Abstract: Flow refers to the holistic sensation that people feel when they act with total involvement. Related research of flow mainly focuses on the fields of education, computer and business administration, and has not been widely used in information behavior research. This study conducted a systematic review on 78 empirical studies that applied the flow theory. According to the research framework, those empirical studies were divided into three categories: the antecedents that affect the flow experience, the flow consequences triggered by the flow experience, and the mediating effects of flow experience between the antecedents and consequences. Combined with Person-Artifact-Task (PAT) model, this study summarized the related studies and elaborated on the practical enlightenment that flow can bring to real life, actively considered possible breakthroughs in flow measurement methods, and provided a clear and systematic approach to the application of flow theory to information behavior research.

Key words: Flow theory, Flow experience, Flow measurement, PAT model, Systematic review, Information behavior