Information Seeking Behaviour of International Students on Social Media: Towards A New Information

Seeking Behaviour Model

Suraya Hamid1, Mohamad Taha Ijab2, Liyana Shuib1, and Azah Anir Norman1

1University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia2The National University of Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia

suraya_hamid@um.edu.my, taha@ukm.edu.my, liyanashuib@um.edu.my, azahnorman@um.e-du.my

Abstract. The high level of dependency on social media when seeking information is creating a new pattern of information seeking behaviour among the youths. Different sets of youths seek information differently and this paper reports on the information seeking behaviour using social media by young international students engaged in a student exchange programme. The paper’s objective is to investigate information seeking behaviour activities on social media, a phenomenon that is currently under-researched and propose a new model for information seeking on social media. The research was conducted qualitatively based on the Inbound Student Exchange Programme organised by the University of Malaya, Malaysia. Twenty students from two universities in China and seven students from an Indonesian university were interviewed held in their respective universities. The findings show that students exercise infor-mation seeking behavioural activities that can be grouped into three classifica-tions: planning, executing, and extending. These information seeking be-havioural activities formed the basis of a new information seeking model on so-cial media proposed in this paper. This paper contributes towards understanding information seeking behaviour on social media and attempts to produce a new model which updates the existing information seeking behaviour models.

Keywords: information seeking, information seeking behaviour model, social media, study abroad, student exchange programme, international students

1 Introduction

The Internet, particularly the new forms of media such as social media has tremendous influence on the information seeking behaviour of students today. Ac-cording to [1] and [2], the Internet has single-handedly revolutionised campus com-puting. [3] posits that the Internet has had a definite impact on how people seek infor-mation as well as their expectations of how the Internet can meet their infor -mational needs. It is clear why searching for information on the Internet has become popular in higher learning today. By connecting to the Internet, an entirely new world of electronic communication and information (with a greater range of topics than any

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other information source) is open to students, staff and researchers. More over, the wide range and in exhaustible flow of information now available online means that many queries can be answered using online sources in far lesser time than using traditional, paper-based sources. [4] suggests that the reason behind the Internet's pop-ularity in education is in its most obvious feature: it is a huge repository of hyper-linked knowledge, information, and knowledge manipulation functions (e.g. the gen-eration, transmission, storage, processing and retrieval of information), all of which are at the heart of educational transactions. This point of view is supported by [5] in particular with the use of social media such as Facebook these days.

The information seeking behaviour begins when one realises the existence of an informational need and ends when that need is believed to have been satisfied [6][39][40][41]. The information seeker then turns to formal and informal sources of infor-mation and is ultimately satisfied or dissatisfied with the end result [7]. A lot of the process in information seeking behaviour is in tangible and takes place in a person's head, making it difficult to measure. [8] and [9] refer to it as a way in which people search for and utilise information. From the above definitions, it can be deduced that information seeking behaviour is the purposive search for information as the conse-quence of a need to satisfy goals. In the course of seeking information, students may interact with manual information systems (such as newspapers or books) or with com-puter-based information systems (such as the Internet and newer media, including so-cial media). With regards to studying abroad, students in higher learning institutions are usually given an opportunity to participate in a study abroad curriculum at any oversea universities of their preference [10] [11]. For example, the University of Malaya is increasingly focusing on the internationalisation of higher education and considers a study abroad curriculum (typically also called an exchange programme) an essential part of a university learning process [12]. This research aims to investi -gate the information seeking behaviour of international students in the University of Malaya’s Inbound Student Exchange Programme (ISEP). Students can choose whether they want to participate in the ISEP for one semester (approximately four months), or for a maximum of two semesters [12]. The information was gathered from students who were interested in participating or who had participated and re-turned to their country to pursue the remainder of their studies.

