The study explored the personal information management (PIM) experiences of knowledge workers, defined as workers in professional fields where information is the essence of the work. It examined their perceptions of personal information spaces, challenges of managing personal information and the use of PIM strategies and looked for links between them. Qualitative data were collected in seven in-depth interviews with knowledge workers from education and industry. Content analysis included horizontal analysis and cluster of meanings analysis (Moustakas, 1994). Participants varied in the extent to which they sensed three factors: belonging to, dependence on and control of information spaces. They mentioned two specific challenges: the overloading of personal information spaces and the divergence of these spaces. Participants used a number of innovative high-level strategies for saving, managing and retrieving information. The strategies were linked to both perceptions and challenges of the personal space. The paper concludes with guidelines for managing information.
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
A complex set of perceptions (belonging, dependence and control) characterizes the interaction between knowledge workers and their personal information spaces. High-level strategies for saving, managing and retrieving information are a useful way of coping with the PIM challenges of overloaded and divergent information spaces. Innovative thinking about PIM is an important aspect of knowledge workers’ ability to manage personal information in the digital era.
PurposeDifferences in personal information management (PIM) behavior are well established in the literature, but are defined from the narrow perspective of practical use (e.g. filing/piling, emailing). This paper aims to identify the types of PIM behavior that would help us understand how people manage personal information in the digital era.Design/methodology/approachThe authors relied on the theoretical framework, published in a recent article (Alon and Nachmias, 2020a), examining actual PIM behavior (e.g. actual practice), ideal behavior (e.g. perceptions of best practice) and the gaps between them. Our framework drew on data collected via a questionnaire on the use of 25 PIM practices (N = 465).FindingsThe findings indicated four types of PIM behavior that differed by activity level (actual PIM) and satisfaction level (ideal PIM and gaps): passive and satisfied, active and satisfied, fairly active and unsatisfied and active and fairly satisfied. This allows the classification of users according to their dominant tendency to use specific practices.Originality/valuePrevious studies focused mainly on specific PIM practices or contexts. Our research creates a classification of types, based on ideal as well as actual PIM behavior, and also examines a broader perspective.
An increasingly intense experience of personal information management (PIM) manifests in how people manage personal information archives and how they feel about it. To this point, however, the relations between feelings and PIM behavior have attracted limited study. We examined how feelings shape people’s organizing and deleting practices, focusing on four affective aspects: anxiety, self-efficacy, belonging, and loss of control. We hypothesized that these affective aspects would predict the extent to which people utilize organizing and deleting practices. Data were collected via two self-reported questionnaires distributed to 465 respondents. Findings partially supported the hypotheses and showed self-efficacy was the strongest predictor of deleting and organizing. This suggests the process of PIM is more efficient and productive when people enjoy interacting with personal information and do not perceive it as a burden. We discuss the results and suggest several implications for research, PIM literacy development, and platform design.
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