Risky (information) business: an informational risk research agenda.

Purpose: The purpose of this conceptual paper is to suggest that the growing sociocultural theorisation of risk calls for a more robust research focus on the role that information and in particular, information literacy, plays in mediating hazards and danger. Design/methodology/approach: Starting by tracing how information has been conceptualised in relation to risk through technoscientific, cognitive and sociocultural lenses, the paper then focuses on emerging sociocultural understandings of risk to present a research agenda for a renewed sociocultural exploration of how risk is shaped through the enactment of information literacy. Findings: The paper identifies and examines how information literacy shapes four key aspects of risk, including risk perception, risk management, risk-taking and "at-risk" populations. These four aspects are further connected through broader themes of learning, identity, work and power, which form the basis of the sociocultural risk research agenda. Originality/value: This paper is the first study bringing together the many understandings related to how risk is informed and establishes risk as a key area of interest within information literacy research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]