Information Acquisition Behavior Research Articles

The Effects of Trust, Distrust, and Motivation on Information Behaviors: The Cases of GM Food and Food Additives in China

Food-related issues have recently become one of the most salient and controversial issues and have received increasing media and scholarly attention. This study examines the distinct effects of trust and distrust on the public’s information behaviors, specifically in the context of two food-related issues including GM food and food additives. This study employs a cross-sectional survey with 1,089 Chinese citizens. This study demonstrates that trust and motivation positively predicted information transmission behaviors (i.e., information sharing and forwarding) and information acquisition behaviors (i.e., information attending and seeking). Distrust, on the other hand, predicted only information transmission behaviors. Motivation’s effects on information acquisition behaviors were moderated by trust. This study contributes to the field of health information by expanding STOPS’ applicability to food-related risk contexts, conducting research with culturally distinct populations different from those featured in prior research, and distinguishing the roles of trust and distrust in influencing information behaviors.

Post-stroke experiences and health information needs among Chinese elderly ischemic stroke survivors in the internet environment: a qualitative study.

Elderly stroke survivors are encouraged to receive appropriate health information to prevent recurrences. After discharge, older patients seek health information in everyday contexts, examining aspects that facilitate or impair healthy behavior. To explore the experiences of older stroke patients when searching for health information, focusing on search methods, identification of health information, and difficulties faced during the search process. Using the qualitative descriptive methodology, semi-structured interviews were conducted with fifteen participants. Participants associated the health information they sought with concerns about future life prospects triggered by perceived intrusive changes in their living conditions. Based on the participants' descriptions, four themes were refined: participants' motivation to engage in health information acquisition behavior, basic patterns of health information search, source preferences for health information, and difficulties and obstacles in health information search, and two search motivation subthemes, two search pattern subthemes, four search pathway subthemes, and four search difficulty subthemes were further refined. Older stroke patients face significant challenges in searching for health information online. Healthcare professionals should assess survivors' health information-seeking skills, develop training programs, provide multichannel online access to health resources, and promote secondary prevention for patients by improving survivors' health behaviors and self-efficacy.

Research on Information Literacy Education Model in the Big Data Environment - A Case Study of six Hainan high school Libraries

Abstract Under the overwhealing trend of big data, information literacy is gradually embedded in various applications with broader contents. Due to the new concepts and new technologies, the contents and methods of information literacy education have also changed. In order to further study the mode of information literacy education under the environment of big data, this paper takes six Hainan high school libraries as an example to investigate the students’ understanding level of information literacy education - their perception of the role of information literacy education and their satisfaction with information literacy education. In term of students’ knowledge, 28.25% of students have never heard literacy education, 37.28% have heard but are not sure of the details, and 34.47% know about information literacy education. In terms of students’ perceptions of the role of education, 48.27% thought that information literacy education was important, 48.15% thought that information literacy education was neutral, and 3.58% thought that information literacy education in libraries was not useful at all. In terms of satisfaction, students who are very satisfied, satisfied, and not satisfied with information literacy education is 33.33%, 52.12%, and 14.55% respectively. Our result showed that information literacy education in college libraries still lacks publicity, and developed mulitiple teaching model to attract student attention is necessary. Therefore, we purposed that information literacy education in college libraries should develop diversified publicity based on various media, particular follow the new characteristics of college students’ information acquisition behavior, and expand the scope of information literacy education.

Behavior patterns and influencing factors: Health information acquisition behavior of Chinese senior adults on WeChat

Due to the gradual adoption of WeChat by older adults in China and their interest in health information, Chinese older people started to acquire health information through WeChat. We explored the specific patterns and influencing factors of the elderly's health information acquisition behavior senior adults. The cross-sectional study collected self-reported data with survey (N = 336) in the southeast of China, Zhejiang province. The findings of this study extend the previous research by suggesting that elderly adults' health information acquisition behavior has three patterns (actively seeking, passively browsing, and long-term collecting). These findings contribute to a better understanding of digital literacy, three dimensions of health literacy and their relationship with three specific patterns of health acquisition behavior. This study also provides practical insights related to narrow the technological gap of the older adults, improve their e-Health literacy of the elderly, and purify the health information environment in the network.