According to [13], information seeking behaviour differs among students due to the differences in their information needs and gaps. Past studies concluded that lack of knowledge about information seeking behaviour contribute to students’ failure in searching for useful information. The use of social media among them is the interest of this paper, as is whether the students used social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram in their search for information, as well as the specific information seek-ing behaviours that transpired during their information seeking process using social media. Even though many international students have been involved in the student ex-change programme over the past many years, their information seeking behaviour is still neither clear nor well documented. A recent study by [13] only deal with a very broad electronic information sources which they defined as collections of information stored and retrieved by using electronic devices such as computers and smartphones. According to them, information can be retrieved using online search services, Online

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Public Access Catalogues (WebOPAC), CD-ROM, the Internet (i.e., search engines, such as Google and Yahoo), e-books, ejournals and e-newspapers but not inclusive of newer media such as social media tools. Further, this study is needed as the previous information seeking models have not considered the use of newer media such as so-cial media in the model development. In addition, the pattern and use of social media is different from countries to countries.

The objective of the paper is to identify and explain the information seeking behaviour of international students in their search for crucial information associated with a student exchange programme in a foreign country. In order to achieve this goal, this paper poses the following research question: ‘‘How is information seeking behaviour practiced on social media by international students?’’. This paper is organised as follows: Section 2 provides the theoretical background to the research Section 3 offers the methodology used in undertaking the research by detailing the data collection and analysis process. The research findings are presented in Section 4, while the discussion is covered in Section 5. Section 6 concludes the paper by provid-ing the research contributions, limitations and suggestions for future studies.

2 Literature and Theoretical Background2.1 Student Exchange Programme, Social Media and Information Seeking

Behaviour of Students

The student exchange programme as conducted and practiced at many universities is not a new phenomenon. It usually aims to promote a new globalised context, internationalise knowledge and culture, while also elevating mobility and interaction among students and lecturers [14] [15]. For example, in the context of the European Union (EU), in order to achieve the above goals, the European Commission has consolidated exchange programmes such as the ‘European Region Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students’ (ERASMUS), whereby this programme belongs to the operational framework for the European Commission’s initiatives in higher education [15]. This mobility programme has turned into one of the main promoters of change in higher education as it contributes to the reconfiguration of university systems within the EU. According to [16], the ERASMUS programme is an institutionalised student mobility programme that is considered an instrument for forging a European sense of unity. [16] also argues that student mobility leads to increased wealth, economic growth and a higher quality of human resources and provides an evocative illustration of the rising profile of education within the EU as a means to cultivate cohesion and belongingness which economic rationality alone could not attain.

In the Malaysian context of University of Malaya, a special programme called Study Abroad, a student exchange programme for both inbound and outbound students, is supported [12]. Inbound student exchange refers to international students who wish to acquire experience in living and studying at the University of Malaya for a shortterm study programme. Outbound student exchange refers to the University of Malaya’s local students who wish to pursue a similar learning experience in other higher learning institutions overseas. Both programmes aim to foster international un -

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derstanding among students of different nationalities by providing an excellent learn-ing environment [12] [17]. At the end of the exchange programme, students are ex-pected to have gained a broad perspective on the different cultures and backgrounds of their peers in the host country they have chosen. The programme also aims to foster human capital development in participating youths [12] [17].

As most established universities in Malaysia also offer student exchange programmes, it is postulated that potential international students conduct some form of informationseeking prior to making the final decision of enrolling in a student exchange pro-gramme at a chosen university. Based on the most recent data, shown in Table 1 be -low, 2,049 international students participated in the inbound student exchange pro-gramme at the University of Malaya in 2015.

Table 1. Inbound Students by Country in Year 2015 [12]

No. Country Number of Students1. South Korea 4522. China 4033. Indonesia 2844. Thailand 2265. Japan 1886. United Kingdom 837. Taiwan 688. Brunei 619. Germany 4810. Sudan 3511. Other countries 201Total Number of Students 2049

Researchers such as [18] state that students of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia prefer to seek information from the Web and other online sources for completing research projects. Even during the earlier years of Internet popularity, [19] stated that students prefer to use the Internet as a medium of information source. Seeking information be-comes faster by using online sources including social media applications [13] [20] [21]. With the explosion in the use of social media, it is expected that some of the in -ternational students who intend to participate in the student exchange programme use social media (i.e., Facebook, RenRen, Bebo, Instagram, Twitter, QQ, etc.) to gain more information pertaining to the University of Malaya. However, as is publicly known, some countries, such as China, prohibit access to these popular social media platforms in their country, while in some other countries access to social media is lim-ited. Nevertheless, mainstream social media platforms in China have been replaced with comparable, locally developed social media platforms. These include RenRen, Bebo, Weibo, QQ, and WeChat.

