INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIOUR OF WOMEN IN THE GULF ...

INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIOUR OF WOMEN

IN THE GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL

UNIVERSITIES

BY

ALI AMOUR SULEIMAN EL-MAAMIRY

A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the

degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Library and Information

Science

Kulliyyah of Information and Communication Technology

International Islamic University Malaysia

JANUARY 2019

ii

ABSTRACT

Determining the different cultural factors affecting the information-seeking behaviour

on various levels – national, organizational, group and individual is essential to get a

holistic idea of how such behaviour is formed. Females in the Gulf Cooperation

Council (GCC), which includes the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Kingdom of Saudi

Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the Sultanate of Oman, and the United Arab Emirates, are

educated in different educational systems but have the same language, culture, and

values. The purpose of this study is to expand our understanding of the linkages

between women’s culture and their information-seeking behaviour in the GCC region.

The GCC includes conservative societies that impose strict restrictions on women.

Female students, faculty members, and researchers have to comply with certain

complex cultural rules while performing their professional activities. Although women

in the GCC universities have witnessed quick technological advancements, their effort

to seek information to develop their profession or career is undermined by gender

segregation. Notably, it might seem that culture has a negative impact on women

information-seeking behaviour in the region. Examining women’s culture and their

behaviour in seeking information is a challenging topic as it is very difficult to reach

this sensitive group. A total of 2201 females in the GCC countries participated in the

survey which included students of all levels, faculty member, researchers, and

librarians. This self-response report has found significant cultural effects on the

information-seeking behaviour of women in the GCC. Four objectives were laid down

for the study to examine information needs, query formulation, task execution and

women’s interacting with systems. The survey was then conducted and found that

culture significantly affects women information needs, query formulation, task

execution and interacting with systems. Natural language terms are used to execute

queries and tasks, while only popular databases used in the region or a particular

university are used to interact with systems. Age, on the other hand, affects

information-seeking behaviour in that at an early age, the person’s information

seeking behaviour is strongly affected by culture, but when the person gets older the

effects decrease. The language also affects women query formulation and interacting

with systems. The religious and cultural restrictions on Women preventing them from

contacting foreign males (as Islamic culture insists) have been bypassed by the new

electronic technology, and women directly feel free to contact any person of opposite

gender through emails and social networks remaining physically segregated while

electronically connected. Early exposure to the internet at the pre-university level is

considered as an effect of this cultural shift in information-seeking behaviour.

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ة البحثخلاصABSTRACT IN ARABIC

دول مجلس التعاون الخليجي هي كتلة سياسية واقتصادية في منطقة الخليج العربي. وهي البحرين، دولة قطر، سلطنة مملكةمكونة من ست دول تضم الإمارات العربية المتحدة،

ة العربية السعودية. هذه المنطقة تعد من المناطق المحافظكة ملالمالكويت، و دولة عمان، تعليم مختلفة، اللعاداتها وتقاليديها وحتى في وقت قريب جدا. المرأة العربية تدرس في مناهج

بيئة السياسية مختلفة ولكن تتحدث بلغة واحدة، وعندها عادات وتقاليد واحدة الوتنشأن في والتقاليد في عى البحث إلى تحديد مدى تأثير العادات عد سك يوالقيم التربوية واحدة. لذل

سلوكيات البحث العلمي في كافة المستويات سواء أكان على مستوى الدولة، المؤسسة أو الفرد. سعى البحث لتسليط الضوء على حسب مفاهيمنا على العلاقات بين المرأة الخليجية

ث العلمي في الجامعات الخليجية. كذلك يعد لبحمع محافظتها لعاداتها وتقاليدها وسلوكيات البحث عن عادات وتقاليد دول الخليج مهمة صعبة لسبب حساسية الفئة البحثية ولكن ا

ما لأجل معرفة العادات ومدى تأثيرها في سلوكيات البحث العلمي أصبح مؤشر لا بد منه.شملت الطالبات نةشاركت في المسح واستجابت على الاستبا ليجيةامرأة خ 2201يقرب

الجامعة، والأستاذات، والباحثات وأخصائيات المكتبات. قد لوحظ لكل المراحل الدراسية فيتأثيرات سلبية للعادات والتقاليد علي سلوكيات البحث عن المعلومات في النتائج أن هناك

