The Information Culture of Higher Education Institutions: The Estonian Case.

Abstract

Introduction. This paper focuses on the information culture of higher education institutions in Estonia. The aim of the study is to explore the relationship between information culture, information management and job satisfaction, leadership style, and selfreported individual performance. Method. A total of 160 faculty members from twelve institutions of higher education completed an online survey. The aim of the online survey was to identify the behaviour and values that characterise the information culture of Estonian higher education institutions. Analysis. Factor analysis and multivariate analysis were performed to analyse online survey data. Results. Taking into account six components of information culture identified by earlier researchers, analysis revealed three types of information culture characterised by their dominant components: integrated, proactive, and informal. A significant correlation was found between information culture with integrated information culture and job satisfaction, leadership style, and selfreported individual performance. Conclusion. Our study suggests that the construct of information culture is valuable in analysing information environments and their relations with job satisfaction, leadership style, and selfreported individual performance. In addition, integrated information culture seems to be (at least in the sample of academic staff) the most sensitive one, having significant correlations with several indicators of subjective well-being within the academic staff.