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Vol.20 Tariq et al. (2018)
Online Information Searching Skills of Business Students
Muhammad Tariq
COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore,
Campus, Pakistan
Email: tariqnajmi@cuilahore.edu.pk
Shafiq Ur Rehman
Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal
University, Saudi Arabia
Email: suRehman@uod.edu.sa
Khalid Mahmood
University of the Punjab, Lahore,
Pakistan
Email: khalid.im@pu.edu.pk
Ghulam Mustafa
University of Sargodha, Sargodha
Email: rajamustafa@ymail.com
This study investigates the perceived level and sources of learning
Online Information Searching (OIS) skills of the students of business
studies. The study also explores the differences in the students’
searching skill level of information resources, based on their selected
personal and academic variables including gender, age, type of
university, level of degree and major academic subjects.
A cross-sectional survey research method was used to collect data on a self-
reporting questionnaire. Business students of undergraduate, graduate and
postgraduate levels from 24 public and private sector universities of Lahore,
Pakistan were selected through convenient sampling technique. Total population
of this study was 114,500. With the margin error of 5% and confidence level of
97%, the sample of this study was 470 students.
The study found a satisfactory level of students’ searching skills. There was no
significant difference in the skills based on various variables like gender, age, type
of university and level of degree. However, short courses and training workshops
had a positive impact on the level of skills.
There is a lack of research on the topic and this paper will fill the gap in existing
literature. This study will be helpful for Library Information Service (LIS)
academicians, librarians, professional associations and LIS trainers to design and
implement training programs for university students in the area of OIS. This study
will also be helpful for Higher Education Commission (HEC) national digital library
for selection of appropriate databases for business students.
PAKISTAN JOURNAL OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT & LIBRARIES (PJIM&L) 39
Vol.20 Tariq et al. (2018)
Keywords: Information searching; Online searching- business; Information literacy
skills; Lifelong learning; Teaching/learning strategies.
INTRODUCTION
The emergence of the internet has significantly influenced almost every field
of life. This development opens new ways to deal with the business and work
routine. As in the other fields, internet has also brought new but positive changes in
LIS field and enhanced the quality of work. To access online information resources,
a typical/ conventional expertise is required which sometimes emerge as a
hurdle/menace/nuisance to access and use the digital resources (Kinley,
Tjondronegoro & Partridge, 2010). To cater this issue, the information seekers
should know about the searching techniques to get their required data on the web.
(Sutcliffe, Ennis & Watkinson, 2000).The students studying in different academic
levels had different searching skills and had significant positive impact on their use
of online library resources for their research and academic activities (Joo & Choi,
2015).
The role of information and knowledge economy is very important in the
development of Pakistan. The information and knowledge resources provide
support for economic development of the country (Ahmed & OlDonoghue, 2010).
The business education in Pakistan also provides human resources to play their role
in enhancing the business activities in Pakistan. The business students who have
searching skills can play a positive role in knowledge and economy. The skilled
business students can access, use and manage their resources without any delay
and can save their time and money (Ranaweera, 2008). In the economy of
developing country like Pakistan, the business students have significant role and if
business students have good searching skills than this role can be emerged as a
positive segment.
The HEC of Pakistan provides full text access to peer reviewed and 53 quality
database for e-books and journals / magazines, on different subjects. The HEC has
given access to these databases to all the universities of Pakistan. Intended for
maximum utilization of the HEC electronic resources, some institutions also provide
full text access of electronic books and journals to their faculty and students at their
homes through Virtual Private Network (VPN). Skills to access online information
resources can be acquired through self-education (trial and error), formal academic
degree programs information literacy programs , short courses, workshops, and
through friends or social network sites.
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Vol.20 Tariq et al. (2018)
This paper is an attempt to explore the level and sources of acquiring OIS
skills of business students of Lahore, the second largest city of Pakistan. This city
has 33 universities/degree awarding institutes in public and private sector and
accredited by HEC related to all disciplines including engineering, medical,
management sciences, fine arts and social sciences.
LITERATURE REVIEW
A selection from the available literature on the students’ information
searching skill level and the role of various personal and academic variables to
increase or decrease this level has been reviewed here. A few but important
information searching skills models were also discussed to explore the
phenomenon in detail.
