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8 - Entrepreneurs’ Digital Information Sources Selection: A Perspective on the Impact of Information Literacy and Generational Differences
- Edited by Gunilla Widén, José Teixeira
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- Book:
- Information Literacy and the Digitalisation of the Workplace
- Published by:
- Facet
- Published online:
- 17 December 2023
- Print publication:
- 01 June 2023, pp 121-144
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- Chapter
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Summary
Introduction
The emergence of digitalisation has transformed the ways entrepreneurs seek and acquire information from available digital information sources. The vast amount of digital information sources offers unprecedented opportunities to entrepreneurs and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to enhance their business performance. However, acknowledging the benefits that digital information sources provide, especially in terms of quality and accessibility, entrepreneurs should develop their literacy skills, such as information literacy (IL hereinafter). In an information-based society, IL is defined as the necessary skills and competencies to find, handle and use information and individuals are required to acquire such skills. Some authors argue that IL is the most important literacy in our contemporary society as it enables us to achieve both personal and professional goals, as well as supporting economic development (Virkus, 2011). Besides IL, social norms, ‘the influence of peers’ (Brännback et al., 2018) and types of tasks may also affect entrepreneurs’ perception of digital information sources and, in turn, their digital information sources selection (Nikou et al., 2020). Moreover, the continuous expansion of digitalisation has been associated with a substantial reduction of entry barriers for entrepreneurs, in particular, access to critical business information (Kristiansen, Furuholt and Wahid, 2003).
For example, digitalisation enables and improves entrepreneurs’ access to information through digital information sources, such as social media and web-based platforms (Guan et al., 2017; Jansen, van de Wijngaert and Pieterson, 2010; Orrensalo and Nikou, 2021a). The use of digital information sources (Ivanytska et al., 2021), reduces the cost of infrastructure, time constraints and human labour (Dinet, 2014). Information acquired from digital sources allows entrepreneurs to reach relevant, accurate and timely information for their business needs (Chatterjee, Dutta Gupta and Upadhyay, 2020), which leads to an increase in entrepreneurs’ understanding of the market environments that support their activities, decision-making process and the business growth and outcome (Sahut, Iandoli and Teulon, 2021). Although literature has shown the benefits of digital information sources for entrepreneurial activities to compete in high pressure and dynamic environments (Sahut, Iandoli and Teulon, 2021), current research does not present a comprehensive conceptual model that examines the entrepreneurs’ digital information sources selection. The selection of digital information sources may not happen in isolation but requires the identification of factors influencing such behaviour (for example, Zaremohzzabieh et al., 2016).
3 - Methodological Choices of Information Literacy in the Workplace: Qualitative, Quantitative or Mixed-Methods?
- Edited by Gunilla Widén, José Teixeira
-
- Book:
- Information Literacy and the Digitalisation of the Workplace
- Published by:
- Facet
- Published online:
- 17 December 2023
- Print publication:
- 01 June 2023, pp 29-44
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- Chapter
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Summary
Introduction
Digitalisation has not only impacted business and entrepreneurial activities (Urbach et al., 2019), but also workforce activities in workplaces (Farivar and Richardson, 2021). The digital revolution has created a new era of information-based society. Organisations need highly literate workforces to meet the challenges posed by digitalisation as well as the opportunities it presents (Iversen, Smith and Dindler, 2018). Literacy skills, and more fundamentally information literacy (hereinafter IL), have become an increasingly important prerequisite skill for lifelong learning in the 21st century (Lloyd, 2010). The traditional definition of IL refers to the ability to recognise information needs and to identify, assess and use the information (Bruce, 1999). In the workplace, IL includes the ability to use various information sources and tools, synthesise information, evaluate information, use information in practice and share information with colleagues (Gilbert, 2017). While IL has primarily been addressed, examined and measured in the educational context (for example, Jang et al., 2021; Johnston and Webber, 2003; O’Connor, Radcliff and Gedeon, 2002; Nikou and Aavakare, 2021), a few studies have investigated IL in the workplace, addressing the methodological choices and their consequences for workplace IL research (Gilbert, 2017; Widén et al., 2021a).
The aim of this chapter is to focus on the methodological choices (quantitative, qualitative or mixed-methods) that can be used in workplace IL research. This chapter also introduces a relatively new approach for analysing IL in the workplace called ‘fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis’ (hereinafter fsQCA) (Ragin, 1987). The fsQCA is an analysis technique and enables researchers to better understand the complexity of workplace IL. It should be noted that we do not engage with philosophical traditions, such as positivism, interpretivism and pragmaticism – they are beyond the scope of this chapter. We recommend that interested readers check Lipu, Williamson and Lloyd (2007) for a better understanding of research philosophies in the context of IL.
This chapter is guided by the following research question: What are the methodological choices for assessing IL in the workplace and what factors should be considered when selecting one?