What Drives Lending Inquisitors’ Judgement & Decision-Making: Behavioural Factors Analysis through Kruskal–Wallis & Fuzzy AHP

Abstract The present study investigates what drives Lending inquisitors’ judgement & decision-making behaviour that influences credit risk assessment in Indian banks. This research investigates three aspects: risk attitude & information acquisition behaviour, the effect of experience on lending, and desirable attributes of lending inquisitors. For the first area, Kruskal–Wallis non-parametric test is applied, for second area correlation and Cramer’s V is applied on fictitious case analysis and for third aspect 27 attributes of inquisitors through unstructured personal interviews are then analysed by applying Kruskal Wallis Test, Factor analysis and Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP). Fuzzy AHP technique was applied to understand the key personal attributes and sub-attributes, which play a major role in Lending inquisitors’ judgement & decision-making behaviour. The risk attitude and information acquisition provided no substantial relationship between the two. Whereas, in the second area, which is assessing the impact of experience on decision-making behaviour, the result shows that the senior and junior credit inquisitors are cautious in acquiring the information as compared to outsourced credit inquisitors.

Information Acquisition Behaviour of Turmeric Farmers in Pappireddipatti Taluk of Dharmapuri District in Tamil Nadu

The study was conducted in Pappireddipatti taluk of Dharmapuri district. Dharmapuri is the major turmeric producing district in Tamil Nadu. It ranks second in area and production in the state after Erode district. Information acquisition behaviour means that the respondents get information from various sources. Sample size of 120 respondents was selected by using proportionate random sampling technique. The data were collected by personal interview utilizing a well structured and pre-tested interview schedule. The collected data were tabulated and analyzed using appropriate statistical tools. Majority of the respondents got the information from the AAO/AHO, friends, utilized leaflets made discussion with the family members, friends, relatives, neighbours and informing to family members to keep in mind & asking them to remember and disseminated the information to their family members respectively. The present study can provide useful guidance for understanding the information acquisition behaviour of turmeric farmers in Pappireddipatti taluk of Dharmapuri district.

Auctions with flexible information acquisition

We consider independent private value auctions in which prior to bidding, each bidder engages in fully flexible information acquisition, choosing not only how much information but also what information to acquire about his value. Focusing on a tractable environment with binary underlying values and posterior-separable information costs, we characterize the unique symmetric equilibrium and investigate the effects of information costs on auction outcomes. We also analyze how the reserve price influences bidders' information-acquisition behavior and study its implications for the seller's expected revenue.

Identifying the information behavior in competitive intelligence process: a paradigm model for medical sciences universities

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify and design a paradigm model for universities' information acquisition behavior in competitive intelligence process.Design/methodology/approachThe sampling has been conducted in two stages. First, purposive sampling has been done among Iranian universities of medical sciences. Second, 20 university staff members were selected using the snowball method. The research was conducted through semi-structured interviews.FindingsThe purpose of acquiring information in competitive intelligence process is to meet organizational and individual information needs in active and passive ways. The characteristics of information acquisition and how to acquire it are varied. Enablers include the information sources, individual, organizational characteristics and environmental pressures. Barriers are individual, organizational, environmental factors. The consequences of information acquisition are success, failure and partial success. Accordingly, a paradigm model of information behavior has been designed.Originality/valueThis is the first study to identify information behavior of universities in competitive intelligence process. In addition to why and how to acquire information, this study also looks at facilitators and barriers factors.

Nutrition education incorporation into mainstream primary school curriculum in Ghana: Stakeholders' sources of nutrition information and perceived barriers.