In his study, Wilson (1999) defined the “information behavior, information-
seeking behavior and information search behavior” as inter-related phenomenon.
In the nested field (figure 1), it can be observed that information behavior has
relationship with information search behavior, as the figure below shows that
information seeking behavior is the sub-set of information behavior and
information search behavior is also the subset of information-seeking behavior. So,
information search behavior is indirectly related to the information behavior.
Figure 1. Wilson’s Model of information Seeking Areas
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Vol.20 Tariq et al. (2018)
Level of OIS Skills among Business Students
The literature on this topic reveals that the business students can get more
advantage if they have searching skills; even the students of all disciplines can also
get more benefits if they are expert in using searching filters. Through literature, it
is also revealed that the age factor also plays an important role to learn or use the
searching techniques while accessing the required information and knowledge on
the web. Dresang (1999) explored that the students studying in college and
universities had good searching skills as compared to the students studying in
schools. On the other hand, Deursen and Dijik (2009) claimed that the students who
had some digital skills could be good searchers but the age factor had negative
impact on some searching skills. Dinet, Favart and Passerault (2004) explored that
students who used searching operators could easily access electronic resources as
compared to those students who did not use searching filters while accessing digital
information. Callinan (2005) recommended that students should be literate about
the searching techniques and the use of operators.
Inadequate literature is available on information searching skills of the
students of business studies. Varga-Atkins and Ashcroft (2004) found that the
undergraduate business students of two British universities had poor information
searching skills. Although the students overrated themselves on a self-rating scale
but only one-fourth of them performed well in the “test” part. Korobili and Tilikidou
(2005) surveyed the students of marketing department in Greece. The students
perceived their skills in online information searching as satisfactory.
Mehrad and Rahimi (2012) conducted a study on “searching skills of
management science students of Sheraz University”. They selected the “seven most
frequently used online searching techniques, i.e., Boolean Searching, Phrase
Searching, Proximity Searching, Field Searching, Truncation, Time Limitation and
Synonyms, and suitable keywords to conduct the survey”. The study explored that
the students of M.Phil and PhD level had equal searching expertise but the authors
recommended that they should learn advance searching skills to access their
required information without delay.
Information Skills Differences Based on Individual and Academic Variables
Simpson-Scott (2009) reviewed literature on the role of gender in perceived
information searching skills. The author also found that females were less confident
than their male counterparts in online searching. Li and Kirkup (2007) found that as
compared to female students, the male students had good skills for searching
PAKISTAN JOURNAL OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT & LIBRARIES (PJIM&L) 42
Vol.20 Tariq et al. (2018)
online data, both in China and the UK. Gömleksiz and Erten (2013) found higher
confidence regarding Web-based searching skills in the male students in a Turkish
university. On the other hand, Kwon and Song (2011) claimed, through their study,
that female students had good searching skills as compared to male students. A
survey of students in a Pakistani university found no significant difference in
perceived information skills of males and females (Mahmood, 2013).
Some studies reveal that a difference in subjects creates an impact on
searching skills. Chu, Van Alast, Hing, May and Yan (2007) in their longitudinal
study, derived that education students had better skills over the engineering
students. Bronander, Goodman, Inman and Veach (2004) described in their study
that medical students usually did not use searching operators while searching their
required information on the internet but with proper learning and education they
could enhance their skills. Callinan (2005) organized a study to find out the
information seeking behavior of undergraduate biology students of the University
College Dublin. The results presented that the students who were studying in final
semester had good searching skills as compared to students who were studying in
first or second semester.
Sources of Information Searching
The literature shows that students use different information sources at
different academic levels to fulfill their information needs. As compared to other
studies, Chu and Law (2007) negated this claim that the students at higher level had
good searching skills. He explored that many students at PhD level did not have
sufficient searching skills to get their information sources. George et al., (2006)
found out that mostly graduate students contacted library staff to get the right
information and hence they were dependent on libraries or academic staff to fulfill
their knowledge needs. Sasireka, Balamurugan, Ganasekaran and Copalarkishnan
(2011) explored that students preferred to access and use the digital resources as
compared to print resources. This preference might be due to the extra advantages
of the digital resources like multi-format, easy and 24/7 access. This study also
explored that “bibliographic information, physical layout of the library, information
about electronic resources and skills to use such resources” attracted the
undergraduate students to use them.
