Influential factors on academics’ digital hoarding behaviours: an exploratory PLS-SEM research

ABSTRACT

The transition to digital mediums among instructors, who are instrumental in shaping the higher education, streamlines and diversifies the instructional methodologies. Yet, it concurrently elevates the concern of digital hoarding behaviours to a prominent position in scholarly discourse. In view of digital hoarding’s detrimental outcomes, the current study initially undertook a descriptive scrutiny of the digital hoarding behaviours among academics, subsequently correlating these tendencies with diverse factors. In addition, the study formulated and empirically tested a theoretical framework for understanding digital hoarding predicated on the employment of digital resources in academia. The research engaged 213 academicians voluntarily, with empirical evidence substantiating 13 of the 27 postulated hypotheses. The data indicated a predominant accumulation of text files among academics, alongside a tendency towards digital hoarding that surpasses the average. The outcomes of the PLS-SEM analysis, conducted to elucidate the justifications for digital hoarding, suggest that the level of experience of academics and the obstacles to digital data elimination exert a profound influence. It is imperative for the cultivation of a robust digitalisation culture within institutions, as well as the formulation and execution of data governance strategies, to involve all stakeholders, especially those within the academic sphere.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital hoarding
• hoarding behaviours
• influential factors
• structural equation modelling

Disclosure statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest or known competing financial interests or relationships with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this paper.

Ethics approval

The research proposal was approved by the Institution [Protocol No: 83533471-900-263172].

Consent to participate

Written informed and digital consent was obtained from all subjects before the study.

Data availability statement

Due to the nature of the study, participants of the current research did not agree for their data to be shared publicly, so supporting data is not available.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was received to assist with the preparation of this manuscript. The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.