IntroductionNutrition literacy has been cited as a crucial life skill. Nutrition education as a primary school subject has been treated inconsequentially when compared to other subjects. We investigated an aspect of the current state of nutrition education in Ghana by engaging stakeholders about their sources of nutrition information and the perceived barriers in implementing nutrition education in mainstream primary schools.MethodsThree hundred and fifty one (351) primary school children, 121 homebased caregivers, six schoolteachers, two headteachers, two Ghana Education Service (GES) officials, and six school cooks were involved in the study. Surveys were used to collect data on nutrition information acquisition behaviors and to record perceived barriers. Key Informant Interviews were conducted among GES officials, headteachers, schoolteachers and school cooks, while Focus Group Discussions were used among homebased caregivers and children to gather qualitative information.ResultsOnly 36.3% of the primary school children had heard about nutrition, and 71% of those got nutrition information from their family members. About 70% of homebased caregivers had heard or seen nutrition messages, and their source of nutrition information was predominantly traditional media. Schoolteachers mostly received their nutrition information from non-governmental organizations and the Internet, while most of the school cooks stated their main source of nutrition information was hospital visits. Perceived barriers included schoolteachers’ knowledge insufficiency, and lack of resources to adequately deliver nutrition education. Lack of a clear policy appeared to be an additional barrier.ConclusionThe barriers to the implementation of nutrition education in the mainstream curriculum at the primary school level that were identified in this study can be resolved by: providing schoolteachers with learning opportunities and adequate nutrition education resources for practical delivery, having specific national policy framework, and including family members and school cooks in the nutrition education knowledge and information dissemination process.

Analysis on Health Information Acquisition of Social Network Users by Opinion Mining: Case Analysis Based on the Discussion on COVID-19 Vaccinations.

This study aims to explore phenomena and laws that occur when different users on social network platforms obtain health information by constructing an opinion mining model, analyzing the user's position on selected cases, and exploring the reflection of the phenomenon of truth decay on platforms. It selects group posts regarding the COVID-19 vaccination dispute on the Douban platform, analyzes the positions of different users, and explores phenomena related to users obtaining health information on domestic social platforms according to different topics and information behaviors. The results reveal a linear relationship between the negative and neutral attitudes of netizens on social networking platforms. Moreover, netizens tend to hold subjective language when expressing their views and attitudes, and their views on social platforms will not change easily. The study explores the health information acquisition behavior of netizens on social platforms based on the constructed user opinion mining model. The study is helpful for relevant units and platforms to make scientific decisions and provide guidance according to different positions of Internet users.

Investigation of Information Acquisition Channel for Prostate Cancer High-Risk Group

Purpose: The survey was conducted on Korean men to examine information acquisition channel for prostate cancer high risk group as part of the “Blue Ribbon Campaign” of the Korean Urological Oncology Society.Materials and Methods: An online survey of 500 men aged 50 years old or older was completed to query investigation of the status of prostate cancer awareness and information acquisition from February 4 to February 9, 2021.Results: Most men in their 50s and older are well aware that prostate cancer can also occur in young men in their 40s, so the rate of misunderstanding of the timing of prostate cancer screening after their 60s is very low. Two-thirds of all respondents (67.2%) were also confirmed that prostate cancer had no initial symptoms and was not included in the national cancer screening. Seventy-five percent of people look up information on their own in case of suspected prostate cancer, and 51.6% seek out knowledge on their own to prevent prostate cancer. Of the respondents, 27.4% of men contacted prostate cancer-related information within the past year, and the percentage of people contacted through ‘Internet/Phone,’ ‘People Around’ and ‘Television’ was high. The most trusted channel among prostate cancer information channels was ‘medical professionals,’ but the experience rate was not high, and the channel with high experience rate and reliability was shown as ‘television.’Conclusions: Much effort is still needed to understand the information acquisition behavior of Korean men and to improve awareness of early screening for prostate cancer.

