g. Schelling et al., 2011), psychotherapy (e.g. Martens et al., 2010), academic
achievement (e.g. Artino et al., 2012) to political participation (e.g. Hersh, 2012). Given
the analogous ongoing struggle to define information, undeniably the most central
concept in the information sciences, it is hardly surprising information seeking motivation
has received relatively little attention in terms of measurement. Case (2012) devotes a
chapter in his seminal text on information behavior to an overview of what he terms a
“motivational puzzle”tying it to information need as the predominantly discussed
dimension of motivation in the information science literature.
Although they often disagree about the nature of those needs and the term itself
(Savolainen, 2012), Robert Taylor, Nicholas Belkin, Carol Kuhlthau and Brenda Dervin are
generally considered the most cited authors in the information needs literature.
Robert Taylor is widely known for his question negotiation framework focusing on
communication between information seekers (i.e. library users) and information
professionals (i.e. librarians, knowledge brokers). Through this framework, Taylor was
one of the first researchers to discuss the discrepancy between visceral and expressed
information needs as a function of communication (Taylor, 1968). Belkin (1980) adopted the
visceral need concept including it in his information seeking framework he termed
“anomalous state of knowledge”(ASK). According to Belkin, the primary motivator for
research is the uncertainty or anomaly accompanying research. When information seekers
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 73 No. 5, 2017
pp. 1034-1052
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-03-2017-0032
Received 8 March 2017
Revised 17 July 2017
Accepted 23 July 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
1034
JD
73,5
perceive their knowledge to be deficient or incomplete they will initiate the process which
will continue until the appropriate information is found or the seeker abandons search.
Kuhlthau (1991) retains the concept of uncertainty as the primary motivator for research but
also focuses on affect accompanying each stage of the research process. Finally, Dervin
(1998) acknowledges humans are inherently curious and defines information need as a
continuous search for meaning.
The evolution of concept of motivation in psychology mirrors that of information need in
information sciences. Similarly to information sciences, where the subjectivist tradition
researchers, such as Dervin, recognized goal achievement only partially accounts for
information need as a motivational force in the information seeking process, recent
psychological motivational theories moved toward differentiating between goals and
increasingly focus on their behavioral and affective consequences (Deci and Ryan, 2000).
By examining goal content and the regulatory processes through which goals are pursued,
self-determination theory (SDT), used in research design of the current study, accounts for
a spectrum of motivational forces. Consistent with the subjectivist orientation in information
science which aims to account for cognitive and affective forces behind information need,
SDT recognizes the role of psychological development and well-being in goal attainment.
Fidel (2012) indicates that the decades of conceptualizations of information need failed to
significantly impact empirical research because they focused on its situational aspects.
She writes:
Whether an information need is defined as an incomplete cognitive state or as a trigger for a search,
it delineates an individual situational state under local conditions. Using these approaches,
information need researchers may be able to uncover the needs that the people they studied had at
the time they studied them, but no information needs common to members of a community of actors
(p. 94).
Indeed, mostcurrent research concerninginformation need focuses on task-based information
needs, where need is typically understood as a need for a specific kind of information from
specific sources. It is hardly surprising the central question in human information behavior
studies (i.e. whydo people search for information?)remains unanswered beyond the situation
level even though reviews of literature datingback to 1980s indicate researchers were aware
of this gap in literature (Wilson, 1981). In order to begin to address this question, research in
information behavior needs to embrace the growing body of research in psychology on
underlying psychological needs that motivate behavior.
Current research in psychology clearly demonstrates motivation is a complex,
multidimensional construct where extrinsic (i.e. external) and intrinsic (i.e. internal)
motivations exist on a continuum (Vallerand et al., 1992). Furthermore, according to SDT
perspective, these motivations are hierarchical and operate on a global (personality),
contextual (domain), and situation (state) levels (Vallerand, 1997). However, current research
on information seeking motivation has largely focused on studies at the situation level
resulting in lack of studies at the global and domain levels.
The three levels of generality are also hierarchical in nature (Vallerand, 1997).
Since global motivational orientation is a reflection of success of process of integrating
activities into the self, this personality dimension will affect how individuals integrate
motivations at the contextual and situational levels. Similarly, contextual level will affect the
situational level of generality reflective of current activities.
The global level refers to personality (i.e. individuals’general tendencies to interact with
the environment in autonomous or controlled way). According to Deci and Ryan (2000),
humans have an innate need to engage in stimulating activities and through this
engagement constantly redefine themselves. If one’s basic psychological needs are met, the
autonomous, intrinsically motivated activities will be a reflection of their nascent selves, and
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