The Relations among Undergraduate Students' Sourcing, Anxiety, and Perceived Trustworthiness of Online Information

Abstract

The present study aimed to understand how undergraduates’ sourcing of online information related to their anxiety and perceived trustworthiness of online information. A total of 378 undergraduates participated in the present study that adapted three questionnaires to explore their sourcing, anxiety, and perceived trustworthiness of online information. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were employed to ensure the reliability and validity of these three instruments. The Structural Equational Modelling analysis was conducted to investigate the relationships among undergraduate students' sourcing, anxiety, and perceived trustworthiness of online information. The research findings indicated that sourcing online information by personal and multiple evaluation relates to metacognitive online searching strategies, and sourcing online information by authority evaluation relates to behavioral online searching strategy that relates to less anxiety and more perceived trustworthiness of online information. Based on the research findings, theoretical and practical suggestions for future research are provided.