Chang and Perng (2001) investigated the searching habits of graduate
students at Tatung University and found that majority of the students depended on
PAKISTAN JOURNAL OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT & LIBRARIES (PJIM&L) 43
Vol.20 Tariq et al. (2018)
the library staff to get their information and a few students contacted their class
mates or friends to access their required material.
O’Hanlon (2002) described that most of the students had poor searching
skills to access the digital contents to fulfill their academic needs. They faced
trouble in using the techniques to filter their search on the internet. He also
recommended that the library staff should arrange information literacy programs
for all, and particularly for the newly admitted students to enhance their searching
skills and for lifelong learning. A study using survey method (Kamarudin, 2001)
explored that many significant relationships could be shown within gender,
semester and academic year. The students who had attended training session or
got any formal or informal classes had/showed good searching skills as compared to
those students who did not get any proper training. Ajiboye, Oyedipe and Alawiye
(2013) found that there was a positive impact of searching skills on successful
academic life of students.
Training improves students’ searching skills. Ren (2000) explored in his
research study that the students who availed some training programs or were
involved in any such activity had better searching skills than the students who did
not attend information literacy training programs. Through experimental research
study, Monoi, O’Hanlon and Diaz (2005) found out the impacts of the training on
“online searching self-efficacy” and conducted pre and post-training tests. The
results showed that the “self-efficacy was significantly higher at the end of the
course”.
Searching Skills Practices in Different Countries
Shoeb (2011) conducted an information literacy skills test in a private
university of Bangladesh. He found that the undergraduate business students were
very weak in their information searching skills. Majid, Hayat, Patel and
Vijayaraghavan (2012) surveyed master level business students in Singapore. They
found that the students had limited knowledge of a wide array of functions
provided by many business databases (p. 32). Bøyum and Aabø (2015) found that
the PhD students of business in Norway perceived that they had mastered the
search techniques. The authors found this result unexpected as it was contrary to
the previous studies on PhD students. Booker, Detlor and Serenko (2012)
conducted a web-based survey on the adoption of online library resources by
undergraduate business students of a North American university. They found a
direct impact of online searching “self-efficacy on students’ ease of use”.
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Vol.20 Tariq et al. (2018)
Ellis (1989) developed the model of seeking behavior (fig. 2) which described
that there could be three major aspects which had significant role in seeking of
knowledge; the environment, social and personal attributes. And these attributes
can also be the hurdles to get the required information from any source. This model
has some drawbacks like the model does not describe the motivational and internal
interest of an individual to get the information.
Figure 2. Ellis model of Information Seeking Behavior (1989)
Searching Skills Status in Pakistan
The status in Pakistan regarding searching skills of business students is
almost similar with the students studying in different areas of the world. Khan and
Qutab (2016) conducted a study in recent years to know the use of electronic books
by students who belonged to different disciplines of different universities of
Pakistan and found that the students accessed and used electronic books for their
academic as well as research purposes. The young students were good users of
electronic resources as compared to students who had age of more than 40 years.
Having the similar results, Nosheen and Ameen (2010) concluded that the young
library professionals were very much familiar with the new searching techniques
and they were very much satisfied with the access of electronic journals/databases
as compared to databases containing electronic books. Same findings can also be
seen in the study of Khan and Ahmad (2013) entitled “The impact of digital library
resources on scholarly communication: challenges and opportunities for university
libraries in Pakistan”. Naveed and Ameen (2016), explored that postgraduate
students of university of the Punjab had low anxiety in the information seeking
process. This study could not find any substantial relation on the bases of gender,
PAKISTAN JOURNAL OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT & LIBRARIES (PJIM&L) 45
Vol.20 Tariq et al. (2018)
age and faculty but the results found that program of study, level of study and
computer efficiency have significant relationship in anxiety scores. As the afore
mentioned narrative, Tahir, Mahmood and Shafiq (2010) acknowledged the findings
of previous studies on the topic and found out that the student of humanities were
using printed books but they were also interested in the access and use of
electronic books too. The students belonged to humanities subject areas were
willing to use and adopt new ICTs technologies.
