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Dissertation Information for Howard Rosenbaum

NAME:
- Howard Rosenbaum

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

SCHOOL:
- Syracuse University (USA) (1996)

ADVISORS:
- Michael Nilan

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Jeffrey H. Katzer
- Patricia D. Fletcher
- Rolf T. Wigand
- Barbara H Kwasnik

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: MANAGERS AND INFORMATION IN ORGANIZATIONS: TOWARDS A STRUCTURATIONAL CONCEPT OF THE INFORMATION USE ENVIRONMENT OF MANAGERS

Abstract: This dissertation research addresses a fundamental issue in library and information science (LIS): the determination of the relationship between structure and action. Examining this issue in the context of the domain of information seeking and use, where dissonance between structural and action-oriented approaches seems to be increasing, this work argues that the time has come to propose a resolution to this issue. Focusing on the way this issue has unfolded in social science inquiry, the contours of the debate are discussed in the discipline of sociology and the argument is made that the debate is taking the same shape in theoretical and research work in LIS. Researchers in LIS are on the verge of recapitulating this debate, one implication of which might the beginning of a decades-long dispute between supporters of structural and action-oriented approaches.

Recent work in LIS (Taylor, 1991, 1986; Katzer and Fletcher, 1992) offers a way to sidestep many of the thorny problems of the debate but the strategy for making this move is underdeveloped in this work. This research suggests a way to develop this strategy. At a theoretical level, this involves the integration and reformulation of the Taylor's (1991) concepts of the information use environment (IUE) and information behaviors into Giddens' (1984) structuration approach. At an empirical level, this involves the investigation of IUE and information behaviors of managers in a public sector organization. There were four major findings: the IUE of the managers in this study was comprised of rules, resources, problems, and problem resolutions; the range of their information behaviors included information producing, gathering, filtering, and sharing; there was bidirectionality in the relationship between the IUE and managerial information behaviors; and there were tensions among elements of the IUE from which certain problems arose.

This research proposes a novel conceptual framework, the structurationally-informed value-added approach, with which to investigate information seeking and use in organizational settings, and demonstrates its utility in a study of the information use environment of managers in a public sector organization. It therefore represents one attempt to take a theoretical and methodological position on the relationship between structure and action that favors neither structural nor action-oriented approaches and illustrates a strategy for moving beyond the debate.


MPACT Scores for Howard Rosenbaum

A = 4
C = 12
A+C = 16
T = 4
G = 1
W = 4
TD = 4
TA = 0
calculated 2017-03-04 17:12:41

Advisors and Advisees Graph