Journal of Knowledge-Research Studies

The Role of Perceived Information Overload and Information Seeking Anxiety in Predicting Information Avoidance among Postgraduate Students at Shiraz University

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Professor, Department of Information and Knowledge Sciences, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

2 PhD Student in Information and Knowledge Management, Department of Information and Knowledge Science, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

Abstract

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the role of perceived information overload and information seeking anxiety in predicting information avoidance among postgraduate students at Shiraz University during the 2023–2024 academic year.
Methodology: This research employed a quantitative, descriptive‑correlational approach and is fundamental in objective. The study population comprised all postgraduate students enrolled at Shiraz University in the 2023–2024 academic year. A sample of 235 participants was selected using simple random sampling, based on Cochran's formula. A researcher‑developed questionnaire was used as the data collection instrument. Its reliability was confirmed through Cronbach's alpha and composite reliability coefficients, while its validity was established via convergent and discriminant validity assessments. The overall construct validity was further confirmed through factor analysis.
Findings: The results indicated that information seeking anxiety significantly predicted perceived information overload (β = 0.805, p < .001), and perceived information overload significantly predicted information avoidance (β = 0.235, p = .001). Furthermore, information seeking anxiety exerted a significant indirect effect on information avoidance, with perceived information overload serving as a mediating variable in this relationship (β = 0.189, p < .001).
Conclusion: Individuals who experience greater anxiety during the information seeking process are likely to perceive higher levels of information overload, which in turn increases their tendency toward information avoidance.
Value: Identifying the factors that influence information avoidance can enhance the awareness of information literacy specialists and assist information system designers in developing optimal systems to reduce perceived information overload and mitigate information avoidance behaviors.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References
Afolayan, O. (2022). Information seeking anxiety and use of electronic resources among postgraduate students in the University of Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria. Journal of Balkan Libraries Union, 9(1), 18–29. https://doi.org/10.16918/jblu.1036348
Ahmadi, E., Hatami, H., & Rangraz, E. (2019). Information Avoidance: A Strategy to Facilitate Emotional Decision Making. Cognitive Psychology, 7(3), 26-39. https://jcp.khu.ac.ir/article_4835.html?lang=en [In Persian].
Bawden, D., & Robinson, L. (2009). The dark side of information: Overload, anxiety and other paradoxes and pathologies. Journal of Information Science, 35(2), 180–191. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165551508095781
Bendau, A., Petzold, M. B., Pyrkosch, L., Mascarell Maricic, L., Betzler, F., Rogoll, J., Große, J., Ströhle, A., & Plag, J. (2021). Associations between COVID-19 related media consumption and symptoms of anxiety, depression and COVID-19 related fear in the general population in Germany. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 271, 283–291. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-020-01171-6
Bermes, A. (2021). Information overload and fake news sharing: A transactional stress perspective exploring the mitigating role of consumers’ resilience during COVID-19. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 61, Article 102555. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2021.102555
Bina, S., & Browne, G. (2018). Information avoidance in requirements determination for systems development. AMCIS 2018 Proceedings (Paper 20). https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2018/AdvancesIS/Presentations/20/
Cade, N. L., Garavaglia, S. M., & Hoffman, V. B. (2023). Why some investors avoid accounting information: Identifying a psychological cost of information acquisition using the securities-based crowdfunding setting. The Accounting Review, 98(7), 97–120. https://doi.org/10.2308/tar-2022-0346
Chung, D., Chen, Y., & Meng, Y. (2023). Perceived information overload and intention to discontinue use of short-form video: The mediating roles of cognitive and psychological factors. Behavioral Sciences, 13(1), Article 50. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13010050
Dai, B., Ali, A., & Wang, H. (2020). Exploring information avoidance intention of social media users: A cognition–affect–conation perspective. Internet Research, 30(5), 1455–1478. https://doi.org/10.1108/INTR-06-2019-0225
