خلاصة:
The purpose of the present study is to identify the features of information sources and its influence on managers' environmental scanning behavior in second industrial area of Ahvaz. An analytical survey method is used to analyze the relationship between variables. The findings showed that from among 16 information sources, managers used subordinate staff (M=3.37) more than other sources for environmental scanning. Also they revealed that work experts had the greatest quality and richness with means of (M=3.81) and (M=3.69), respectively; and that subordinate staff (M=3.58) were the most accessible information sources. In addition, the personal information sources within the organization, compared to impersonal sources out of the organization were more qualified, accessible and rich. Executives used managers or assistants' (M=3.73) as information sources more frequently than other information sources in environmental scanning. Furthermore the results of testing hypotheses showed that there was a significant relationship between perceived accessibility, quality, and richness of the source from the view point of managers and the frequency with which managers used it for environmental scanning.
ملخص الجهاز:
Furthermore the results of testing hypotheses showed that there was a significant relationship between perceived accessibility, quality, and richness of the source from the view point of managers and the frequency with which managers used it for environmental scanning.
Keywords: Company Managers, Second Industrial Area, Ahvaz, External Environment, Environmental Scanning, Information Sources, Perceived Accessibility, Perceived Quality, Perceived Richness.
The results of Jorosi's research (2006) on exploring information needs and managers' information-seeking behavior in small and medium- sized companies showed that, the managers in the population studied believed that information related to customers and competitors was the most important information related to their company; managers spent a great part of their time on active search of information and used personal (customers, business, association) sources and impersonal sources (newspapers, news media, and governmental publications); choice of information source greatly depended on accessibility and ease of use and managers used information for making important decisions and performing routine tasks.
Accessibility and information quality were the effective factors on managers' use of information in environmental scanning (Choo and Ethel, 1993; Culnan, 1985; Hosseini, 2010; Jorosi, 2006; and Rasooli, 2013) and information systems (Sepahvand and Arefnezhad, 2013) explored in some studies.
Table 5 Frequenc y Distribution and One-tailed t-test Results for Factors Affectin g Use of Information Sources in Environmental Scanning by Managers {مراجعه شود به فایل جدول الحاقی} Table 5 showed that the means of perceived quality, accessibility and richness are respectively 3.
Obtained t-value in table 5 for factors (perceived quality, accessibility and richness of resources) affecting use of information sources in environmental scanning from managers view point are respectively 1.
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