Abstract
In the current information age, individuals face a massive amount of information every single day. Such a vast supply of information poses great demands on the ability of individuals to deal with this information successfully, an ability called Information Literacy. It is important for organizations and individuals alike to understand this concept of information literacy and to measure it precisely and accurately.The purpose of this research is to establish a sound measurement instrument for Information Literacy. Information literacy is a multi-dimensional concept. Effective information processing includes categories such as reading, gathering, observing, assembling, judging, analysing, evaluating, synthesizing, commutating and sharing. The current body of research does not yet contain a measurement instrument that captures these dimensions fully, and whose measurement properties have been established through empirical research. The contribution of this study is that it provides such a measurement instrument. The instrument will assist companies and researchers to help capture information literacy in a set of numerical scores.The research adopts a measurement purification approach first established by Churchill (1979) and includes two rounds of data collection, through a pilot and a main study. The pilot study is relatively exploratory, and attempts to uncover the dimensionality of the information literacy construct. This pilot study established the usefulness of several self-assessment questions, and also exposes some of the problems of other self-assessment questions.The main study of the dissertation involved a further analysis of the multi-dimensionality of information literacy, and in addition sought to identify whether educational background acted as an antecedent of information literacy, and whether job satisfaction and personal effectiveness acted as consequences of information literacy.The findings of the research are summarized visually in Figure 5.1. Information literacy consists of six dimensions, as follows: 1. problem framing ability, 2. locating information ability, 3. data processing, 4. applying data, 5. long-term outcomes, and 6. ethical awareness. Educational background is associated with all dimensions except applying data and long-term outcomes. All dimensions are positively associated with personal effectiveness. They are also associated with job satisfaction, except problem framing and locating information.