Summary of Literature Review
It is evident from the literature that searching skills can be improved through
formal training; students can get their required information without any delay. The
literature has discussed the searching techniques used by students in different
disciplines in various countries. Through the reviewed literature, it is evident that
no study has been conducted on this topic in Pakistan particularly involving
business students. This study is very important to fill this gap and to strengthen the
available literature on the topic.
Research Objectives
Following objectives were formulated to achieve the research goals of this study:
1. To find out the level of OIS skills among business students.
2. To know the differences in the students’ level of OIS skills based on selected
personal and academic variables, i.e., gender, age, type of university, level of
degree, and major subjects.
3. To explore the sources from which the business students may acquire
searching skills.
Hypotheses
To achieve the objectives, following null hypotheses were formulated for
conducting statistical tests:
Ho1: There is no statistically significant difference in OIS skills of business students
based on their gender.
Ho2: There is no statistically significant difference in OIS skills of business students
based on their age.
Ho3: There is no statistically significant difference in OIS skills of business students
based on their type of university.
PAKISTAN JOURNAL OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT & LIBRARIES (PJIM&L) 46
Vol.20 Tariq et al. (2018)
Ho4: There is no statistically significant difference in OIS skills of business students
based on their level of degree.
Ho5: There is no statistically significant difference in OIS skills of business students
based on their major subjects.
Ho6: There is no statistically significant difference in OIS skills of business students
based on their usage and non-usage of formal education as a source of learning.
Ho7: There is no statistically significant difference in OIS skills of business students
based on their usage and non-usage of short courses / training workshops as a
source of learning.
Ho8: There is no statistically significant difference in OIS skills of business students
based on their usage and non-usage of family as a source of learning.
Ho9: There is no statistically significant difference in OIS skills of business students
based on their usage and non-usage of friends / other students as a source of
learning.
Ho10: There is no statistically significant difference in OIS skills of business students
based on their usage and non-usage of library instruction programs as a source of
learning.
Ho11: There is no statistically significant difference in OIS skills of business students
based on their usage and non-usage of trial and error as a source of learning.
RESEARCH DESIGN
The current study opted quantitative research design because a few previous
studies (Crossman, 2014; Dillman, Smyth, & Christian, 2009) adopted the same
research design for their researches. As the study dealt with business students
studying in any public and private sector university of Lahore and at any academic
level i.e. undergraduate, graduate and post graduate students of both genders were
considered as the population. Students from various business related departments
like Business Administration, Economics, Human Resource Management, Finance,
Marketing, and Project Management were target participants of this research
project.
The convenience sampling technique was used, as a list of the students
studying in different universities was not available for random sampling. The
researchers communicated with different university officials to gather the list of
students for random sampling. But in spite of all the efforts, the researchers could
not get the list of desired students. Therefore, the researchers had no other option
but to choose the convenient sampling. To increase the generalization ratio of this
PAKISTAN JOURNAL OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT & LIBRARIES (PJIM&L) 47
Vol.20 Tariq et al. (2018)
study, the authors tried to represent the balance sample in the study in shape of
gender, discipline and nature of university. Among 33 universities and degree
awarding institutions of Lahore district, 24 were offering business related degree
programs. The researchers could not get the exact figure of the enrolled students
but through personal contacts and through library professionals, the total
population of this study was 114500. This figure included all the students
registered/enrolled in any business study in 24 universities located in Lahore. With
the help of online sample size calculator, and with the margin error of 5%,
confidence level of 97%, the sample of 470 students was determined. A cross-
sectional survey was conducted to meet the objectives. Based on the literature
review, a structured questionnaire was developed. The contents of data collection
instrument were validated by a panel of experts/ academicians/researchers in the
field of information science. A pilot test was also conducted on 15 undergraduate,
eight graduate and six post-graduate students of the “Department of Management,
COMSATS Institute of Information Technology”. On the basis of the pilot testing,
researchers revised the questionnaire. The suggestion and error mentioned by the
experts were also incorporated in the final form of data collection tool. The
Cronbach Alpha statistics was used to establish the reliability of scale. The Cronbach
Alpha was 8.2 which was more than recommended value of 0.7 (Nunnally, 1978).
