Influential factors on academics’ digital hoarding behaviours: an exploratory PLS-SEM research

The transition to digital mediums among instructors, who are instrumental in shaping the higher education, streamlines and diversifies the instructional methodologies. Yet, it concurrently elevates the concern of digital hoarding behaviours to a prominent position in scholarly discourse. In view of digital hoarding’s detrimental outcomes, the current study initially undertook a descriptive scrutiny of the digital hoarding behaviours among academics, subsequently correlating these tendencies with diverse factors. In addition, the study formulated and empirically tested a theoretical framework for understanding digital hoarding predicated on the employment of digital resources in academia. The research engaged 213 academicians voluntarily, with empirical evidence substantiating 13 of the 27 postulated hypotheses. The data indicated a predominant accumulation of text files among academics, alongside a tendency towards digital hoarding that surpasses the average. The outcomes of the PLS-SEM analysis, conducted to elucidate the justifications for digital hoarding, suggest that the level of experience of academics and the obstacles to digital data elimination exert a profound influence. It is imperative for the cultivation of a robust digitalisation culture within institutions, as well as the formulation and execution of data governance strategies, to involve all stakeholders, especially those within the academic sphere.