Network competence and information seeking on the Internet : From definitions towards a social cognitive model

The author reflects the conceptual and practical questions of network competence in the context of information seeking. Network competence is seen as one of the information‐related competences and is defined as the mastery of four major areas: knowledge of information resources available on the Internet, skilled use of the ICT tools to access information, judgment of the relevance of information, and communication. Drawing on the ideas of the social cognitive theory developed by Albert Bandura, a model of network competence is introduced in order to discuss network competence “in action”. In the model, network competence is put in practical context by relating five major factors: network competence, self‐efficacy, outcome expectations, affective factors such as anxiety, and experiences received from information seeking on the Internet. Particular attention is devoted to the connections between network competence and self‐efficacy which denote a person’s judgment of his or her ability to organize and execute action, such as finding information on the Web.