Erfanmanesh, M. A. (2012). Investigating Information Seeking Anxiety among Postgraduate Students: A Case Study of Iranian Students in Malaysia. Library and Information Science Research, 2(1), 53-72. https://doi.org/10.22067/riis.v2i2.13324 [In Persian].
Erfanmanesh, M. A., Abrizah, A., & Karim, N. H. A. (2012). Development and validation of the Information Seeking Anxiety Scale. Malaysian Journal of Library & Information Science, 17(1), 21–39. https://jml.um.edu.my/index.php/MJLIS/article/view/1880
Foglia, S. (2019). Information avoidance in risky financial behavior [Master’s thesis, Bryant University]. Bryant Digital Repository. https://digitalcommons.bryant.edu/macomm/6/
Foust, J. L., & Taber, J. M. (2025). Information avoidance: Past perspectives and future directions. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 20(2), 241–263. https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916231197668
Fu, S., Li, H., Liu, Y., Pirkkalainen, H., & Salo, M. (2020). Social media overload, exhaustion, and use discontinuance: Examining the effects of information overload, system feature overload, and social overload. Information Processing & Management, 57(6), Article 102307. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ipm.2020.102307
Fuertes, M. C. M., Jose, B. M. D., Nem Singh, M. A. A., Rubio, P. E. P., & de Guzman, A. B. (2020). The moderating effects of information overload and academic procrastination on the information avoidance behavior among Filipino undergraduate thesis writers. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 52(3), 694–712. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000619871608
Guo, L., Ye, C., Long, F., Liu, X., & Xie, W. (2023). The effect of negative emotional states on short-term memory representations. Chinese Journal of Applied Psychology, 29(4), 352–364. https://www.appliedpsy.cn/CN/abstract/abstract417.shtml
Guo, Y., Lu, Z., Kuang, H., & Wang, C. (2020). Information avoidance behavior on social network sites: Information irrelevance, overload, and the moderating role of time pressure. International Journal of Information Management, 52, Article 102067. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102067
Gupta, D., & Rani, R. (2019). A study of big data evolution and research challenges. Journal of Information Science, 45(3), 322–340. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165551518789880
Heinström, J., Nikou, S., & Sormunen, E. (2022). Avoiding negative information as a strategy for emotion regulation. Information Research, 27(Special Issue), Article isic2229. https://doi.org/10.47989/irisic2229
Hess, A. N. (Ed.). (2023). Instructional identities and information literacy (Vols. 1–3). Association of College & Research Libraries.
Holmes, E. A., O’Connor, R. C., Perry, V. H., Tracey, I., Wessely, S., Arseneault, L., Ballard, C., Christensen, H., Cohen Silver, R., Everall, I., Ford, T., John, A., Kabir, T., King, K., Madan, I., Michie, S., Przybylski, A. K., Shafran, R., Sweeney, A., . . . Bullmore, E. (2020). Multidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemic: A call for action for mental health science. The Lancet Psychiatry, 7(6), 547–560. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30168-1
Hong, H., & Kim, H. J. (2020). Antecedents and consequences of information overload in the COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(24), Article 9305. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17249305
Howell, J. L., & Shepperd, J. A. (2012). Reducing information avoidance through affirmation. Psychological Science, 23(2), 141–145. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797611424164
Huang, Q., Lei, S., & Ni, B. (2022). Perceived information overload and unverified information sharing on WeChat amid the COVID-19 pandemic: A moderated mediation model of anxiety and perceived herd. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, Article 837820. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.837820
Ishtiaq, N., Butt, A. A., & Siddiqi, A. (2023). Relationship and impact of information seeking anxiety and personality traits on health information seeking behavior during COVID-19. Pakistan Journal of Medical & Health Sciences, 17(4), 133. https://doi.org/10.53350/pjmhs2023174133
Jensen, J. D., Liu, M., Carcioppolo, N., John, K. K., Krakow, M., & Sun, Y. (2017). Health information seeking and scanning among US adults aged 50–75 years: Testing a key postulate of the information overload model. Health Informatics Journal, 23(2), 96–108. https://doi.org/10.1177/1460458215627290
Khaleel, I., Wimmer, B. C., Peterson, G. M., Zaidi, S. T. R., Roehrer, E., Cummings, E., & Lee, K. (2020). Health information overload among health consumers: A scoping review. Patient Education and Counseling, 103(1), 15–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2019.08.008