يلملى المعلومات. كما لوحظ أن البحث العاشباع رغبات والحصول عفي والبحث العلمي يتأثر بعدة عوامل، وهن إحتياجات المعلومات، أساليب البحث المستخدمة، تنفيذ مهمة

. كما لوحظ أيضا أن العمر له دور مهم في سرعة سترجاعالبحث والتعامل مع نظم الامما يؤدى إلي قلة المعلومات ومعرفة قواعد البيانات والمواقع الأنسب للبحثعلى صول الح

الوقت.كما لوحظ تفاوت توفر عمات لأتمام الغرض وتقليص ضيا لو استخدام مصادر المعوسائل التقنيات الرقمية الحديثة الذي تجاوز عقبة اتصال المرأة بغير المحرم لسبب تقنيات

التواصل الإجتماعي حيث يصعب معرفةشبكات التواصل الحديثة مثل الرسالة الألكترونية و ء والأفكار بلة الشخصية لذا سهل للمرأة تبادل الآراقاجنس المتصل به أو عدم الحاجة إلي الم

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بالحرية الكاملة. ويؤكد هذا البحث على أن المرأة تبدأ مسيرتها للبحث عن المعلومات بطرح سؤال للأقارب، فالمتخصصة من نفس الجنس ثم المتخصص من جنس آخر إذا استدعى

يا مع التقدم في السن حيث المرأة يجما لوحظ أيضا أن هذا السلوك يتغير تدر الأمر إلي ذلك.كالرجل في مجال البحث العلمي وعدم الشعور بالحرج في التعامل مع الرجال في البحث تشارك

العلمي وتبعد عن الإعتماد علي الأقارب ومشاركة الرجل في النشر والبحث. وقد أثبت قنيات الحديثة في لتجية التي تستخدم اذوجود المدارس النمو تغير قليلا ل هناكالبحث بأن

احل ما قبل الجامعة، الذي أدى إلي إعتماد المرأة الخليجية على الذات أولا ثم التوجه إلي مر أخصائيات في المجال أو المتخصص مثل الأستاذ أو أخصائي المكتبات وغيره وذلك لثقتها

.اقع الإنترنت ومواقع البحث المختلفةبنفسها للقيام بالبحث والتعامل مع مو

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APPROVAL PAGE

The thesis of Ali Amour Suleiman El-Maamiry has been approved by the following:

_____________________________

Noor Hasrul Nizan bin Muhammad Noor

Supervisor

_____________________________

Roslina Othman

Internal Examiner

_____________________________

Wan Ab. Kadir Wan Dollah

External Examiner

_____________________________

Abdus Sattar Chaudhry

External Examiner

_____________________________

Saim Kayadibi

Chairman

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DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this thesis is the result of my own investigations, except where

otherwise stated. I also declare that it has not been previously or concurrently

submitted as a whole for any other degrees at IIUM or other institutions.

Ali Amour Suleiman El-Maamiry

Signature ........................................................... Date .........................................

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COPYRIGHT

INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA

DECLARATION OF COPYRIGHT AND AFFIRMATION OF

FAIR USE OF UNPUBLISHED RESEARCH

INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIOUR OF WOMEN IN THE

GULF CORPORATION COUNCIL UNIVERSITIES

I declare that the copyright holders of this thesis are jointly owned by the student and

IIUM.

Copyright © 2019 Ali Amour Suleiman El-Maamiry and International Islamic University Malaysia. All

rights reserved.

No part of this unpublished research may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,

recording or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright holder

except as provided below

1. Any material contained in or derived from this unpublished research may

only be used by others in their writing with due acknowledgement.

2. IIUM or its library will have the right to make and transmit copies (print

or electronic) for institutional and academic purposes.

3. The IIUM library will have the right to make, store in a retrieved system

and supply copies of this unpublished research if requested by other

universities and research libraries.

By signing this form, I acknowledged that I have read and understand the IIUM

Intellectual Property Right and Commercialization policy.

Affirmed by Ali Amour Suleiman El-Maamiry

……..…………………….. ………………………..

Signature Date

viii

DEDICATION

This thesis is dedicated to my family

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Firstly, it is my utmost pleasure to dedicate this work to my dear parents and my

family, who granted me the gift of their unwavering belief in my ability to accomplish

this goal: thank you for your moral and physical support and patience.