The researchers sought help from librarians and faculty at various universities to
collect data from students. The first author of this paper personally visited to each
university to collect the data. For the purpose, the author arranged workshop on
searching skills for business students and at the end of the each workshop, the
author got filled questionnaire of the study. The effort resulted in finding 321
usable questionnaires (68% of the sample).
RESULTS
The survey data were analyzed with the help of Statistics Package for Social
Sciences (SPSS version-21), as it was considered a good tool for analyzing
quantitative data.
Personal and Academic Profile of Participants
Among 321 participants, 58 percent were male students. The age group
between 20 and 25 years emerged as the largest group of participants (56%). The
respondents from private sector universities participated in large group (45%). The
largest group of participant students belonged to the graduate level degree
PAKISTAN JOURNAL OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT & LIBRARIES (PJIM&L) 48
Vol.20 Tariq et al. (2018)
programs (62%). The major subject area of the larger group was Finance (35%). For
details please see Table 1.
Table 1
Personal and academic profile of participants
Variable
Percent
Gender
Female
42%
Male
58%
Age
Less than 20 years
23%
20-25 years
56%
26-30 years
15%
More than 30 years
6%
Type of university
Public
39%
Private
45%
Semi government
16%
Level of degree
Undergraduate (e.g., BBA, BS)
29%
Graduate (e.g., MBA, MA)
62%
Postgraduate (e.g., PhD)
9%
Major subject
Finance
35%
Human resource management
11%
Economics
26%
Marketing
16%
Other
12%
Students’ Level of OIS Skills
The students were asked to mention their perceived level of online
information searching skills on a 4-point rating scale (1 = Don’t have searching skills,
2 = Have satisfactory searching skills, 3 = Have good searching skills, 4 = Have expert
searching skills). The selection of this scale was on the basis of its suitability to the
objective. The Mean score (2.02) shows a satisfactory level of searching skills. Only
22 (about 7%) students opted for good or expert level of skills while 36 (about 11%)
students opined that they had no searching skills at all (see table 1).
Difference of Searching Skills Based on Personal and Academic Variables
The differences in the perceived online information searching skills of
business students based on their selected personal and academic variables were
PAKISTAN JOURNAL OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT & LIBRARIES (PJIM&L) 49
Vol.20 Tariq et al. (2018)
explored by using inferential statistics. The results of the null hypotheses are given
in Table 2.
Skills and Gender
The independent samples t-test value of 0.949, with level of 0.344, was
lower than the criterion. It implies that there is no substantial difference in the level
of information searching skills between male and female students. Thus, the null
hypothesis Ho1 was accepted. This result is in conformity with some previous
studies (Boker, Detlor & Sereko, 2012; Fatima & Ameen, 2010) and contrary to
some others (George et al. 2006; Joe & Choi, 2015). No consistent results have been
found in previous researches in this area. Some previous studies (Khan & Qutab,
2016) could not find any gender-based difference in information skills. Studies
which found gender-based difference were of two types. Some found male
students and others found female students better than their counterparts.
Table 2
Difference in perceived OIS skills of students based on selected personal and
academic variables
Variables
Mean
Statistics
Sig.
Gender
t = 0.949
0.344
Female
1.98
Male
2.04
Age
F = 1.623
0.184
Less than 20 years
1.97
20-25 years
2.06
26-30 years
1.90
More than 30 years
2.22
Type of university
F = 1.653
0.193
Public
2.07
Private
2.03
Semi government
1.88
Level of degree
F = 0.390
0.677
Undergraduate
1.99
Graduate
2.03
Postgraduate
2.12
Major subject
F = 1.974
0.098
Finance
1.94
Human resource management
1.97
Economics
2.11
Marketing
1.96
Other
2.21
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Scale: 1 = Don’t have searching skills, 2 = Have satisfactory searching skills,
3 = Have good searching skills, 4 = Have expert searching skills
Skills and Age
The results of one-way ANOVA test (F value of 1.623 with significance level of .184)
show that there is no significant difference in searching skills based on age of the
students. Thus, the null hypothesis Ho2 was accepted. This result again does not
strengthen or weaken the existing claims. We can find studies (Khan & Qutab, 2016;
Kwon & Song, 2011) showing both positive and negative relationships between the
variables of information skills and age. The researchers have not reached to a
consistent finding in this area.
