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Information technology and the need for global information are constantly changing the way securities analysts, one kind of knowledge worker, obtain, manipulate, and disseminate information. This study develops and tests a general model, with specific hypotheses, that individual characteristics and institutional resources influence the information sources and communication channels that individuals use, that use of these sources and channels influences the outcomes of analysts' activities, and that, therefore, individual characteristics and institutional resources both directly and indirectly influence the outcomes. The data for this study were collected through a telephone survey administered to a random sample of 100 securities analysts from 40 of the largest investment banking firms in the United States and the United Kingdom. The results show that individual characteristics have little influence on the information sources and communication channels used by analysts, and thereby do not have a significant influence on the outcomes of analysts' information activities. Institutional resources do have a significant influence on the information sources and communication channels analysts use, but also have a direct influence on outcomes, and thereby play a significant role in analysts' information activities. The conclusion discusses implications of these findings for securities analysts, institutional and retail investors, schools of library and information science, and practicing information professionals. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Baldwin et al. (Fri,) studied this question.