I wish to express my appreciation and thanks to those who provided their time,

effort and support for this project. To my colleagues at the University of Dubai,

Library and Learning Resources Centre for helping me to collect data manually from

students and faculty. I wish to thank also Dr. Eesa Bastaki (President) for giving me

permission to do my studies, Dr. Yaprak Anadol, Dr. Geoffrey Gachino (Chief

Academic Officer), Dr. Sami Minioui and Dr. Muzamil Naqshibandi of the University

of Dubai for their different levels of help to make this piece of work successful. To

Dr. Hussein Mohammed Elmehdi, Dean of Academic Support Services in the

University of Sharjah, Mrs. Nadia Massoud, Director of Library at the University of

Sharjah and her colleagues. To Mr. Ibrahim Tuneiji, Acting Dean of Library, the

University of United Arab Emirates and his colleagues. To Dr. Michael Allen, Dean

of Research, Zayed University, Dr. Mary Sengati-Zimba, Head of Support Services -

Zayed University, Dr. Leslie Haas Dean of Library, Zayed University. To Dr.

Suleiman Khanjari, Dean of Research, the University of Nizwa. And last but not the

least Dr. Seif Al-Jabry, & Dr. Ali Al-Mugheiry, of the Sultan Qaboos University for

their help to circulate the questionnaire manually and electronically in their respective

institutions to make this project successful. To the members of my dissertation

committee, thank you for sticking with me and spending your time for my success.

Finally, a special thanks to Assistant Professor Dr. Noor Hasrul Nizan bin

Mohammad Noor for his continuous valuable support, encouragement, and leadership,

and for that, I will be forever grateful. May Allah Almighty bless you all and guide

you to more success.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract ........................................................................................................................ ii Abstract in Arabic ........................................................................................................ iii

Approval Page .............................................................................................................. v Declaration ................................................................................................................... vi Copyright ..................................................................................................................... vii Dedication .................................................................................................................... viii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... ix

List of Tables ............................................................................................................... xiii List of Figures .............................................................................................................. xv

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ...................................................................... 1 1.1 Background of the Research ..................................................................... 1 1.2 Statement of the Problem .......................................................................... 5 1.3 Research Aim and Objectives ................................................................... 7

1.4 Research Questions ................................................................................... 7 1.5 Relevance of the Study.............................................................................. 8

1.5.1 The Setting of the Study (Research Paradigms) .............................. 8 1.5.2 Need for the Study ........................................................................... 16

1.6 Conceptual Framework ............................................................................. 17

1.7 Research Hypotheses ................................................................................ 21

1.8 Significance of the Study .......................................................................... 22 1.9 Limitations of the Study ............................................................................ 23

1.10 Operational Definitions of Terms ............................................................ 25 1.11 Chapter Summary..................................................................................... 30

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................... 31 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 31

2.2 Gender Differences in Information Seeking Behaviour............................ 31 2.3 Arab Culture and Values ........................................................................... 33 2.4 Information Seeking .................................................................................. 40 2.5 Information Seeking Behaviour ................................................................ 42

2.6 Information Needs ..................................................................................... 49 2.7 Women’s Information Seeking Behaviour................................................ 51

2.8 Chapter Summary...................................................................................... 54

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY .............. 55 3.1 Introduction................................................................................................ 55 3.2 Research Design ........................................................................................ 55

3.3 Population Sampling .................................................................................. 56 3.4 Instruments and Measures ......................................................................... 58 3.5 Data Collection and Analysis .................................................................... 64 3.6 Validity and Reliability ............................................................................. 67 3.7 Chapter Summary ...................................................................................... 69

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CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION OF

RESULTS ................................................................................................................... 70

4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 70 4.2 Part One: Demographic Information ......................................................... 71 4.3 Part Two: Culture and Information Seeking-Behaviour ........................... 89

4.3.1 Cultural Dimensions ........................................................................ 89 4.3.1.1 A Collectivist Culture .......................................................... 89

4.3.1.2 Power Distance .................................................................... 105 4.3.1.3 Speed of Message ................................................................ 112 4.3.1.4 Time Cultural Dimension .................................................... 121

4.4 The Information Seeking Behaviour ......................................................... 130 4.4.1 Information Needs ........................................................................... 130

4.4.2 Query Formulation .......................................................................... 130 4.4.3 Task Execution ................................................................................ 130

