Open AccessThe role of youths’ perceived information literacy in their assessment of youth information and counselling services
Author(s) -
Muhaimin Karim,
Shahrokh Nikou,
Gunilla Widén
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
information research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.397
H-Index - 49
ISSN - 1368-1613
DOI - 10.47989/irpaper900
Subject(s) - psychology , information literacy , structural equation modeling , reliability (semiconductor) , service (business) , servqual , agency (philosophy) , applied psychology , literacy , service quality , information quality , quality (philosophy) , construct (python library) , social psychology , information system , computer science , marketing , business , sociology , pedagogy , political science , social science , philosophy , law , power (physics) , epistemology , quantum mechanics , machine learning , programming language , physics
. This paper presents empirical research on whether young people’s perceived information literacy influences their perceived service quality of a youth information and counselling agency. Method. An online survey was distributed and 3,287 responses of young people between fifteen and twenty-nine years old were collected from sixteen different countries across Europe. The survey questionnaire was pre-tested by five academic experts in the field, and by youth information service workers. The SERVQUAL model including constructs (access, reliability, and responsiveness) was used to devise a theory-based conceptual model. Additionally, we used perceived information literacy as an antecedent construct in our model. Analysis. We applied structural equation modelling to investigate the effect of perceived information literacy and constructs of the SERVQUAL model on perceived service quality. Results. The results of analysis show that perceived information literacy has a strong influence on perceived ease of access, perceived reliability, and perceived responsiveness, and through these constructs has an indirect effect on perceived service quality. Conclusions. Results show a clear alignment with existing literature in the areas of youth perceived information literacy and information services. The proposed framework contributes to the scholarly discussion on youth information services and youth perceived information literacy.