Identifying the role of epistemic belief and epistemic curiosity in higher education students’ online academic help-seeking behaviours / Identificación del papel de la creencia epistémica y la curiosidad epistémica en los comportamientos de búsqueda de ayuda académica en línea de los estudiantes de educación superior

Abstract

This study proposed a structural model for examining the role of epistemic belief and epistemic curiosity in students’ online academic help-seeking. A total of 262 higher education students responded to three research instruments. Through partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), reliability was assessed, and validity evidence related to convergent and discriminant aspects was gathered to support the measurement model’s appropriateness in capturing the intended constructs. Structural model results revealed that students’ beliefs about knowing through academic help-seeking were associated with three types of online help-seeking behaviours: information searching, formal query and informal query. Further path analysis found that the students’ epistemic curiosity traits, including two types of interest (I-type) and deprivation (D-type), were the mediators in the relationships between epistemic belief and online academic help-seeking behaviours. While the I-type students who prefer to discover new information for inherent enjoyment tended to search for online information when encountering academic challenges, the D-type students who tend to seek information when they perceive informational deprivation preferred to send formal and informal queries for online help.