4.4.4 Interaction with systems .................................................................. 131 4.5 Chapter Summary...................................................................................... 131

CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS ........................................ 133

5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 133 5.2 Summary of the Results ............................................................................ 134

5.2.1 Collectivist Culture .......................................................................... 134 5.2.2 Power Distance Culture ................................................................... 152 5.2.3 Speed of Message Culture ............................................................... 162

5.2.4 Time Cultural Dimension ................................................................ 165

5.2.5 Language Proficiency and Age ........................................................ 171 5.3 Discussion of the Results .......................................................................... 173

CHAPTER SIX: IMPLICATIONS, CONCLUSIONS AND

RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................................... 195

6.1 Implications and Conclusions ................................................................... 195 6.2 Recommendations For Future Studies ...................................................... 207

REFERENCES ........................................................................................................... 209

APPENDIX A: ENGLISH QUESTIONNAIRE SAMPLE .................................. 227

APPENDIX B: QUESTIONNAIRE SAMPLE FOR PILOT STUDY ................ 233

APPENDIX C: ARABIC QUESTIONNAIRE SAMPLE ..................................... 239 APPENDIX D: FIRST MOST FREQUENTLY USED DATABASE ................. 246 APPENDIX E: SECOND MOST FREQUENTLY USED DATABASE ............. 247

APPENDIX F: THIRD MOST FREQUENTLY USED DATABASE ................ 248 APPENDIX G: COLLECTIVISM FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION ................. 249 APPENDIX H: INFORMATION NEEDS FREQUENCY ................................... 250 APPENDIX I: MOSTLY FREQUENTLY ACCESSED DATABASES ............ 251 APPENDIX J: FREQUENTLY ACCESSED SEARCH ENGINES .................. 252

APPENDIX K: TIME DIMENSION VS TASK EXECUTION ........................... 253 APPENDIX L: Q16 VS Q14 CROSSTABULATION ........................................... 254 APPENDIX M: Q16 VS Q8 MULTIPLE RESPONSE FREQUENCY ............... 255 APPENDIX N: REGRESSION RESULTS INTERACTING WITH

SYSTESMS .................................................................................... 256

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APPENDIX O: HELP SEEKING FREQUENCY ................................................. 257 APPENDIX P: SEARCH ENGINES vs SCALE ................................................... 258

APPENDIX Q: MULTIPLE REGRESSION RESULTS ..................................... 259

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 Factors of Information Seeking Behaviour 49

Table 3.1 Hofstede's Individualism vs Collectivism 60

Table 3.2 Hall's Time Cultural Dimension 62

Table 3.3 Hofstede's Power Distance Dimension 63

Table 3.4 Hall's Speed of Message Dimension 64

Table 3.5 Instrumentation and Measurement 66

Table 3.6 Reliability Statistics 68

Table 3.7 Total Item Reliability Statistics 68

Table 4.1 University Representation 72

Table 4.2 Representation at Different Education Levels 73

Table 4.3 Nature of Affiliation 73

Table 4.4 Responses per Specialisation 74

Table 4.5 Languages Known 75

Table 4.6 Crosstabulation: Specialisation vs Databases 77

Table 4.7 Field of Specialisation vs Search Engines Option 79

Table 4.8 University vs Database 81

Table 4.9 Category of User vs Purpose of Research 83

Table 4.10 Category of User vs Special Information Needs 85

Table 4.11 How to Extract Relevant Information 86

Table 4.12 Age vs Ways of Seeking Information 88

Table 4.13 Descriptive Statistics of Information Needs 95

Table 4.14 Description Statistics of Composite Variables of Information

Needs 96

Table 4.15 Pearson Chi-Square Test Results on Collectivism 99

Table 4.16 Collectivism – Frequency Distribution 100

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Table 4.17 Pearson Chi-Square Test Results 101

