Subjective task complexity and uncertainty in the information seeking behaviour of lawyers /
The study of information seeking behaviour is important in order to enhance provision of quality services and resources on the part of information professionals. Nonetheless, the factors that influence the information seeking of individuals have received less attention. In the work environment, work...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Kuala Lumpur :
Kuliyyah of Information and Communication Technology, International Islamic University Malaysia,
2016
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://studentrepo.iium.edu.my/handle/123456789/5541 |
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| Summary: | The study of information seeking behaviour is important in order to enhance provision of quality services and resources on the part of information professionals. Nonetheless, the factors that influence the information seeking of individuals have received less attention. In the work environment, workers engage in information seeking in order to perform their work responsibilities by performing certain tasks. Thus, the focus on task and its features such as complexity becomes very important. The importance of lawyers in any society cannot be overemphasised. Lawyers serve as agents of justice and the voice for the voiceless in the society. As such, various tasks are carried out by lawyers while performing work roles. This makes it highly imperative for them to have desired information when needed in order to ensure the effective and efficient performance of their tasks. However, many developing countries are faced with perpetual adjournment of cases which brings about the question of whether lawyers' information needs and seeking are identified by information professionals in order to provide enhanced information sources and services, or maybe lawyers are just incompetent. The main objective of this mixed methods study is to investigate and explain the effects of subjective task complexity on the information seeking behaviour of lawyers in Lagos State, Nigeria. The effect of task environment on their information seeking was also examined. Data were collected using survey questionnaires and interview methods. The quantitative analysis which was given precedence and prominence was done using the SmartPLS 2.0 and this was complemented with the qualitative data analysis. In addition, the mediating effect of information types needed between subjective task complexity and information sources and channels was examined. The study also assessed the moderating effects of demographic variables such as age, gender, educational qualification and experience on the relationship between uncertainty and subjective task complexity. Finally, invariance analysis was done to assess if there were statistically significant differences among the groups of lawyers under study based on the tasks they recently performed. Findings indicated that the study hypotheses were supported with the exception of the relationship between subjective task complexity and the information sources used by lawyers. In addition, information types were found to partially mediate the relationship between subjective task complexity and information sources while it fully mediates between subjective task complexity and information channels. Demographic variables such as gender, educational qualification, age and experience were found to moderate the relationship between uncertainty and subjective task complexity for some groups. Lastly, the invariance analysis showed that there were statistically significant differences in most of the study hypotheses for the different groups of lawyers. |
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| Physical Description: | xix, 296 leaves : ill. ; 30cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 266-286). |