Abstract

Author(s): Bui Ha Phuong

Information behavior is the totality of human behavior in relation to the sources and channels of information, including active and passive information seeking and information use. It is influenced by psychological, demographic, role-related, interpersonal, environmental factors and sourcerelated characteristics. Information behavior is a matter of research in many fields such as psychology, information science, etc. This paper aims to provide an overall picture of characteristics of lecturers’ information behavior at University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City. Research data is 86 lecturers at University of Social Sciences and Humanities. This paper employs both quantitative and qualitative approaches; this study investigates lecturers’ information behavior and suggests the proposed model of lecturers’ information behavior at University of Social Sciences and Humanities. The research instruments used are data analysis, social survey by questionnaire and in-depth interview. The study found the prominent characteristics of the lecturers’ information behavior, including behavior of determining information need, information seeking behavior, and behavior of using information; affecting factors on the lecturers’ information behavior at each of behaviors. Based on those results, the findings also reveal the proposed model of lecturers’ information behavior. These findings in this study may be applied to many other universities in Vietnam.