Table 4.18 Frequency Distribution of Collectivism and Satisfaction with

Sources 102

Table 4.19 Frequency Distribution of Collectivism and Library Services 103

Table 4.20 Hierarchical Regressions Results of Information Seeking

Behaviour 105

Table 4.21 Descriptive Statistics – Power Distance 106

Table 4.22 Descriptive Statistics Q21 (a-f & m) – Power Distance 109

Table 4.23 Power Distance vs Query Formulation 110

Table 4.24 Descriptive Statistics for Speed of Message 113

Table 4.25 Descriptive Statistics for Interaction with systems 115

Table 4.26 Descriptive Statistics: Interaction with systems (Q26) 117

Table 4.27 Time Cultural Dimension 122

Table 4.28 Number of Hours Spent per Week Searching for Information 123

Table 4.29 Language Preferred in Searching for Information 124

Table 4.30 Using Search Engines and Academic Databases 125

Table 4.31 Frequency Distribution of Task Execution 126

Table 4.32 Chi-Square Test – Time Dimension vs Interaction with

systems 127

Table 4.33 Using Search Engines vs Appropriate Sources (Multiple

Response Cross-Tabulation) 128

Table 4.34 Using Search Engines vs Language Preferred to Search

Information 129

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1 Research Design 8

Figure 1.2 Conceptual Framework 20

Figure 4.1 Collectivist Culture 91

Figure 4.2 Information Needs – Responses and Cumulative Responses 94

Figure 4.3 Most Frequently Used Databases 97

Figure 4.4 Mostly Frequently Accessed Search Engines 98

Figure 4.5 Query Formulation - Frequency Distribution 107

1

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE RESEARCH

Information seeking behaviour is one of the most common topics studied in the

information retrieval field. Researchers of either gender are concerned with gathering

recent information and data to perform their research projects’ requirements.

Information seeking is a basic activity performed by everyone, and people adopt

different behaviours when searching for information (Wilson, 2000). Unlimited types

of information that can be found via numerous search engines are all available on one

platform by just one click away (Fidel et al., 1999). It is very confusing to handle

those sources while searching for information. Probably, the increase in the volume of

easily accessible online information has affected information seeking behaviour

among women researchers in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (GCC), which

includes the Kingdom of Bahrain, State of Kuwait, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the

State of Qatar, the Sultanate of Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

The governments in the GCC countries recognise the important role of

information and communication technology (ICT) in the social development, which

has been emphasised in the general long-term development plans of the countries.

These plans aim to transform the individual countries into an information society.

Bridging the digital divide through the utilisation of information communication

technology and providing information services to the local society are among the ways

to boost the ICT in the region.

One of the dimensions influencing the use of online information resources is

the way library resources are structured, accessed and searched. Rowlands et al.

2

(2008) suggest that users find library databases less instinctive than search engines.

Patrons find it more difficult to use library interfaces than to use Google, and online

library resources are often located outside the patrons’ learning environment. They

may not be aware of the resources’ availability. Other difficulties in using the library

online resources include having to make separate searches on catalogues and

databases, locating relevant databases and not always having access to full-text, which

is an obstacle for patrons who want everything instantly. This idea of Rowlands et al.

(2008) and others does not exist in the Gulf universities currently due to technology

advancements.

All universities in the region apply Summons serials solutions 360 (supplied by

ProQuest) or Discovery Solutions (supplied by EBSCO), and new library management

systems such as Sierra, Millennium, World Share, Alma, Liberty and so on, which

have discovery services, serial solutions and support federated search options. Some

of the library management systems (catalogues) have built in an easy proxy option

which supports federated search and enable users to search all university library

resources under one roof (with a single sign in). It seems that those embedded features

attract patrons to library databases and catalogues, rather than search engines which

sometimes informs them if this source is available full text in a university collection

when searching in Google Scholar. These library catalogues (management systems)

are Google stylish, which connect patrons to all available resources in the collection

(whether journal articles, e-books or printed books) and make them not to bother on

which sources are reliable for their needs or to interact with; instead, they interact with

a database that produces desired results. Federated search options are available in all

six university libraries surveyed to facilitate searches to all sources of information

available.

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There are also feelings that library contents are diminishing and that it “will

become more difficult to find information as patrons’ land where search engines take

them and not where librarians think they ought to land them (Rowlands et al., 2008, p.

292).” It seems that libraries are at war with search engines which always make

people think that they can find whatever they want in commercial search engines

rather than academic databases. It is important that libraries keep up with changes and

new trends in information seeking behaviours, new technologies and changes in the

online environment. “Library websites often reflect an organisational view of the

library (Rowlands et al., 2008, p. 293)”, rather than a user-centred interface; it seems

evident that there is an apparent disconnection between the culture of library

organisations and that of net generation students (Lippincott, 2005).