From the social media perspective, the increasingly ubiquitous access, ease of use, functionality, and flexibility of social media such as Facebook and Twitter have madethem appealing as learning tools in higher education [22] [23] [24] [25]. However, be-sides being used for educational purposes, social media is also widely used as a tool for information seeking [26] [27]. In particular, this research is interested in gaining an understanding of the role of social media in supporting the information seeking be-haviour of international students in selecting the University of Malaya in favour of

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other local universities in Malaysia. The use of social media in facilitating and maintaining interaction between the students and the university’s representatives is also emphasised.

2.2 Information Seeking Behaviour Theories and Models

Information seeking is the process of or an activity related to attempting to obtain in-formation in both human and technological contexts. Based on extant literature, many researches have been conducted to understand information seeking behaviour. Models and frameworks are mostly used to describe the flow of information-seeking skills [13]. A variety of prominent theories of information behaviour such as Ellis’ Model of Information Seeking Behaviour (1989, 1993, 1997), Marchionini’s Information Seeking Model (1998), and Ge’s Information Seeking Process (2010) seek to under-stand the processes that surround information seeking.

2.3 Ellis' Model of Information Seeking Behaviour (1989, 1993, 1997)

Information seeking studies led by the renowned information management scholar, David Ellis, include seminal works such as [28] [29] [30]. These research papers generally proposed and elaborated on a general model of information seeking be-haviour based on the studies of the information seeking patterns of academics, engi -neers and research scientists. The model describes six categories of information seek-ing activities as generic: starting, chaining, browsing, differentiating, monitoring and extracting. Starting incorporates those activities that form the initial search for infor-mation. It involves the identification of the sources of interest that could serve as a starting point for the search. The identified sources often include familiar sources that have been used before as well as less familiar sources that are expected to provide rel-evant information to users. Chaining can be either backward or forward. Backward chaining takes place when references from an initial source are followed. In contrast, forward chaining identifies and follows up other sources that refer to an initial source or document. Although it can be an effective way of broadening a search, forward chaining is much less in use because people are unaware of it. Browsing refers to the activity of a semi-directed search in areas of a potential search. The individual often simplifies browsing by looking through tables of contents, lists of titles, subject head-ings, abstracts, summaries and so on. Browsing takes place in many situations in which related information has been grouped together according to subject affinity. During the process of differentiating, the individual filters and selects from the sources are scanned by noticing differences between the nature and quality of the in-formation offered. This process is likely to depend on the individual's prior or initial experiences with the sources, i.e. word-ofmouth, recommendations from personal contacts, or reviews in published sources. Monitoring is the activity of keeping abreast with the developments in an areaby regularly following particular sources. The individual monitors developments by concentrating on a small number of what are perceived to be core sources. Core sources may include the following: journals, online search updates, newspapers, conferences, magazines, books, catalogues and so on. The extracting process involves systematically working through a particular sourceor sources in order to identify materials of interest. By taking the form of a ret -rospective search, extracting may be achieved by directly consulting the source, or by indirectly looking through bibliographies, indexes or online databases.

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2.4 Marchionini’s Information Seeking Model (1998)

In the 1980s, researchers put forward that information seeking is a human-centred, problem-solving activity. Gary Marchionini built upon these studies and created an information seeking model that was the basis of his book Information Seeking in [31]. Marchionini’s model presents the factors that motivate a person to begin searching for information and the steps taken during the process. Based on studies in formal settings, Marchionini’s model is a comprehensive tool for the explanation of information seeking for research or recreation. [31] posits that information seeking is a process in which people actively engage in to change their state of knowledge.

