Abstract: The concepts of digitization, big data, and ecosystem have driven the paradigm shift from the local perspective to a holistic perspective. Compared to traditional variance perspective, configurational perspective can better capture the research characteristics of complexity, equifinality, and asymmetry, and gradually becomes a new and important theoretical perspective. However, prior research on information behavior has paid little attention to the information behavior from the configurational perspective. Therefore, this study tries to propose a five-dimension model of information behavior which covers information, technology, task, user and behavior, and suggests to view information behavior from a holistic perspective. Some research topics relevant to the configurational perspective of information behavior are identified. Meanwhile, this study proposes to develop configurational theories according to the approaches of matrix and decision tree and to test configurational hypotheses following a series of principles such as decomposition principle, integration principle, inclusion principle, and closing principle. It not only figures out the new research directions for information behavior research, but also provides guidelines for conducting solid empirical research from the configurational perspective.

Key words: Information behavior, Configurational perspective, Qualitative Comparative Analysis(QCA), Theory development, Analysis approach