– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of students' need for cognition (NFC) on their information seeking behavior (ISB).
– Out of 19,965 students enrolled in Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran, during the academic year of 2010-2011, 364 students were selected as the study sample. They were asked to complete the “need for cognition scale” and the “information seeking behavior questionnaire”.
– Students' NFC affected their ISB. The students' ISB was significantly different based on their NFC levels. It has been concluded that NFC is an important cognitive factor in directing ISB.
– This study makes a contribution toward enriching knowledge on psychological traits embedded in information seeking behavior. Such studies are beneficial to library and information science researchers as well as librarians and system designers.
