Information culture in a government organization: Examining records management training and self‐perceived competencies in compliance with a records management program

The purpose of this paper is to use information culture assessment tools (from work by Curry and Moore) to examine the information culture within a regulated, government environment. In particular, it aims to study the relationship between records management training provided to staff, staff self‐perceptions of records management competencies and compliance with a formal records management program.

The survey employs a questionnaire to gather the data from a provincial government ministry in Ontario, Canada. A questionnaire was used for data collection from a sample of 350 records management personnel from a population of 3,510 in five divisions of the ministry. A total of 207 participants responded and the copies of their questionnaire were found valid for analysis. The response rate realized was 66.7 percent.

The results from this study show that the there is a potential relationship between formal training delivered to staff, and the self‐perceived level of records management competency, namely that the more training staff receive, the more staff perceive the need for further training, and the greater level of compliance with the records management program. However, as the records management training strategy is informal in nature, it is difficult to determine a holistic influence of the training program on the organization's information culture.

The study is based on one ministry with an informal training records management strategy in place. The findings may not apply to organizations where there is a more formal training strategy. The findings should also be tested in private sector organizational settings.

Knowledge and understanding of the features of information culture will assist with identifying gaps in addressing the challenges of organizational record management training and its effect on compliance with organizational information and record management programs.

This research adds to the body of knowledge about information culture and user‐information behavior, particularly in regards to connections between training and compliance in government organizations. This paper provides evidence from an original study.