Ensuring continued use of a digital library: a qualitative approach

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to identify the factors affecting continued use of digital libraries in a military context.

Design/methodology/approach

Semi-structured interviews with four focus groups consisting of 21 respondents, who are military education instructors and librarians, were carried out. This qualitative approach study adopted content analysis methods that were designed to contrast and make comparisons based on the participants’ responses. The valid responses were analyzed using NVivo 12 Plus.

Findings

Using semi-structured interviews, this study presents five dimensions of critical success factors generated from the analysis of the content of the qualitative data. The dimensions highlighted are as follows: perceived quality factors; perceived instrumental support; perceived ease of use; users’ expectation and users’ satisfaction; and net benefits and perceived usefulness.

Research limitations/implications

This study is only focussing on military education instructors and librarians in the vicinity of four regions in Peninsular Malaysia. For practical implications, it provides an understanding of how the organization could sustain the continued use of a military-context digital library (DL).

Practical implications

This study makes a new practical contribution to DL information systems’ successful implementation practices in a military context. This study also serves as a guideline for the organizational stakeholders to have a better understanding of their knowledge and the digitalization environment. The findings of this study provide an understanding of how the organization could sustain the continued use of digital libraries in a military context.

Originality/value

This study fills the void in the literature by investigating the DL use in the context of a military setting.

Citation

Abdul Rahman, A.R. and Mohezar, S. (2020), "Ensuring continued use of a digital library: a qualitative approach", The Electronic Library, Vol. 38 No. 3, pp. 513-530. https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-12-2019-0294