ABSTRACT
Information seeking is an important concept in many areas of communication scholarship. In the uncertainty reduction literature, for example, information seeking is conceptualized as a fundamental process that guides the development of interpersonal encounters (Berger, 1987), including close relationships (Afifi, Dillow, & Morse, 2004). In the organizational communication literature, information seeking is seen as one of the primary behaviors in newcomers' socialization processes (Wanberg & Kammeyer-Mueller, 2000) and in employees' motivations for receiving performance feedback (Ashford & Cummings, 1983; Morrison, 1991). Information seeking is also thought to be one of the primary motivations for individuals' use of the Internet (Murero & Rice, 2006).
