Workplace information literacy: a bridge to the development of innovative work behaviour is an article that I recently co-authored with Dr Lyndsey Middleton. It is now available as a PDF from the Journal of Documentation. (The manuscript of this paper is also available on the Edinburgh Napier repository for those who do not have subscription access to the Journal of Documentation).

Innovative work behaviour (IWB) is the intentional generation of new ideas in the workplace with the expectation (but not the certainty) that they will be of benefit, and implemented, as innovations (for example, as new products, services or modes of operation). In this paper we identify the importance of workplace information literacy (IL) and information sharing to IWB. In particular, we argue that workplace IL may serve as a bridge between workplace learning and the development of IWB.

We also demonstrate the value of a mixed methods approach to explore IL in workplace contexts. Ours is one of few studies on workplace IL that centres on the analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data sets (unlike the majority that rely purely on the analysis of qualitative data).

The paper is the final published output from Dr Lyndsey Middleton’s PhD. Her doctoral study was funded by the ESRC and Skills Development Scotland (SDS) as a collaborative award on the SDS PhD programme, and completed in 2020. Lyndsey’s full thesis – Exploring the development of innovative work behaviour of employees in multiple workplace contexts – is available from the Edinburgh Napier repository. It is interesting to look back at the advertisement that I posted to this blog in March 2015 for this studentship (not long after I won the grant), and especially satisfying to see the extent to which the main output of Lyndsey’s doctoral research in the form of her thesis met the aims of the proposed study to:

1. Identify factors that underpin successful workplace learning and innovation
2. Determine how skills innovation in the workplace is facilitated by organisational culture and strategy.
3. Demonstrate how a skills agency can support innovation in the workplace.
4. Formulate practical and workable recommendations to policy makers concerned with the skills agenda in Scotland.

Lyndsey and I co-authored two other peer-reviewed papers with Edinburgh Napier University colleagues over the course of her PhD registration. These are also available for download from the publishers and/or the Edinburgh Napier repository.

Middleton, L., Hall, H., & Raeside, R. (2019). Applications and applicability of Social Cognitive Theory in Information Science research. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science 51(4), 927-937. [Full text available from the publisher with subscription access; full text available from the Edinburgh Napier repository.]

Middleton, L. Hall, H., Muir, L. & Raeside, R. (2019). The interaction between people, information and innovation: information literacy to underpin innovative work behaviour in a Finnish organisation. In: Proceedings of the 81st Annual Meeting of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 55(1) [Full text available from publisher with subscription access; full text available from the Edinburgh Napier repository.]

Paper co-authors Lyndsey Middleton and Hazel Hall at Information: interactions and impact 2017, Aberdeen, 27-30 June 2017.