Investor Attention and Corporate Innovation Performance: Evidence from Web Search Volume Index of Chinese Listed Companies

Leveraging from the online search index of Chinese listed companies from 2012 to 2018, we empirically test the relationship between investors’ attention and corporate innovation performance for the first time. The main results are as follows: (1) investors’ attention significantly improves listed companies’ innovation performance, which is reflected in the increase of patent applications. This indicates that investors’ active information collection behaviour affects China’s economic development by promoting enterprise innovation. (2) This paper’s conclusion remains intact after a battery of robustness checks, such as alternative measures of key variables and empirical specifications and a series of endogenous treatment. (3) The mechanisms tests show that: “information asymmetry”, “financing constraint”, and “agency cost” are supported. In other words, with the increase of investors’ attention, not only the information asymmetry is reduced, which greatly improved the information environment of the capital market, but also the external financing constraints of enterprises are alleviated. The opportunistic management behaviour is effectively suppressed, thus motivating the corporate innovation incentives and improving the corporate innovation of input, output and quality. (4) Further research shows that investor attention to listed companies also improves the efficiency of capital allocation. This paper’s conclusion shows that investors’ initiative information acquisition behaviour can improve enterprises innovation performance, thus providing a driving force for China’s economic development.

Evaluating the Adoption of Agro Advisory Services Disseminated through the Interactive Information Dissemination System in the State of Telangana, India

The study was conducted in erstwhile Nalgonda and Khammam districts of Telangana state, where pilot testing of the Interactive Information Dissemination System was conducted during year, 2013. The present study adopted Ex-post facto research design and one hundred and twenty respondents were selected by following simple random sampling method, at the rate of sixty from each identified district. From the results of the revealed that, greater majority of the registered farmers belonged to the middle age, had high school level of education with medium level of farming experience. It was also observed that, 56.67 percent of the farmers had medium level of Information acquisition behaviour, high innovativeness and registered farmers (66.67%) used to visit KVKs for agriculture information. Further, an attempt was made to find out the factors contributing for adoption of agro advisory services and it was observed that, level of education, annual income level, level of farming experience, level of socio-political participation, information acquisition behavior, use of ICT tool, innovativeness and access to KVKs were found to be the contributing factors for adoption of the agro advisory services by the farmers. The services of the IIDS helped farmers in getting real time and personalized agro advisory services 24X7 and also facilitated them in sharing their success stories with their fellow farmers.

Job Search with Financial Information: Theory and Evidence

This paper examines whether, when, and why job seekers use firms’ financial information in the job search process. We find first evidence of financial information’s relevance to job seekers by documenting a substantial increase in job search activity around earnings announcements in the spirit of Beaver (1968). We also find that financial information acquisition by job seekers is positively related to both job postings and interviews at the firm-county-month level. Spurred by this finding, we develop a theoretical model of job search paired with firms’ heterogeneous earnings to better understand job seeker’s information acquisition behavior. Our model predicts that job seekers trade off the probability of an offer with the value of the employment contract and intensify information acquisition as the number of available positions shrinks relative to the pool of job seekers. Consistent with these predictions, we find that firm performance is positively correlated with both job seekers’ search activities and employers’ posted wages. We also find that the positive association between financial information acquisition and interviews is stronger when the job market is more competitive. Overall, these results indicate that, like capital market participants, job seekers value and use financial reporting.

Information acquisition behaviour of rice growers under seed village programme in district Baramulla (J&K)

The present study regarding the information acquisition behaviour of rice growers under seed village programme was carried out in five purposively selected Sub-Divisions of Baramulla district, having Seed Village Programme under rice crop. Data was personally collected by researcher through well structured interview schedule. The majority of the rice growers from all the five sub-divisions were a medium level of information acquisition behaviour and the majority of the medium level of information acquisition behaviour of the rice growers were found in sub-division Tangmarg (75%), followed by sub-division Sopore (70.38%), followed by sub-division Baramulla (69.87%) and followed by sub-division Pattan (68.58%) and least were found in sub-division Rohamma (65%). However, when analyzing at the rice growers overall information acquisition behaviour across all five Sub-Divisions, it was found that (69.68%) of respondents had a medium level of information acquisition behaviour.