Notably, gender is one of the intervening variables in information seeking

behaviour (Wilson, 1997). In addition, Maghferat and Stock (2010) investigated

gender-specific information seeking behaviour and found that there are gender

differences in the selection of sources and degree of satisfaction. However, there are

few studies dealing with gender differences in information seeking behaviour.

Accordingly, the researcher decided to study women’s information seeking behaviour

in the Gulf countries universities. How information needs are generated, and how

GCC women search to fulfil them through formulating a query, interacting with

systems and executing the tasks are fundamental questions in this study.

Until recently, women in the GCC countries were expected to be fully

committed to their homes and family; they were rarely encouraged to study. Also, the

strict gender segregation policy of the Gulf countries’ society makes it difficult for

researchers to do research or conduct studies on women in the Arab world. In fact, it is

impossible to do a research on women in the Arab world without referring to the

4

relatively conservative culture, which has a direct impact on various aspects of their

life including information seeking behaviour. According to Ibn Khaldun (1865, p 468)

in his book Al-Muqadimmah, “when luxury and prosperity come to civilised people, it

naturally causes them to follow the ways of sedentary culture and adopts its customs.

As one knows, that sedentary culture is the adoption of diversified luxuries, the

cultivation of the things that go with them”.

For instance, in the GCC countries, women are expected to be modest,

respectful and seldom engage in social interaction with unrelated males (Oshan, 2007)

or discuss sensitive topics (e.g., politics, or health) (Munajjed, 1997). These cultural

norms are predicted strongly to affect women’s information seeking behaviour and the

use of information technology in their studies, research activities and even the

workplace. On one hand, it might be assumed that in the GCC countries, women

would prefer to use offline sources such as asking family members, colleagues or

instructors when having specific personal information needs in-order to comply with

cultural norms. On the other hand, it is observed that they use the internet to access

information (Aldhaheri, 2012) or send emails to colleagues, friends, and instructors

(Binsahl, 2015).

This study seeks to understand how the culture in the GCC academic libraries

have affected women’s information seeking behaviour in the region as well as how

technology modifies the women’s information seeking process. Much research has

been done on information seeking behaviour of a specific population such as children

(Fidel et al. 1999), youth (Eskola, 1998; Biswas and Pandey, 2009), women

(Aldhaheri, 2012; Bensahl, 2015; Altamimi, 2014), distance learning (Haghparast,

Hanum and Abdullah 2013), social scientists (Suqri, 2007), engineers (Dutton and

Jeffreys, 2010; Haines, Light, O’Malley and Delwiche, 2010) and so on, which are

5

defined by the age, level of education, profession, gender or environment. It is clear

that women students, researchers, and faculty members would prefer to obtain the

most recent information from various media sources available in the libraries, such as

encyclopedias, journals, books and more current electronic resources and databases.

The frequency of the use of the internet nowadays has greatly increased – it is now the

first source utilized by researchers, faculty members, and students alike.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Supporting research and learning activities has been a major mission for libraries of

the Gulf Cooperation Council universities at all levels of study regardless of gender.

For example, The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has focused on educating both men

and women; in 1975, the rate of adult literacy was 54 percent men and 31 percent

women. Today, literacy rates for both genders are close to 95 percent (The UAE

Embassy in Washington, 2018). In order to support the current efforts exerted to

improve research and learning activities in the GCC region, the problems impeding

such efforts must be addressed.

Behaviour of women in the GCC is not readily available for examination

because of the culture; thus, there is no much knowledge on their information seeking

behaviour. Moreover, the spread of the use of electronic resources in academic

libraries as the main source of information and the popularity of social networks

necessitate research on information seeking behaviour in the GCC region. Studies

suggest that the Gulf Cooperation Council countries have a homogenous culture (Idris,

2007), and have been shaped by the conventions of the Islamic religion such as gender

segregation (Al-Munajjed, 1997). Less is known about females’ behaviour in the GCC

countries since the studies of Al-Kahtani (2006) on women and technology; Oshan

6

(2007) on women and the internet in Saudi Arabia (as part of the GCC countries);

Aldhaheri (2012) on Arab women using the internet (case of the UAE and Oman); and

Binsahl (2015) on exploring the factors that impact Saudi female international

students’ use of social technologies, respectively. All those exploratory studies were

examining women’s use of the internet to understand the use, time spent, the purpose

of use and their attitudes on the internet. A gap is identified in the present literature as

women’s information seeking behaviour in academic institutions in the GCC has not

been extensively investigated. Thus, the present study fills this gap as it examines

women’s information seeking behaviour and the use of information technology in

their studies, careers and professional development. The purpose of this study is to

describe women’s information seeking behaviour in the GCC countries.