This process permits people to understand and relate to their environment through ex-ploration, problem-solving and learning. Based on the studies of people using electronic systems in controlled environments, [32] recognised that the information seeker controls, and is central to, the process and that therefore an understanding of the cognitive and behavioural processes used during the search is vital in developing electronic systems with a user-centred perspective. Marchionini’s eight-stage model consists of the following sub-processes: recognition and acceptance of the problem, defining andunderstanding the problem, choosing a system, formulating a query, executing a search, examining results, extracting information, and reflection and stopping of the search process [32]. According to [32], Marchionini’s model is a use-ful, logical, iterative, top-down process for explaining seekers’ cognitive and be-havioural problem-solving processes. Marchionini understood that an electronic envi-ronment’s design must maximise interactivity. Given today’s advanced electronic sys-tems, consideration should be given to expand the model to realise social media’s full potential of interactivity. Although it is not always credible, social media’s design matches a culture’s collective, bottomup, communication style and is the preferred in-formation source for the provision of immediate answers. Its low cost and flexibility could facilitate communication and organisation during a crisis. The new model could have two filters: one channels personal posts expressing e.g. stress to one message board while the other channels news or time sensitive information to another board. This is important because the information source will only be of value to the seeker if it is perceived to provide specific and timely information.

2.5 Ge’s Information Seeking Behaviour Model (2010)

[33] argues that the study of electronic information seeking behaviour dates back to the 1980s, but acknowledges that David Ellis was the first to model the process of in-formation seeking behaviour of social scientists: how they search for and interact with the materials as opposed to the sources they use and the manner in which the materi -als are obtained. In addition to the six original characteristics (starting, chain-ing, browsing, monitoring, differentiating, and extracting), [33] suggests the two new characteristics: (i) preparationand planning; and (ii) managing information. These two new stages of research development reflect social sciences and humanities re-searchers’ methods for locating relevant information. The two new characteristics identified suggest a need for additional research tools and for more flexible and user-friendly information systems, for which social media fits the bill.

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3 MethodologyIn conducting this research, a case study approach [34] employing research participants from two countries was used. The international students from China and Indonesia were chosen because students from these two countries were in the top three countries in terms of inbound country in the University of Malaya’s Inbound Student Exchange Programme (see Table 1). Due to unforeseen circumstances, we were unable to conduct the study in South Korean universities, even though students from South Korea topped the list of foreign students in the ISEP.

In this research, the international students who had participated and were interested in participating in the University of Malaya’s Student Exchange Programme were interviewed in a few focus group interview sessions which were held in attendance of the gatekeeper lecturers who manage the Student Mobility programme in their own respective universities. The sessions were conducted in English language and moderated by the authors. Each session took one hour and half to complete. A total of twenty-seven (27) participants were interviewed in three focus group discussions. Twenty (20) students from the two universities in the Hebei Province of China were interviewed and seven (7) students from an Indonesian university in the City of Yo-gyakarta, West Java Province, were interviewed. The demographic details of the re-search participants are shown in Table 2.

Table 2. Demographics of Research Participants

Country Interview ID Participant ID University Discipline / Year China IV01 SC01

Hebei University of Engineering IT/3rd Year

SC02SC03SC04SC05SC06SC07SC08SC09

IV02 SC10

Hebei Normal University IT/3rd Year

SC11SC12SC13SC14SC15SC16SC17SC18SC19SC20

Indonesia IV03 SI01 Yogyakarta University of IT/4th YearSI02

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Technology

SI03SI04SI05SI06SI07

As the topic is the information seeking behaviour of international students on social media and on student exchange programmes, the participants (i.e. interviewees) needed to be people directly involved in the information seeking process (i.e. the stu-dents). The sampling technique described above is called purposive sampling. Ac-cording to [35], the goal of purposive sampling is not the generalisation of findings but rather the rich descriptions of phenomenon by those who have experienced it. Therefore, it was suitable for use in this research. In particular, the interviewers asked the students regarding the motivations for them to participate in the student exchange programme, their source of information on the student exchange programme, their use of social media, their use of social media in seeking information on the student exchange programme, the specific information they were looking for on social media regarding the student exchange programme, and their general information seeking process.