Skills and University Type
The results of one-way ANOVA test (F value of 1.653 with significance level
of 0.193) show that there is no significant difference in searching skills based on
type of university of the students. Thus, the null hypothesis Ho3 was accepted. For
comparison, no previous studies were found which sought the relationship between
these two variables.
Skills and Degree Level
The results of one-way ANOVA test (F value of 0.390 with significance level
of 0.677) show that there is no significant difference in searching skills based on the
degree level of the students. Thus, the null hypothesis Ho4 was accepted. However,
although not statistically proved, the difference in Mean scores indicates a gradual
increase in searching skills with an increase in the level of degree programs. This
trend is contrary to the results of Mahmood (2013) who found the undergraduates
better than the graduates in their information skills.
Skills and Major Subject
The results of one-way ANOVA test (F value of 1.974 with significance level
of .098) show that there is no significant difference in searching skills based on
major subjects the students had opted in their degree programs. Thus, the null
hypothesis Ho5 was accepted. Although various studies have been conducted to
see a difference in information skills of students from different subject disciplines
but no study is found which sought difference in majors within business studies.
However, Mean score for the “other” group (2.21) might be due to the students of
MIS who are better than others in their computing skills.
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Vol.20 Tariq et al. (2018)
Sources of Acquiring Searching Skills
In a part of the questionnaire, the students were asked to select from a list
of the sources from which they learnt OIS skills. A larger group (128, 40%)
mentioned that they did not get any training and learnt such skills with trial and
error. It indicates the absence of formal training facilities in information searching
for university students. Only 71 (22%) students learnt these skills in their formal
education or degree programs. The number of students who gave a credit of their
learning to library instruction programs and short courses or training workshops
was small (14% and 9% respectively). It shows the non-availability of such facilities
for business students in Pakistani institutions of higher education (Table 3).
To see the variance in students’ searching skills based on the usage and
non-usage of the particular sources of acquiring such skills as the Mean scores of
the levels of skills were compared by using independent samples t test. The results
are presented in Table 3. The null hypotheses 6, 8, 9, 10 and 11 were accepted as
no substantial difference was found in the skill levels. Only the null hypothesis Ho7
was rejected as a highly significant difference was found (t value of -3.017, with
significance level of .003) between the skills of students who attended short
courses or training workshops and those who did not attend such workshops. Mean
score of the attendees of such workshops (2.36) was the highest among all groups
of the students. The data shown in Table 3 indicates another important finding of
this study; the largest group of students (128), who developed their searching skills
by themselves through trial and error, got the lowest skill level (1.98) among all
groups. This finding strengthens the results of previous studies that training always
plays an important role in developing OIS skills.
Table 3
Sources of Acquiring OIS Skills
Sources
Yes
(N)
No (Mean)
Yes (Mean)
t
Sig.
Formal education
(degree programs)
71
2.02
2.04
-0.304
0.761
Short courses /
training workshops
28
1.99
2.36
-3.017
0.003*
Family (home)
51
2.00
2.14
-1.438
0.151
Friends / other
students
64
1.99
2.14
-1.707
0.089
Library instruction
programs
44
2.02
2.02
-0.003
0.997
Trial and error (self)
128
2.04
1.98
0.949
0.343
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* Significant at p < .01
CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION
The present research study was conducted to find out the level and
sources of acquiring OIS skills of business students in 24 universities of Lahore, the
second largest city of Pakistan. Moreover, the objectives were included to see
important variances in the students’ skill level based on their selected personal and
academic variables and their usage and non-usage of the particular sources of
learning search skills. The data, collected from 321 students of different genders,
degree levels and university types, were analyzed by using descriptive statistics.
Independent samples t test and one-way ANOVA were used to test 11 hypotheses
set for this study.
The study found that the participants rated themselves as having satisfied
level of searching skills on a 4-point self-rating scale. Only a negligible number of
students rated their skills at good or expert level. Ten of 11 null hypotheses could
not be rejected. It means that there was no statistically significant difference in
students’ skill level based on their selected personal and academic variables and
their usage and non-usage of the particular sources of learning. Only one rejected
null hypothesis was related to the usage of short courses and training workshops
for learning searching skills. This finding strengthens the already proven fact that
training always enhances the level of searching skills in the university students
(Mehrad & Rahimi, 2012). An alarming finding is the usage of trial and error as a
source of learning for such skills by a larger group of business students. An
encouraging finding is the growth of searching skills with the increase in degree
level.
