{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,13]],"date-time":"2026-04-13T12:31:25Z","timestamp":1776083485130,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"Emerald","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2007,9,11]],"date-time":"2007-09-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1189468800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2007,9,11]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Purpose<\/jats:title><jats:p>This paper aims to examine our current knowledge of how searchers perceive and react to the possibility of missing potentially important information whilst searching the web is limited. The study reported here seeks to investigate such perceptions and reactions, and to explore the extent to which Simon's \u201cbounded rationality\u201d theory is useful in illuminating these issues.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Design\/methodology\/approach<\/jats:title><jats:p>Totally 37 academic staff, research staff and research students in three university departments were interviewed about their web searching. The open\u2010ended, semi\u2010structured interviews were inductively analysed. Emergence of the concept of \u201cgood enough\u201d searching prompted a further analysis to explore the extent to which the data could be interpreted in terms of Simon's concepts of \u201cbounded rationality\u201d and \u201csatisficing\u201d.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Findings<\/jats:title><jats:p>The results indicate that the risk of missing potentially important information was a matter of concern to the interviewees. Their estimations of the likely extent and importance of missed information affected decisions by individuals as to when to stop searching \u2013 decisions based on very different criteria, which map well onto Simon's concepts. On the basis of the interview data, the authors propose tentative categorizations of perceptions of the risk of missing information including \u201cinconsequential\u201d \u201ctolerable\u201d \u201cdamaging\u201d and \u201cdisastrous\u201d and search strategies including \u201cperfunctory\u201d \u201cminimalist\u201d \u201cnervous\u201d and \u201cextensive\u201d. It is concluded that there is at least a <jats:italic>prima facie<\/jats:italic> case for bounded rationality and satisficing being considered as potentially useful concepts in our quest better to understand aspects of human information behaviour.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Research limitations\/implications<\/jats:title><jats:p>Although the findings are based on a relatively small sample and an exploratory qualitative analysis, it is argued that the study raises a number of interesting questions, and has implications for both the development of theory and practice in the areas of web searching and information literacy.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Originality\/value<\/jats:title><jats:p>The paper focuses on an aspect of web searching which has not to date been well explored. Whilst research has done much to illuminate searchers' perceptions of what they find on the web, we know relatively little of their perceptions of, and reactions to information that they fail to find. The study reported here provides some tentative models, based on empirical evidence, of these phenomena.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1108\/00220410710827754","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2007,9,22]],"date-time":"2007-09-22T07:01:49Z","timestamp":1190444509000},"page":"680-701","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":42,"title":["Search persistence and failure on the web: a \u201cbounded rationality\u201d and \u201csatisficing\u201d analysis"],"prefix":"10.1108","volume":"63","author":[{"given":"Yazdan","family":"Mansourian","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Nigel","family":"Ford","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"140","reference":[{"key":"key2022021120404647900_b1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Agosto, D.E. 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