The two-tier process of information-seeking and organisational dual-mechanisms: perspectives on improving organisational information systems

Aligning organizational information systems with people's generic information seeking patterns has been discussed in the disciplines of information sciences and organizational communication, but there had been little interest within IS research community. As a result, the existing conceptual framework of information seeking does not have significant implications for improving information systems in organizations, particularly for those supporting managerial decision-making. In this paper we report the outcomes of an empirical investigation carried out at two leading commercial organizations to capture the essence of its information seeking processes with a specific focus on managerial decision-making. Its main finding is that information seeking in the natural organizational context is a two-tier process consisting of an explicit primary process, which is underpinned by an implicit auxiliary process. Based on this finding, we make the proposition that organizational information systems should be viewed as dual-mechanisms that underpin the two-tier process. Accordingly, the improvements to information systems should always maintain the balance in dual-mechanisms