A Conceptual Framework for Studying Factors Influencing Distance Learners’ Access and Use of Information Sources

Abstract

AbstractThe aim of this study is to propose a new conceptual frameworkfor studying how determinants of information sources selection can affectdistance learners’ information-seeking behavior when seeking to selectbetween a perceived sources’ accessibility and quality to achieve theiracademic assignments. Two theories, namely, the Least Effort Theory, andthe Cost-Benefit Theory are employed for a research framework includingliterature review to analyze which of two parameters, accessibility or quality,relating to how often distance learners use information sources.The review reveals four determinants (convenience, ease of use,relevance, and reliability) that not only influence distance learners’ selectionof information sources but they also reflect contradictory conclusions ofprevious research consisting of two theories: (1) the Least Effort Theoryfocuses on the selection of the source accessibility (convenience, and easeof use), and (2) the Cost-Benefit Theory concentrates on the selection of the source quality (relevance, and reliability).With the advent of web technology, it is challenging for informationsystem designers to design libraries to serve the desire of distance learnersto obtain both high quality information and source accessibility at the sametime. This perspective leads to information systems designed according tothe user-centered approach and corporate web portal to provide the bestinformation services to meet distance learners to fulfill academic assignments.Moreover, the suggestion of this study is that this conceptual frameworkshould be verified by conducting the empirical future research.