The data analysis followed a three-stage process of data transcribing, coding and analysing. During the data analysis process, the data were organised categorically and chronologically, reviewed repeatedly and continually coded [36]. After the entire transcription process was completed, the authors went through the interview tran-scripts and audio recordings again to ensure that no important information had been missed. Subsequently, the data analysis process continued with data coding. The data were analysed using a thematic analysis approach. Thematic analysis is a predominant techniques used for qualitative data analysis and is the process of searching, identifying and exploring codes and themes based on the initial concepts in the description of a phenomenon [37]. The thematic coding used was based on the approach suggested by [38]. Based on the existing concepts, the following initial themes were produced: Preparing and Planning; Starting; Browsing; Chaining; Moni-toring; Differentiating; Extracting; Verifying and Ending. As the research was con-ducted in the context of social media, two additional themes were identified: Interact-ing and Managing Information.

4 FindingsThis section provides the findings from the two case studies based on the interviews held in both China and Indonesia. The findings are presented based both on the developed themes and on the literature as well as emerging from the data. Based on our analysis, a new and emerging theme revealed by the data is ‘Sharing’, while the other themes are in agreement with the existing themes identified in the literature. The following was extracted from the focus group interviews with students at the two China universities and at the Indonesian university.

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4.1 Motivations to Participate in the Student Exchange ProgrammeThe findings show that students in China were motivated to participate in the student exchange programme for a number of reasons, namely gaining new experience; experiencing a new culture; learning a new language; learning in a new education sys-tem; broadening their horizon or outlook on life; gaining opportunities to pursue higher degrees (i.e. Masters and PhD) at a Malaysian university; and for purposes of future employment.

For example, SC01 claimed that his motivation to participate in the student exchange programme was to gain new experience in a different learning system.

I want to experience learning in a different learning environment where I can improve my communications skill in using English. (SC01)

Meanwhile, students in Indonesia were motivated to participate in the student exchange programme for the following reasons: to gain new experience; to learn in a new education system; to improve their English; to gain credit transfer; to establish a network with new friends; and to explore opportunities in doing postgraduate studies. One of the students claimed:

My parents ask me to participate because I have a sister studying in Malaysia. So I want to study there too. Besides, I want to gain new experience, learn in new environment that is different from what we have here. I also want to improve my English. (SI07)

4.2 Use of Social Media

The students in China all used the locally made social media platforms such as Sina Weibo, RenRen, Bebo, QQ, and WeChat. The country’s policy in blocking popular social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, has resulted in the use of these alternative social media platforms. However, the problems with these platform is that they are limited to the Chinese-language and people from outside have limited understanding in using and connecting in these locally customised platforms. One of the Chinese students said:

I use QQ to interact daily with my friends and occasionally with my lecturers who are in my contact list. (SC03)

The students in Indonesia used more popular social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and BlackBerry Messaging (BBM) as there is no policy restricting the use of such tools in that country. For personal communica-tion and sharing, the BBM was the most highly used, followed by Facebook. Students also used blogs, which was not seen in the Chinese context. For example, SI07 claimed:

I have a blog. I love to write and jot down my feelings. It is an open blog that other people can read. I love reading my followers’ comments on my blog. I also do a lot of Facebooking and BBM-ing. (SI07)

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4.3 Use of Social Media in Seeking Information on the Student Exchange Programme

Generally, students in China did not use much social media as an information seeking tool for the student exchange programme. However, they did use QQ to chat with one another when something came up during their conversations regarding the student ex-change they intended to participate in.

I have a best friend who is currently doing a student exchange programme in Malaysia. I used to communicate and share news with her using QQ. She urged me to come and participate in the next round of student exchange programme too. (SC18)

In terms of students in Indonesia, they sought information on the university itself, the programmes offered, the credits that could be transferred, and the cost of living (accommodation, food, etc.). The students in Indonesia were more concerned about the cost issues compared to the Chinese students who were considerably more affluent. This was also due to China’s one-child policy, whereby parents only had one child to support and were therefore more than willing to spend more on their only child in order to get the best education, in contrast to the different socio-economic sit-uation of the people in Indonesia (i.e. families with many children to support). The students said:

I have a Facebook account but I really hope the university would share a lot more information about the programme on the Faculty or the University’s Facebook page. As of now, we have limited information. Mostly are available offline. If we have information from Facebook, that will be a lot easier for us. (SI05)

4.4 The Specific Information That They Are Looking For

For students in China, there is no specific information they were looking for on social media. They were keen to know everything related to the student exchange programme.

