Abstract:

After reviewing the literature related to stop behavior and stop rules in information search, this study has summarized the existing problems and points out the future research direction, which provides reference for research on stop rules. The existing problems of stop rules in information search are listed as follows: first, though there are theoretical and empirical studies of impact factors of stop rules, experimental verification is rare; second, the combinative and transformative relations between stop rules and specific type of cessation behaviors are ignored. So the study points out that the future research can be investigated from the four listed ways: concrete impact of specific factors on the usage of stop rules; the relationship between the combinative and transformative use of stop rules and the success of the search; the relationship between the types of stop behavior and stop rules; and the prediction study of stop behaviors in information search.

Key words: Information search, Stop rules, Stop behavior, Influencing factors, Information demands