Abstract
This study examines, for the first time, the differences in the success, speed and ease of organizational information retrieval before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. 716 employees from four government ministries in Israel responded to questionnaires which we distributed. We conducted a Chi-Square test to address the change in the degree of employees’ success to locate information in their organization, comparing the two time periods. An empirical analysis of the results reveals that 24.1% of the respondents who before the pandemic failed to find information they needed for their work, reported that during COVID-19 their success rates were not improved. However, 88.2% of those who pre-COVID-19 were usually able to locate organizational information, indicated that even during the pandemic they were often successful. We also find that 95.8% of the participants (N=686) expressed agreement, to varying degrees, with the fact that since the pandemic outbreak, they were able to retrieve the information they needed in the context of their work more quickly. Specifically, 58.38% of the respondents reported that they agree strongly (N=263) or completely agree (N=155) that during COVID-19 it is easy and simple for them to retrieve the essential information to fulfill their position. The results enrich the empirical knowledge related to the employees’ information behavior during a crisis in general, and to the practices of digital work in particular. In an era of accelerated digital transformation, IT managers should consider different strategies for more successful implementation of digital tools to retrieve information quickly, simply and efficiently.
Presenters
Maayan NakashStudent, Department of Information Science; Department of Management, Bar-Ilan University, Israel Dan Bouhnik
Professor, Computer Science, Jerusalem College of Technology, Israel
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2024 Special Focus—People, Education, and Technology for a Sustainable Future
KEYWORDS
COVID-19, Information Retrieval, Information Behavior, Crisis, Organizations, Remote Work
