Social scientists' data reuse behaviors: Exploring the roles of attitudinal beliefs, attitudes, norms, and data repositories

- A data reuse model based on perceptions, attitudes, norms, and resource factors is presented.
- 292 survey responses from social scientists on data reuse were analyzed using structural equation modeling.
- Perceived usefulness, perceived concern, and norms have significant impacts on data reuse attitude.
- Attitude, norm of data reuse, and perceived effort significantly affect data reuse intention.
- Libraries can facilitate data reuse by improving data stewardship and promoting awareness.

Many disciplines within the social sciences have a dynamic culture of sharing and reusing data. Because social science data differ from data in the hard sciences, it is necessary to explicitly examine social science data reuse. This study explores the data reuse behaviors of social scientists in order to better understand both the factors that influence those social scientists' intentions to reuse data and the extent to which those factors influence actual data reuse. Using an integrated theoretical model developed from the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the technology acceptance model (TAM), this study provides a broad explanation of the relationships among factors influencing social scientists' data reuse. A total of 292 survey responses were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings suggest that social scientists' data reuse intentions are directly influenced by the subjective norm of data reuse, attitudes toward data reuse, and perceived effort involved in data reuse. Attitude toward data reuse mediated social scientists' intentions to reuse data, leading to the indirect influence of the perceived usefulness and perceived concern of data reuse, as well as the indirect influence of the subjective norm of data reuse. Finally, the availability of a data repository indirectly influenced social scientists' intentions to reuse data by reducing the perceived effort involved.