Predictors of information literacy self-efficacy among medical students: PLS-SEM analysis

How information literacy influences creative skills among medical students? The mediating role of lifelong learning

This research investigated the influence of information literacy on the creative skills of medical students through the mediation of lifelong learning. A cross-sectional survey was conducted for data collection among medical students, recruited through a stratified convenient sampling procedure, of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The questionnaire was personally administered by visiting each college with written permission. A total of 473 survey responses were collected and analysed using the partial least squares structural equation modelling. The results revealed that the information literacy of medical students had a direct and indirect but positive influence on their creative skills. Lifelong learning not had a direct but positive effect on creative skills but also mediated the relationship between information literacy and creative skills. The empirical evidence for how information literacy influences creative skills through the mediated role of lifelong learning may inform policy and practice for information literacy instructions. These results may help academicians and information specialists to initiate a credited or integrated course on information literacy in the curriculum of medical students not only in Pakistan but also in other developing countries. This research would be a worthwhile contribution to the existing research on information literacy as the mediated role of lifelong learning between information literacy and creative skills has never been examined so far.

Relationship of business students’ information-seeking anxiety with socio-academic variables in the digital environment

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the relationship of information-seeking anxiety (ISA) with socio-academic variables of business students in the digital environment.

Design/methodology/approach

A cross-sectional survey using a questionnaire was conducted. The questionnaire, composed of 47 items of Information Seeking Anxiety Scale along with certain socio-academic variables, was administered personally among business students by visiting their classrooms at the Lahore School of Economics, Pakistan. The received 283 responses were analyzed by applying descriptive and inferential statistics such as mean, standard deviation, t-test and one-way analysis of variance.

Findings

The results revealed that a large majority of business students were less comfortable in information seeking and experienced anxiety from mild to moderate levels. There were only a few respondents who faced either low or severe levels of ISA. In relationship testing, the students’ socio-academic variables such as program type, gender, school background, geographical background, information communication technology skills and English language competence did not appear to be the predictors of their ISA.

Research limitations/implications

The results of this study should carefully be used while making generalizations for all the business students in Pakistan and abroad as this research collected data from the business students of a single university in Pakistan.

Practical implications

These results have greater implications for the future directions of information literacy as creating awareness and building capacity for skills about the information search process will help in reducing ISA. These findings provided a pragmatic insight that can be used as a guide by information professionals, especially those engaged in information services, to develop a need-based curriculum of information literacy which would ultimately help in the alleviation of anxiety and combating its effects on students’ academic performance.

Originality/value

This study address specifically ISA of business students that would make a worthy contribution to the existing research on ISA as, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no such study has appeared so far.

Exploring the factors of students' intention to participate in AI software development

Purpose

Although many universities have begun to provide artificial intelligence (AI)-related courses for students, the influence of the course on students' intention to participate in the development of AI-related products/services needs to be verified. In order to explore the factors that influence students' participation in AI services and system development, this study uses self-efficacy, AI literacy, and the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to investigate students' intention to engage in AI software development.

Design/methodology/approach

The questionnaire was distributed online to collect university students' responses in central Taiwan. The research model and eleven hypotheses are tested using 151 responses. The testing process adopted SmartPLS 3.3 and SPSS 26 software.

Findings

AI programming self-efficacy, AI literacy, and course satisfaction directly affected the intention to participate in AI software development. Moreover, course playfulness significantly affected course satisfaction and AI literacy. However, course usefulness positively affected course satisfaction but did not significantly affect AI literacy and AI programming self-efficacy.

Originality/value

The model improves our comprehension of the influence of AI literacy and AI programming self-efficacy on the intention. Moreover, the effects of AI course usefulness and playfulness on literacy and self-efficacy were verified. The findings and insights can help design the AI-related course and encourage university students to participate in AI software development. The study concludes with suggestions for course design for AI course instructors or related educators.

Correlatives of business students’ perceived information literacy self-efficacy in the digital information environment

Self-efficacy toward information literacy is and has been demonstrated as an essential and fundamental key for academic performance and lifelong learning of students at all levels. This research reported the results of a cross-sectional survey carried out to investigate the correlatives of information literacy self-efficacy among business students at the University of Management and Technology, Lahore. The questionnaire contained an Information Literacy Self-Efficacy Scale, which along with sociodemographic and academic variables was utilized for collecting data from 350 students. The survey participants were recruited through a convenient sampling procedure due to accessibility issues and time limitations. The data were analyzed by applying both descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS. The results revealed that the business students had high self-efficacy for basic information literacy skills and low self-efficacy for advanced-level information literacy skills. Age, study program, study stage, proficiency for computer, and English language appeared to be the correlatives of students’ information literacy self-efficacy. The pragmatic insights generated in this research might be used as a guide by university librarians, especially those who are engaged in information literacy instructions for designing a need-based and student-centered curriculum for information literacy instruction programs.