Several prior studies have examined aspects of purposeful information search behavior as a necessary component of the formulation of business policy and strategy. This study used a sample of credit union managers to assess how the managers’ information search behavior related to various environmental sectors was affected by their perceived importance of those sectors. The study measured the use of five different types of information sources related to each of six environmental sectors. The five types of information sources included internal and external personal and written sources and the Internet. The six sectors were equally divided between the task and general environments. The hypothesized positive relationship between perceived sector importance and search behavior, measured by the frequency of information source usage, was supported for sectors related to the general environment, but not for sectors related to the task environment.

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