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A nonlinear model of information‐seeking behavior

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  • Allen Foster

Abstract

This paper offers a new, nonlinear model of information‐seeking behavior, which contrasts with earlier stage models of information behavior and represents a potential cornerstone for a shift toward a new perspective for understanding user information behavior. The model is based on the findings of a study on interdisciplinary information‐seeking behavior. The study followed a naturalistic inquiry approach using interviews of 45 academics. The interview results were inductively analyzed and an alternative framework for understanding information‐seeking behavior was developed. This model illustrates three core processes and three levels of contextual interaction, each composed of several individual activities and attributes. These interact dynamically through time in a nonlinear manner. The behavioral patterns are analogous to an artist's palette, in which activities remain available throughout the course of information‐seeking. In viewing the processes in this way, neither start nor finish points are fixed, and each process may be repeated or lead to any other until either the query or context determine that information‐seeking can end. The interactivity and shifts described by the model show information‐seeking to be nonlinear, dynamic, holistic, and flowing. The paper offers four main implications of the model as it applies to existing theory and models, requirements for future research, and the development of information literacy curricula. Central to these implications is the creation of a new nonlinear perspective from which user information‐seeking can be interpreted.

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  • Allen Foster, 2004. "A nonlinear model of information‐seeking behavior," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 55(3), pages 228-237, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jamist:v:55:y:2004:i:3:p:228-237
    DOI: 10.1002/asi.10359
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    Cited by:

    1. Vera Granikov & Reem El Sherif & France Bouthillier & Pierre Pluye, 2022. "Factors and outcomes of collaborative information seeking: A mixed studies review with a framework synthesis," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 73(4), pages 542-560, April.
    2. Peter Gordon Roetzel, 2019. "Information overload in the information age: a review of the literature from business administration, business psychology, and related disciplines with a bibliometric approach and framework developmen," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 12(2), pages 479-522, December.
    3. Alarape, A. A. & Adegboye M. O. & Ogunniran O. O & Omoba, F. A, 2021. "Health Information Resources and Clinical Core Skills as Predictors of Medical Doctors Clinical Decision Making in Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife, Nigeria," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 5(6), pages 175-184, June.
    4. Hsi-Peng Lu & Yi-Hsiu Cheng, 2020. "Sustainability in Online Video Hosting Services: The Effects of Serendipity and Flow Experience on Prolonged Usage Time," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-20, February.
    5. Lo Lee & Melissa G. Ocepek & Stephann Makri, 2022. "Information behavior patterns: A new theoretical perspective from an empirical study of naturalistic information acquisition," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 73(4), pages 594-608, April.
    6. Zhe Zhang, 2019. "Sustained Participation in Virtual Communities from a Self-Determination Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-18, November.

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