Concentration of Web users' online information behaviour

Introduction. Focusing on Web users' behavioural concentration across Websites they have visited, we investigate heterogeneity in Web users' online information behaviour. Method. The Gini coefficient is used to measure the degree of a Web user's online information behavioural concentration in terms of both page-views and visit duration. We explore how the behavioural dimensions of the number of sites visited, the number of page-views per site and the duration per page predict online information behavioural concentration. Analysis. Data from an online panel are analysed using multiple regression models, which reveal that the three dimensions of online information behaviour predict more than three quarters of the variances in behavioural concentration. Results. The number of sites visited and the number of page-views per site positively predict the degree of behavioural concentration (in terms of both page-views and visit duration), while the speed dimension of online information behaviour positively predicts the degree of behavioural concentration in terms of page-views but negatively predicts that in terms of visit duration. The relative importance of variables in the explanation of Web users' degree of behavioural concentration is also analysed. Conclusion. The quantitative analytical framework presented herein gives insight into the heterogeneity of online information behaviour. This paper is a stepping-stone for a more comprehensive understanding of online information behaviour from a macro perspective.