Approaching the motivators for information seeking: The viewpoint of attribution theories

Psychological attribution theories can be applied to understanding the motivators of information seeking. Attribution theory, which was developed by Bernard Weiner in the 1970s and subsequently updated, suggests that an individual's willingness to engage in information seeking in a current situation is dependent on how the person attributes the causes of past success or failure of information seeking efforts. The main causal factors affecting information seeking efforts are ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck. Motivation to seek information depends on whether the causal factors are seen as internal or external, stable or unstable, and controllable or uncontrollable. Weiner's ideas can be used to examine the motivators for information seeking and information avoidance. The theory can also be used in information literacy education approaches.

► Attribution theories open new perspectives on the motivators for information seeking. ► Motivation depends on how causal factors are attributed to past success or failure. ► The main causal factors are ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck. ► Weiner's attribution theory can be applied to information literacy education. ► Information literacy education should look to alter controllable causal factors.