Does school-related Internet Information seeking improve academic self-efficacy? The moderating role of internet information seeking styles

This study investigated the association between school-related Internet information seeking and academic self-efficacy, as well as the moderating role of Internet information seeking styles, in Chinese children. A total of 517 elementary school students took part in this study. The results suggested that school-related Internet information seeking positively predicted academic self-efficacy. The styles of school-related information seeking were investigated within the framework of help seeking. The results of a cluster analysis identified four groups of children: instrumental Internet information seekers, executive Internet information seekers, multiple-styles Internet information seekers, and unclear-styles Internet information seekers. Furthermore, the information seeking styles moderated the associations between school-related Internet information seeking and academic self-efficacy. More school-related Internet information seeking predicted higher level of academic self-efficacy only for instrumental Internet information seekers and multiple-styles Internet information seekers.