Kiani, M. R., Dayani, M. H., & Fattahi, R. (2013). A cognitive approach to the non-mandatory use of new conceptual information in the classical structure. Library and Information Science, 16(1), 9-39. https://lis.aqr-libjournal.ir/article_42637.html [In Persian].
Kumalasari, R., & Priharsari, D. (2023). Investigating the role of SNS design on COVID-19 information avoidance: The perspectives of the stimulus-organism-response theory. Telematics and Informatics Reports, 11, Article 100083. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.teler.2023.100083
Link, E. (2023). Health information avoidance. In E. Y. Ho, C. L. Bylund, J. C. M. van Weert, I. Basnyat, N. Bol, & M. Dean (Eds.), The international encyclopedia of health communication. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119678816.iehc0947
Miao, Y., & Shu, X. (2021). Research on the influence of user perceived overload on information avoidance behavior from the perspective of human-computer interaction. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1948(1), Article 012147. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1948/1/012147
Mohammed, M., Sha’aban, A., Jatau, A. I., Yunusa, I., Isa, A. M., Wada, A. S., Obamiro, K., Zainal, H., & Ibrahim, B. (2022). Assessment of COVID-19 information overload among the general public. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 9(1), 184–192. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-020-00942-0
Mohammed, R. N. (2020). Postgraduate students information seeking behaviour in the faculty of management sciences, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria. American International Journal of Multidisciplinary Scientific Research, 6(4), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.46281/aijmsr.v6i4.916
Plass, J. L., & Kalyuga, S. (2019). Four ways of considering emotion in cognitive load theory. Educational Psychology Review, 31(2), 339–359. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-019-09473-5
Saegert, S. (1973). Crowding: Cognitive overload and behavioral constraint. In W. F. E. Preiser (Ed.), Environmental design research (Vol. 2, pp. 254–260). Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross.
Siebenhaar, K. U., Köther, A. K., & Alpers, G. W. (2020). Dealing with the COVID-19 infodemic: Distress by information, information avoidance, and compliance with preventive measures. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, Article 567905. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.567905
Song, S., Yao, X., & Wen, N. (2021). What motivates Chinese consumers to avoid information about the COVID-19 pandemic?: The perspective of the stimulus-organism-response model. Information Processing & Management, 58(1), Article 102407. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ipm.2020.102407
Soroya, S. H., Farooq, A., Mahmood, K., Isoaho, J., & Zara, S. E. (2021). From information seeking to information avoidance: Understanding the health information behavior during a global health crisis. Information Processing & Management, 58(2), Article 102440. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ipm.2020.102440
Sunstein, C. R. (2019). Ruining popcorn? The welfare effects of information. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 58(2), 121–142. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11166-019-09300-w
Swar, B., Hameed, T., & Reychav, I. (2017). Information overload, psychological ill-being, and behavioral intention to continue online healthcare information search. Computers in Human Behavior, 70, 416–425. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.12.068
Sweeny, K., Melnyk, D., Miller, W., & Shepperd, J. A. (2010). Information avoidance: Who, what, when, and why. Review of General Psychology, 14(4), 340–353. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021288
Sweller, J., van Merriënboer, J. J. G., & Paas, F. (2019). Cognitive architecture and instructional design: 20 years later. Educational Psychology Review, 31(2), 261–292. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-019-09465-5
Tandoc, E. C., Jr., & Kim, H. K. (2023). Avoiding real news, believing in fake news? Investigating pathways from information overload to misbelief. Journalism, 24(6), 1174–1192. https://doi.org/10.1177/14648849221090744
Wang, Z. (2022). Regret and information avoidance [Working paper]. SSRN. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4269560
Xie, W., Ye, C., & Zhang, W. (2023). Negative emotion reduces visual working memory recall variability: A meta-analytical review. Emotion, 23(3), 859–871. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001139
Zhang, J., Hu, X., Wu, D., & Yan, H. (2023). Exploring the influence mechanism of Chinese young researchers’ academic information avoidance behavior. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 49(2), Article 102649. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2022.102649
 
Journal of Knowledge-Research Studies
Volume 5, Issue 2 - Serial Number 16
July 2026
Pages 30-14
Files
Share
How to cite
Statistics