Examining information literacy experience in light of activity theory and task complexity
Main Article Content
Abstract
This study aims at examining information literacy in light of activity theory and task complexity. The sample of this survey consists of 86 randomly selected university employees with simple and complex tasks. Three researcher-made questionnaires collected information concerning information literacy, relevant components of activity theory in all stages of information literacy experiences and task complexity. Regarding the components of information needs, namely, identifying information sources, searching, combining new information with prior knowledge and updating information, the analysis indicates that these components enjoyed a satisfactory level in terms of simple tasks. Analysis, evaluation, selection and implementation of information at the workplace, however, were not satisfactory among people with simple tasks. The findings showed that elements of activity theory significantly and positively impacted information needs, sources and seeking behaviour of both groups of employees; information analysis and evaluation behaviour in employees with complex tasks; information selection and summary behaviour in the group assigned to simple tasks; combining new information with prior knowledge in employees with simple tasks. These factors, too, had a significantly positive effect on the ability to update information in both groups. These factors in activity theory also had a significant positive effect on information literacy experiences in both groups; however, the effect was larger for employees assigned to simple tasks, compared to those assigned to complex tasks.
Downloads
Article Details
It is a condition of publication that manuscripts submitted to the journal have not been published, accepted for publication, nor simultaneously submitted for publication elsewhere. By submitting a manuscript, the author(s) agree that copyright for the article is transferred to the publisher, if and when the manuscript is accepted for publication.
References
Abram, S. 2013. Workplace information literacy: It’s different, developing people’s information capabilities: Fostering information literacy in educational. workplace and community contexts. Library and Information Science, Vol. 8: 205-222. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1108/S1876-0562(2013)0000008017.
Ahmad, F., Widén, G. and Huvila, I. 2020. The impact of workplace information literacy on organizational innovation: An empirical study. International Journal of Information Management, Vol. 51: 1-15. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.ijinfomgt.2019.102041.
Ayoub, Y. 2016. An Investigation of Information Literacy of International Graduate Students: Skills, Challenges, and Needs. (Doctoral ’s Thesis), University of Central Florida, Florida.
Barnard, R. 2010. Activity theory: A framework for analysing intercultural academic activity. An International Journal of Human Activity Theory, no. 3: 25-37. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10289/4354.
Ben Abdallah, N. 2013. Activity theory as a framework for understanding information literacy. European Conference on Information Literacy, ECIL 2013, Istanbul, Turkey, October 22-25: 92-99.
Bird, N. 2016. Information literacy for the workplace: A review of the literature and research proposal. National Conference on Information Literacy, Zhenjiang, China. Available at: https://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/N_Bird_Information_Review_2016.pdf.
Boustany, J. 2013. Information literacy skills of students at Paris Descartes University. European Conference on Information Literacy, ECIL 2013 Istanbul, Turkey, October 22-25: 588- 595.
Bruce, C.S. 1999. Workplace experiences of information literacy. International Journal of Information Management, Vol. 19, no. 7: 33-47. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0268-4012(98)00045-0.
Byström, K. 2005. Theories of information behavior. New Jersey: Information Today, Inc.
Byström, K. and Järvelin. K. 1995. Task complexity affects information seeking and use. Information Processing and Management, Vol. 31, no. 2: 191-213.
Cheuk, B. 2017. The hidden value of information literacy in the workplace context: How to unlock and create value. In M. Forster (Ed.), Information Literacy in the Workplace. London, United Kingdom: Facet.
Cochran, W. G. 1977. Sampling techniques (3rd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Dayton, D. 2000. Activity theory: A versatile framework for workplace research. Society for Technical Communication Conference Proceedings, 7p. Available at: https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=4e5b004bbf8c4c80537da87dc711b441ec8712c4.
Engeström, Y. 1987. Learning by expanding: An activity-theoretical approach to developmental research. Helsinki: Orienta-Konsultit.
Fornell, C. and Larcker, D. 1981. Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 18, no. 3: 39-50. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/002224378101800104.
Forte, A . 2009. Learning in public: Information literacy and participatory media. (Doctoral’s Thesis). Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia.
Firdaus Salehudin, M.H. 2016. Behavior (TPB) in developing of information literacy at workplace. Journal of Islamic, Social, Economics and Development, Vol. 1, no. 1: 1-11.
Forster, M. 2017. Information literacy in the workplace. United Kingdom: Facet Publishing.
