Beyond information quality: Fitness for purpose and electronic information resource use.

The accuracy, currency, relevance and ease of use of electronic information resources can be measured to provide an indication of the resource's 'product quality'. The link between product quality and electronic information resource use is, however, relatively weak. This is because product quality is only one of several influences on use. Use is better explained as a function of 'fitness for purpose': the extent to which the information resource is of appropriate quality for the situation in which it is to be used. Potential users' perceptions of fitness for purpose are formed by convenience and, most significantly, the extent to which potential users believe using the resource will benefit them. Several potential explanatory models of internet use, including the Technology Assessment Model and the Theory of Planned Behaviour, are compared in this paper.