Background/purposes: To equip students for the evolving demands of the information society, universities must establish the necessary conditions for them to develop information processing competencies and an appropriate disposition toward the use of information technology. Information literacy constitutes a fundamental component of this educational process. Concurrently, throughout their academic careers, students acquire essential scholarly life skills—including reading, writing, discourse, observation, listening, and critical thinking—by actively engaging in scientific and academic activities. They further strive to internalize these skills across various domains of their lives, emotions, and personal development. The upbringing and education of such an individual take place within the process of academic socialization. Given the fundamental role of information literacy and the impact of academic socialization on enhancing the scientific and social performance of postgraduate students, the present study examines the relationship between information literacy and academic socialization among postgraduate students at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad.
Methodology: In terms of methodology, this study constitutes survey research with an applied objective. The statistical population comprised all postgraduate students at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad during the first semester of the 1403–1404 academic year (N = 8,706), from which a sample of 368 participants was selected using simple random sampling. Data were collected using two instruments: the first was a university socialization questionnaire, and the second was an information literacy questionnaire. The University Socialization Questionnaire comprised 24 items divided into two sections. The first section, focusing on the university socialization process, included three subscales—interaction with professors, learning, and persuasion—containing a total of 15 items. The second section, addressing the elements of university socialization, consisted of two subscales—academic progress and scientific participation—with a total of nine items. The Information Literacy Questionnaire also contained 23 items. The validity of both instruments was confirmed by expert judgment. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the information literacy questionnaire and its subscales—basic skills and introductory skills—was 0.907, 0.804, and 0.873, respectively. Furthermore, the university socialization questionnaire, along with its two components (university socialization process and university socialization elements), yielded coefficients of 0.88, 0.817, and 0.823, respectively, thereby demonstrating the reliability of the instrument.
Findings: Descriptive statistics indicated that the mean score for the learning process was higher than those for the interaction and combination processes. Furthermore, the mean score for the academic achievement component exceeded that of the scientific participation component. Overall, the mean score for university socialization was 3.57, while the mean for information literacy was 3.97, the latter being three points above the average. An additional finding revealed a significant relationship between information literacy and academic socialization among postgraduate students at Ferdowsi University of Mashha. Furthermore, given that the significance level for examining the relationship between information literacy and the variables of interaction, learning, and the combined subcomponents of academic socialization among postgraduate students at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad was below 0.05, the results were considered statistically significant. Therefore, with 95% confidence, a statistically significant relationship is observed between the information literacy variable and the three sub-components of academic socialization among postgraduate students at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Given that the Spearman correlation coefficient yielded positive values, this relationship is characterized as positive and significant. Ultimately, it was established that information literacy is positively and significantly associated with the components of academic achievement and scientific participation among the same student population.
Discussion and Conclusion: Based on the research findings, it can be asserted that students possessing advanced information literacy competencies demonstrate a greater capacity for internalizing academic values and norms, and tend to adopt a more proactive role within their academic environment. These students engage more effectively in the academic socialization process and are more successful in establishing robust scientific networks, thereby reinforcing their scientific identity. The results indicate that information literacy not only serves as a foundational skill for enhancing academic performance but also functions as a critical mechanism for facilitating academic socialization. This finding is particularly significant, as the process of academic socialization within higher education institutions enables students to recognize and embrace their scientific responsibilities as members of the scholarly community and to actively participate in scientific endeavors. Consequently, organizing workshops that focus on locating scientific information, evaluating sources, utilizing reliable databases, and familiarizing students with emerging research methodologies can substantially improve their information literacy competencies and better prepare them for integration into the professional scientific community.
Originality: The present study investigates the impact of information literacy on various domains of individuals’ lives, with a specific focus on its role in the academic socialization of university members—a key component within academic communities. Given that this research topic had not been addressed in any previous studies, it represents an original contribution to the literature.