Conceptualisations of the immediate and contextual impetus for information seeking

Purpose To elaborate the nature of factors triggering information seeking. To this end, the conceptualisations of immediate and contextual impetus for information seeking presented in the explanatory models of information behaviour (IB) and information seeking are examined. Design/methodology/approach Conceptual analysis of ten pertinent models for IB or information seeking. First, the diagrams depicting the models were examined by drawing attention to how the relationships between immediate and contextual triggers are explained. Second, the textual explanations of the diagrams were scrutinised. Immediate impetus was approached as a factor that directly prompts the information-seeking process, while contextual impetus temporally precedes the immediate impetus and affects how it is interpreted. The conceptual analysis was based on the comparison of the similarities and differences between the articulations of the immediate and contextual impetus of diverse kinds. Findings Six approaches to the conceptualisation of the immediate impetus were identified: (1) need, (2) information need, (3) uncertainty, (4) stress, risk/reward and self-efficacy, (5) characteristics of information sources and utilities, and (6) knowledge need, affective responses, social norms and social trust. Of these approaches, information need occupies a central role in the models examined in the present study. A variety of contextual triggers temporally preceding immediate triggers were identified. Of them, (work) task-related factors were most common. In most models, the contextual triggers constitute a complex and dynamic interplay of multiple factors. This makes it difficult to identify the temporally first cause of information seeking. Research limitations/implications As the study focuses on the conceptualisations presented in a sample of ten models, the findings cannot be generalised to the domain of IB research as a whole. Originality/value The study pioneers by providing an in-depth comparative analysis of the immediate and contextual triggers of information seeking.