A DIGITAL INFORMATION BEHAVIOUR MODEL

Previous Information Behaviour (IB) models were originally designed for the traditional environment and are not fit to explain human IB in the digital era. Also, the continuous and elastic revolutions of ICTs have questioned previous IB models, leaving a continuous need to review and rework previous models thereby subjecting them to scrutiny in the changing globalization and digital environment. Therefore, there is need to provide an up-to-date IB model. This study presents a digital information behaviour (DIB) model that is relevant in the changing digital environment. It adopts a correlational survey design; and a multi-stage technique was used to select 400 respondents but 233 questionnaires were retrieved from the field giving a total of approximately 58% retrieval rate. Questionnaires were used to obtain information and the psychometric property was presented. The descriptive (frequency and percentage) and inferential (ANOVA and Regression Analysis) statistics was adopted to analyse information obtained. This study revealed that there are significant relationships among IB components such as information needs, search and use but none exists between users’ information use and archival/disposal. In addition, ICT literacy of users does not give a significant impetus to users’ IB, which could affect the output quality of IB. Furthermore, among the four cognitive abilities, only verbal comprehension influenced users’ IB. The study recommends the need to revisit curriculums in all fields of study, to expose students to the necessary ICT literacy levels and cognitive abilities necessary for enhancing IB quality in the digital environment.