Secrets and secretive behaviours: Exploring the hidden through harmful gambling

摘要

While information science researchers have for some time examined sharing, non-sharing behaviours have received less attention. This study explored the role and impact of secretive information behaviours in the context of gambling activities and social interactions around harmful gambling. The study followed a qualitative approach, involving in-depth interviews with recovering gamblers and gamblers' families and friends in Ireland. Findings revealed that secretive information behaviours, such as self-concealment, were characteristic of gamblers' and their families' experiences of gambling harm. While self-concealing information behaviours facilitated the gambler's secret participation in gambling, the negative financial and social outcomes had a further serious impact on family members and their coping strategies. Understanding how and why people adopt secretive information behaviours can facilitate positive navigation of information in risky and stressful circumstances. Findings offer a more holistic view of information use, sharing, and decision making, by including negative as well as positive information outcomes in modeling of information behaviour.