I have nothing specific. Just how to participate and whether I am eligible to participate in the programme. (SC13)

For students in Indonesia, it was mostly about the ability to transfer credit, as well as costs. They already knew which universities they wanted to go to, such as University of Malaya and Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP).

In particular, I search for information about how many credits are transferrable. Further, as I come from a poor family, I really want to know how much it will cost me if I participate in this program. (SI02)

4.5 The General Information Seeking Process

For students in China, the general information seeking process employed can be seen from the perspectives of starting, browsing, chaining, monitoring, extracting, differentiating, verifying, and ending. However, there is a lack of evidence of

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preparing and planning, and managing the information found. For example, one of the students from China stated the following:

When I use QQ to ask for information, it is just that I ask basic questions. I also search from the Internet about University of Malaya, look through the pages in the website. I make some notes sometimes or bookmark of the web page that have information that I want. I also com-pare what other universities in Malaysia and other countries are able to provide me in their student exchange programmes. (SC04)

The general information seeking process of students from Indonesia can be seen from the perspectives of preparing and planning, starting, browsing, chaining, monitoring, extracting, differentiating, verifying, and ending. The students also mentioned sharing information and interacting on BBM and Facebook. However, no evidence of managing information was found. For example, one of the students argued that:

When I message my lecturer on BBM, I ask him for more details about what I read from the UTY website and also from his briefings during class. So he shared with me some more crucial information that I want to know.’’ (SI04)

5 DiscussionIt can be seen from the findings that the students in both countries are using various types of social media, albeit in a limited fashion, with evidence of activities such as preparation and planning, starting, browsing, chaining, monitoring, differentiating, extracting, verifying, and ending. As these activities are undertaken in the context of social media, the elements of sharing, interacting, and managing information were particularly observed, something that was not possible on traditional media. The findings of this research also demonstrate that there is relatively limited use of social media for information seeking regarding student exchange programmes. Instead, social media is widely used for personal interaction and sharing with close family and friends only. Nevertheless, there is evidence to suggest the use of social media for this purpose to a certain extent. This situation can be attributed to the lack of content made available by hosting universities on the topic of student exchange programmes, particularly on their Facebook and YouTube pages. A recent check of the University of Malaya website indicates that information on the student exchange programme was not prominently featured, hindering easy access to such information by potential students. A query using the website’s search engine also did not yield any result when the term ‘‘student exchange’’ was entered. Furthermore, for students who come from countries and backgrounds where English is not widely used, the lack of information in other languages, such as Mandarin or Arabic, may hinder easy access to student exchange programmes. This issue was mentioned by a number of Chinese students as they were keen to get further information, but this was either not available or not easily understood by them. It was suggested that the University of Malaya should provide information on the student exchange programme in other languages and also make these available on the social media sites used by the university, especially Facebook and Twitter, as well as on the official website.

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From the perspective of motivations when undertaking a student exchange pro-gramme, there are various reasons stated by the students. Indonesian students are keen to gain credit transfer in addition to new experiences. However, the Chinese students are more interested in gaining an overall new experience of studying over -seas. The other reasons stated include learning in a new environment, better facilities, learning a new language, and gaining more confidence. With regards to so-cial media use, there are vast differences between the types of social media. The stu-dents from China use locally made social media tools such as Weibo, RenRen, WeChat and QQ, whereas the Indonesian students use more mainstream social media tools including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, BlackBerry Messaging (BBM) and blogs. In spite of this, the students found there to be a lack of information provided on social media pertaining to the student exchange programme at the University of Malaya. Thus, students have resorted to interacting and sharing whatever information they have or want from their lecturers on the messaging applications such as QQ and BBM. The specific information they seek from social media (in addition to traditional media such as official websites) includes information on the courses, fees, visas, insurance, entry requirements (CGPA 3.50 minimum and English proficiency level of TOEFL of 500 points), activities, and accommodation. Indonesian students sought information on costs, sponsorship, and credit transfer while the Chinese students were keen on the courses and activities. The general infor-mation seeking process of the students from both countries shows that there is evi-dence of them preparing and planning when they are searching for information on stu-dent exchange programmes. The students then proceed with the actual initiation of looking for the information from the tools that they are using, namely Facebook, Weibo, QQ, WeChat, and BBM. They then browse for the information provided by the University of Malaya – mainly from the official website. Some students chain the information found on the website with other information shared on media such as Facebook or Twitter. The information is monitored and checked from time to time for changes. The students also make some comparisons of how student exchange pro-grammes work in several other Malaysian universities besides UM. The students in Indonesia also look for opportunities to pursue exchange studies in universities in the USA, UK, Europe, Japan, and Korea. This is where the differentiating of the informa-tion takes place. The students then extract the information most relevant to them, and verify it by asking their lecturers or emailing the International Office at the university. This process ends their information seeking process. Since the size of information gathered can be huge, students manage the information by making bookmarks, print-ing, copying and pasting the materials inside a new file, and storing them for later use. As the context of the information seeking is in the domain of social media, the stu -dents also share with each other the information they have gathered on student ex-change programmes and interact among themselves and their lecturers for information relevant for their intention of enrolling in the student exchange programme.

