Introduction

In today's societies, extensive and rapid developments in the world of technology increasingly account for information, which is considered a basic component of socioeconomic, socio-political, and cultural development (Naveed and Aiin, 2017). In this vein, the ultimate user has to possess strong information literacy skills in tackling a variety of information options in such a world with superior and complex technology (Becker, 2018).
Self-efficacy is a multidimensional structure that is evaluated at different academic, social and emotional levels. Academic self-efficacy is related to an individual’s sense of ability to manage learning activities, master coursework, and meet academic expectations (Morris, 2001). On the other hand, social intelligence is what makes people perform well in the areas of living. Considering the Tromsø Social Intelligence Scale (TSIS), a person with social intelligence should have three capabilities: the ability to understand and predict other people’s behavior and feelings and to understand verbal and non-verbal messages in human relationships (social information processing), the ability to involve new social situations and make social adaptations such as active listening, acting assertively, etc. (social skills), and the ability to actively behave according to the situation, time and place (social awareness) (Silvera, Martinussen & Dahl, 2001)

Literature Review

Considering the past and present literature review, there is a significant correlation between information literacy and students' self-efficacy (Haghi, 2014, Maghsoodi and Esmaili Shad, 2017) and hence it is concluded that the greater the individual’s feeling of competence, the higher perseverance, flexibility and the ability to face challenges in solving information problems in modern life.
Considering the review of literature, many studies have examined the relationship between individual's belief in self-efficacy and information literacy and intelligence, but few studies have examined the effectiveness of teaching information literacy skills in social intelligence and the level of students' self-efficacy in problem-solving with an experimental approach. Therefore, in this research, an attempt was made to explore whether teaching information literacy skills has an effect on social intelligence and the students’ level of self-efficacy in solving problems.

Methodology

In terms of purpose, the present study was applied and in terms of procedure, it was an experimental study of a correlational nature with an experimental interventional approach (pre-test-post-test design with a control group) based on Solomon's four-group design. This research design consisted of four participating groups, two experimental groups and two control groups.
The statistical population of the research comprised all master’s level students of the Islamic Azad University, Marvdasht Branch in the Departments of Humanities and Engineering in the year 2021-2022. Based on the Krejcie and Morgan Table, 76 people were selected as the sample of the study and were then divided into four groups by stratified random sampling method. Afterward, a pre-test was administered to one of the control and experimental groups. To conduct the research, the Tromsø Social Intelligence Scale (TSIS) (2001) and Scherer et al.'s Self-Efficacy Scale (SES) (1982) were used.
In order to determine the effectiveness of information literacy skills, the information literacy skills training package was used which consisted of: skills, including defining information needs, finding information, evaluating information, organizing information, and exchanging (disseminating) information, for which 8 sessions of 45 minutes were scheduled and for each session, a specific topic, goal and working method were determined.
The data extracted from the research instruments were analyzed using SPSS 22. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk statistical tests were used to validate the normality of the error distribution, and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and independent samples t-test were used to test the research hypotheses.

Results

The findings of the research showed that teaching information literacy skills had a positive effect on increasing the level of social intelligence in the participants of the experimental groups. Also, the results of the test showed that teaching information literacy skills had a significant effect on the students' self-efficacy in solving problems, but there was no difference between the students’ fields in the post-test in terms of social intelligence and their self-efficacy in solving problems.

Discussion

Based on the results obtained from this study, it can be suggested that teaching information literacy skills can improve the students' performance in problem solving by increasing social intelligence and self-efficacy. Also, high self-efficacy can play a crucial role in the desire for success and a sense of self-worth and self-confidence.
In general, under the influence of individuals’ social intelligence, variables such as individuals’ competence in information literacy skills can affect their participation in personal and social communication and its quality. Therefore, an effective information literacy training program is needed to increase the students’ self-efficacy at all levels of different university disciplines.

Conclusion

The research results highlight the beneficial effects of teaching information literacy skills on improving social intelligence and cognitive abilities of students in boosting their level of self-efficacy in problem solving.