TOWARD THE UNDERSTANDING OF USER SATISFACTION: A MULTIATTRIBUTE STUDY OF USER EVALUATIONS OF COMPUTER-BASED LITERATURE SEARCHES IN MEDICAL LIBRARIES

User satisfaction is defined as the global evaluative response to all the aspects of obtaining a computer-based literature search. The premise is that user satisfaction can be measured as a summary judgment and as a linear combination of attributions. The objectives were to develop measures of summary satisfaction and attributions, to construct and validate a model in which the summary measure was predicted by attributions and to explore the relationship of user characteristics to the model. 175 user questionnaires from medical libraries were analyzed. The attributions accounted for 65% of the summary satisfaction variance. The attributions, whole search value for effort, search results precision, and quality as an information source crossvalidated. User characteristics and search characteristics did not improve the model appreciably. The multiattribute satisfaction approach was confirmed. Implications for theories of information seeking and uses and for information service design and evaluation are considered.