From the discussion given above and based on the existing literature (Ellis, 1989, El-lis et al., 1993; Ellis and Haugan, 1997; Marchionini, 1998; Ge, 2010), the students’ information seeking behaviour model on social media can be illustrated as per Figure 1. We categorise the information seeking behaviour on social media into three

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classifications, namely: Planning, Executing, and Extending. In the new model, the first classification is planning, which consistsof preparation and planning. This is fol-lowed by activities in the second classification: Executing consists of activities such as starting, browsing, chaining, monitoring, differentiating, extracting, verifying, and ending. The last classification is extending which consists of interacting, man-aging information, and sharing. Generally, this new model of information seeking be-haviour on social media extends the past studies on information seeking behaviour whereby the activities in the information seeking process are now given a new perspective in the context of social media use instead of general online information seeking, such as on websites, or conventional information seeking from books, journals, magazines, and other printed materials. Further, Table 3 provides the key differentiation between the new model with the existing models discussed in Section 2.

Fig. 1. Information Seeking Behavior on Social Media Model

Table 3: Comparison of the New Model with the Existing Information Seeking Behavior Models

No Model Stakeholders Activities1 Ellis’Model of Information

Seeking Behavior (1989, 1993, 1997)

Academics, Engineers andResearch Scientists Electronic

Starting, Browsing, Chaining,Differentiating, Monitoring,Extracting. Recognising,Defining and Understanding

2 Marchionini’s InformationSeeking Model (1998)

System users (controlenvironment)

Choosing, Formulating,Executing, Examining,Extracting, Stopping,Preparation and Planning

3 Ge’s Information Seeking Process (2010)

Social Scientists Starting, Browsing,Chaining, Differentiating,Monitoring, Extracting andManaging Information

4 Information Seeking Be-havior on Social Media Model

International Students Phases: Planning, Executing, ExtendingPlanning: Preparing and plan-ningExecuting: Starting, Browsing/Chaining/Monitoring,

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Differentiating, Extracting, Verifying, EndingExtending: Interacting, Manag-ing information, Sharing

6 ConclusionStudents at tertiary institutions of learning need information for their academic activities and this is a fact that cannot be taken for granted. It is also important to note that students must possess the requisite skills necessary to access online information resources. A well-articulated and sustained effort is required to provide ICT facilities in these institutions in order to make them more accessible for students. It is now a known fact that the Internet has facilities that support the teaching and learning pro-cesses at tertiary institutions. This paper has examined some of the information seek-ing models and the role they play in ensuring a better search process for users to achieve the maximum results for a sustainable education and also in ensuring quality in selecting information resources online. This paper contributes to a new model re-garding information seeking behaviour on social media as past research has been lim-itedly addressing information seeking behaviour on social media. Therefore, this pa-per contributes to the theory in terms of the new information seeking behaviour model and in the practice by proposing some enhancements for how universities should de-ploy social media to easily provide information seekers with sufficient information. The limitations of this research come from the fact that the new information seeking behaviour model was not empirically tested because it was inductively developed based on the literature and the empirical data. Future research can be conducted by quantitatively verifying and validating the model as well as by carrying out large scale surveys with students and lecturers.

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