Train Information Acquisition Behavior of Passengers in the Event of a Disaster: A Survey of Osaka Monorail Passengers Who Experienced the Northern Osaka Earthquake.

Train Information Acquisition Behavior of Passengers in the Event of a Disaster: A Survey of Osaka Monorail Passengers Who Experienced the Northern Osaka Earthquake.

Combinatorial abilities and heuristic behavior in online search environments

Consider the problem faced by a decision maker (DM) who must select the order in which to evaluate the unknown alternatives displayed by an online search engine. DMs do not know the distribution of the realizations that result from clicking on an alternative and must therefore account for the differences that may exist between the ranking provided by the engine and their subjective potential evaluations. The current paper formalizes the information retrieval incentives of DMs through a combinatorial function that incorporates the position of the results displayed by the search engine and the order in which they are evaluated. This function defines a benchmark framework measuring the ability of search engines to identify the preferences of DMs and the capacity of the latter to assimilate and evaluate the information provided by the engines. We compare the cumulative frequencies derived from the implementation of evaluation models of varying complexity with the average traffic shares and click through rates of the alternatives ranked within the first page of Google results. A seemingly paradoxical result is obtained when simulating the information acquisition behavior of DMs after performing an online search, namely, artificial agents require more complex combinatorial abilities than actual DMs to approximate better the heuristic choices of the latter in online evaluation environments.

The acquisition of health and science information in the 21st century

The ways that humans acquire information is undergoing a fundamental change comparable to the introduction of Gutenberg’s printing press and broadcast systems. Using the literature and a growing body of empirical evidence, we describe a model of information acquisition that specifies the roles of education, salience, subject-matter literacy, and navigation skills in the decision to seek information. We refer to this model as a just-in-time information acquisition system. We focus on the acquisition of health information and science information separately and discuss the similarities and differences. We utilize a national U.S. survey to describe adult information acquisition behaviors empirically.

Localized Information Acquisition

his study identifies previously undocumented geography-related diversity in investors’ information acquisition behavior around days with earnings announcements. IP geo-localization of the server log of the SEC’s EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval) system shows that, around these days, local (non-local) investors’ information acquisition behavior is largely anticipatory (reactionary) in nature. Specifically, local investors are found to sharply increase their information acquisition activities on days leading up to earnings announcements, triggered by intertemporal changes in a firm’s earnings uncertainty and varying predictably with exogenous firm relocation. Their non-local counterparts, on the other hand, generally hold off until the day of the earnings announcement, when new filings information becomes available. Greater pre-announcement information acquisition diversity is predicted to elicit stronger stock price reactions on earnings announcement days. Consistent with this prediction, we find that the earnings announcement-day premium is higher when pre-announcement information acquisition by local investors is higher, controlling for time-variant and -invariant firm characteristics.

Local Warming Increases Climate Policy Support: Analysis of Behavioral Intentions, Internet Searches, and US Congressional Vote Shares

We report on four studies that examine the effects of abnormal temperature experiences on climate policy support. Study 1 shows perceived weather abnormality to be correlated with self-reported climate policy support, an effect that is robust across USA, Italy, and China but strongest in the USA. Study 2 identifies a significant effect of objective temperature abnormality on climate policy support in a large US sample. Study 3 analyzes the impacts of objective temperature abnormality on information acquisition behavior, namely Google searches about climate change and climate policies, finding strong evidence that weather abnormalities increase such searches. Lastly, Study 4 analyzes a high-effort and highly consequential behavioral outcome, voting for candidates who support climate policies, showing that experienced temperature abnormalities significantly decreased Republican candidates’ vote shares in the 2018 US midterm elections.