Discussion of Results
Students have satisfactory level of searching skills and this result is
contrary to the previous study (Varga-Atkins & Ashcroft, 2004). In most of the
perception based studies, the students have overrated themselves in their OIS skills.
The modest opinion found in this study might be due to the problems the students
faced in searching online academic resources.
In a part of the questionnaire, the students were asked to select from a list
of the sources from which they learnt OIS skills. A larger group mentioned that they
did not get any training and learnt searching skills by trial and error. It indicates the
absence of formal training facilities in OIS for university students. A few students
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learnt these skills in their formal education or degree programs. This result is
aligned with a few previous studies (Callinan 2005; Dinet, Favart & Passerault,
2004).
The result of this study could not find any difference among business
students on the basis of their gender. The result of this study has been in harmony
with some preceding research (Simpson-Scott, 2009; Varga & Ashcroft, 2004) and
conflicting with a few others (Li & Kirkup, 2007; Monoi O’Hanlon & Diaz, 2005). No
consistent results have been found in previous researches in this area. Some
previous studies could find gender-based difference in information skills. Studies
which found a gender-based difference are of two types. Some found male students
and others found female students better than their counterparts. Gömleksiz and
Erten (2013) found higher confidence regarding Web-based searching skills in male
students in a Turkish university. On the other hand, Kwon and Song (2011) found
female students in Malaysia “ahead of male students in their perceived information
skills”. This research also could not find any difference of searching skills among
business students based on their age categories. This result again does not
strengthen or weaken the existing claims. We can find studies (Dresang, 1999,
Deursen and Dijik, 2009) showing both positive and negative relationships between
the variables of information skills and age. The researchers have not reached to a
consistent finding in this area. Although not statistically proved, the difference in
Mean scores indicates a gradual increase in searching skills with an increase in the
level of degree programs. This trend is contrary to the results of Mahmood (2013)
who found undergraduates better than the graduates in their information skills.
Although various studies have been conducted to see a difference in information
searching skills of students from different subject disciplines but only a few studies
(Chu, Van Alast, Hing, May & Yan, 2007) are found which sought difference in
majors within business studies. However, a larger Mean score for the “other” group
(2.21) might be due to the students of MIS who are better than others in their
computing skills.
Limitations and Future Research Directions
This study also has the few limitations. In research design, the convenience
sampling technique can be the limitation of this study. Despite the reasonable
sample size, this sample size may not be representative of the population. This
study is also limited to the generic online / internet searching skills by business
students. Specific searching for any particular databases were not the scope of this
PAKISTAN JOURNAL OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT & LIBRARIES (PJIM&L) 54
Vol.20 Tariq et al. (2018)
study. These limitations should be kept in mind while reading the research article.
Future research should be conducted on information searching skills by using
qualitative research methods in order to cross- validate our findings. In-depth
research is needed to learn information searching skills of Pakistani business
students and what skills they further need and how we can develop these skills. We
also recommend further research on this topic with the students of other subject
areas like engineering, medical sciences, pure sciences, humanities and social
sciences and in other geographical areas of the developing world and compare the
findings with that of the current study. Other methods for students’ assessment
should also be tested to see the difference in perceived and actual skill levels. The
authors also recommend the replica of this study with different methodology,
change in geographical areas, with large scale, and different skills level and may be
at micro level.
Significance and Implication
Keeping in view the importance of information resources available in
abundance through the Internet (surface and deep) in business profession and
business education, we can claim that this study is a valuable contribution to the
available knowledge. It has provided the data which has strengthen or weaken the
exiting claims on the topic. This study has added in the literature on students’
searching skills particularly in the area of business studies in the developing
countries. The present study has implications for policy and practice. The findings
warrant a change in the policy on training and instruction for students to enhance
their online searching skills. More funding should be provided for this important
activity. All stake holders, i.e., government, university administration, curriculum
designers, independent trainers, teachers, librarians, parents and students are
needed to pay attention to this important training requirement.
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