Significantly, strict culture, massive technological advancements, and poor

information skills are among problems that women face in their search for information

as they undertake their education endeavours (McClusky, 2017). All those factors

cause educational information seeking hindrances, which must be addressed in order

to improve females’ search capabilities, the quality of the retrieved information, and

their source selection decisions.

Therefore, there is a need to investigate women’s information seeking

behaviour relatively with socio-demographic factors, cultural factors, reading habits

and language barriers in the Gulf Cooperation Council universities. Thus, a better

understanding of women’s information needs, task execution, query formulation and

interaction with systems will be achieved. To date, there have been scarce studies on

women’s information seeking behaviour in the GCC. Therefore, it is important to

conduct this study in the Gulf region.

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1.3 RESEARCH AIM AND OBJECTIVES

The purpose of the study is to examine women’s information seeking behaviour in the

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) universities and problems that female face in

accessing electronic resources while preserving the cultural norms and values.

Selected universities that cover a range of subject areas including arts, business,

engineering, law, medicine, pure science, applied sciences, social science etc. are

included in the study in order to provide robust evidence of female’s information

seeking behaviour in the Gulf Cooperation Council universities.

The study aimed to achieve the following objectives:

1. To examine the women’s information needs

2. To examine the women’s query formulation

3. To examine the women’s task execution

4. To examine the women’s interaction with systems and

5. To provide robust evidence of females’ information seeking behaviour in

the Gulf Cooperation Council universities.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The study specifically aims to answer the following research questions:

1. How do cultural factors influence women’s information seeking

behaviour?

2. How do information needs activate women’s information seeking

behaviour?

3. What are the characteristics of women’s information seeking behaviour?

4. What are the factors affecting women’s information needs?

5. How the language affects women’s information seeking behaviour?

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1.5 RELEVANCE OF THE STUDY

1.5.1 The Setting of the Study (Research Paradigms)

Figure 1.1: Research Design

Framing of Generalisation

Hypotheses Supported Aims and Objectives Achieved

Analysis and Interpretation

Online Survey and Printed

Questionnaire distribution

Quantitative method of Research

To ascertain factors impact women’s

information seeking behaviour Hypothesised that culture has positive

impacts on women’s information

seeking behaviour

Culture, Language, Information Needs,

Query Formulation, Task Execution and

Interaction with Systems

Literature Review

Information Seeking Behaviour of Women in

GCC

Theoretical Framework

What factors affect women’s

information seeking behaviour

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This study included six universities within the United Arab Emirates and the

Sultanate of Oman, particularly. It covered four universities in the United Arab

Emirates, namely The University of Dubai, the United Arab Emirates University,

Zayed University and the University of Sharjah. In addition, two universities were

examined in the Sultanate of Oman, namely The Sultan Qaboos University and the

University of Nizwa. These universities are the largest federal and local government

institutions in their respective countries. Because of being government institutions,

there was a high probability of having a high population of nationals and few

foreigners. Notably, there were other local government institutions, but they were

small in size. Foreign universities were not considered in this study because they had a

lot of foreigners and would have resulted in misleading results.

A correlational design was set for this study in which correlational statistics

were used to measure and describe the degree of relationships between four

independent and other four dependent variables as suggested by Creswell (2014). The

study provides the numeric description of trends, attitudes, and opinions of women’s

information seeking behaviour. Only a group of women was considered as a

population sample to enable inferences about their information seeking behaviour.

The survey method was used for data collection because it was difficult for the male

researcher to reach this sensitive group for interviews or observations. That mixed

model was selected to reduce the bias and weakness of each research methodology to

some extent.

The philosophical view of this piece of work is based on positivist thinking,

which mostly related to quantitative research (Pickard, 2013). The topic was examined

to determine the causal natural laws of culture in relation to information seeking

behaviour. The researcher and participants are independent of each other. The study