Understanding information seeking in transition: How uncertainty influences first-generation students’ information seeking behaviour

This study explores how first-generation students (first in the family to attend university) enrolled in the Mastering Academic and Professional Skills (MAPS) programme, a bridging course with mandatory information literacy training for students who did not initially meet the requirements for direct entry into degree programmes, experience uncertainty during the transition from home life to academic life. It examines how this uncertainty is expressed through their information seeking behaviour and how information literacy support is experienced as an enabling resource for making sense of unfamiliar academic information practices rather than as a mechanism of behavioural change. A qualitative phenomenological research approach was employed, using a purposive convenience sample of 17 MAPS students who completed the information literacy course. Data were collected through interviews using an interview schedule consisting of open-ended questions and analysed using qualitative data analysis procedures with inductive reasoning. The findings indicate that participants viewed their academic transition as a time of increased uncertainty, influenced by the social, cultural, and technological contexts of their home environments. This uncertainty manifested in their continued dependence on familiar information practices from their daily lives, which often did not align with academic expectations. Participants’ accounts further suggest that information literacy instruction served as a helpful tool, assisting them in understanding academic information practices rather than a mechanism of behavioural transformation. By situating information seeking within lived experiences of uncertainty, this study contributes to a contextualised understanding of academic transition among first-generation students. This study extends information behaviour research by reframing transition as a condition in which uncertainty is negotiated through information practices, offering insights relevant to information literacy support in higher education, particularly within Global South contexts.