Gretschel, P., Ramugondo, E.L. and Galvaan, R. 2015. An Introduction to cultural historical activity theory as a theoretical lens for understanding how occupational therapists design interventions for persons living in low-income conditions in South Africa. South African Journal of Occupational Therapy, Vol. 45, no. 1: 51-55. Available at: https://doi.org/10.17159/2310-3833/2015/v45no1a9.
Gilbert, S. 2017. Information literacy skills in the workplace: Examining early career advertising professionals. Journal of Business and Finance Librarianship, Vol. 22, no. 2: 1-24. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/08963568.2016.1258938.
Hashim, N.H., and Jones, M.L. 2007. Activity theory: A framework for qualitative analysis. International Qualitative Research Convention, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, 3-5, September 2007. Available at: http://ro.uow.edu.au/commpapers/408.
Hepworth, M. and Smith, M. 2008. Workplace information literacy for administrative staff in higher education. Australian Library Journal, Vol. 57, no. 3: 212-236. Available at: http://doi.org /10.1080/00049670.2008.10722477.
Hasan, H. and Kazlauskas, A. 2014. Activity theory: Who is doing what, why and how. In H. Hasan (Eds.), Being practical with theory: A window into business research (pp. 9-14). Wollongong, Australia: Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive). 403. Availabe at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/buspapers/403
Hall, H., Cruickshank, P. and Ryan, B. 2018. Exploring information literacy through the lens of activity theory. In Communications in Computer and Information Science; Information Literacy in the Workplace: 803-812. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74334-9_81.
Hjørland, B. 2002. Domain analysis in information science: Eleven approaches-traditional as well as innovative. Journal of Documentation, Vol. 58, no. 4, 422-450. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1108/00220410210431136.
Kirton, J. and Barham, L. 2005. Information literacy in the workplace. Australian Library Journal, Vol. 54, no. 4: 365-376. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/ 00049670.2005.10721784.
Kumpulainen, S. and Järvelin, K. 2012. Barriers to task‐based information access in molecular medicine. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Vol. 63, no. 1: 86-97. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.21672.
Li, Y., Chen, Y., Liu, J., Cheng, Y., Wang, X., Chen, P. and Wang, Q. 2011. Measuring task complexity in information search from user's perspective. Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Vol. 48, no. 1: 1-8.
Lloyd, A. 2010. Information literacy landscapes: Information literacy in education, workplace and everyday context. Chandos, London.
Lloyd, A. 2011. Trapped between a rock and a hard place: what counts as information literacy in the workplace and how is it conceptualized?. Library Trends, Vol. 60, no. 2: 277-296. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1353/lib.2011.0046.
Lloyd, A. 2012. Information as a socially enacted practice: sensitising themes for an emerging perspective of people-in-practice, Journal of Documentation, Vol. 68, no. 6: 772-783:. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1108/00220411211277037.
Lloyd, A. 2017. Information literacy and literacies of information: a mid-range theory and model, Journal of Information Literacy, Vol. 11, no. 1: 91-105. Available at: https://doi.org/10.11645/11.1.2185.
Lloyd, A. and Somerville, M. 2006. Working information. Journal of Workplace Learning, Vol. 18, no. 3: 186-198. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1108/13665620610654603.
Middleton, L. and Hall, H. 2021. Workplace information literacy: a bridge to the development of innovative work behaviour. Journal of Documentation, Vol. 77, no. 6: 1343- 1363. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-03-2021-0065.
Molopyane, J. and Fourie, I. 2015. A framework for workplace information literacy in academic contexts. Library Hi Tech, Vol. 33, no. 4: 562-583. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1108/LHT-02-2015-0013.
Saastamoinen, M., Kumpulainen, S., and Järvelin, K. 2012. Task complexity and information searching in administrative tasks revisited. In Proceedings of the 4th Information Interaction in Context Symposium. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery: 204-213.
Sharkey, J. 2006. Towards information fluency: Applying a different model to an information literacy credit course. Reference Services Review, Vol. 34, no.1: 71-85. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1108/00907320610648770.
Somerville, M. M. and Bruce, C. S. 2017. From transaction to transformation: Organizational learning and knowledge creation experience within informed systems. In Marc Forster (Eds.), Information Literacy in the Workplace. London, England: Facet Publishing.
Vygotsky, L. 1978. Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Wu, Y.D. 2012. Information literacy in the workplace: A cross-cultural perspective. Journal of Library and Information Science, Vol. 38, no.1: 84-104. Available at: https://jlis.glis.ntnu.edu.tw/ojs/index.php/jlis/article/view/580.
Zhang, Y. 2012. The impact of task complexity on people's mental models of Medline Plus. Information Processing & Management, Vol. 48, no.1: 107-119.