In the digital era, the expansion of scholarly social networks has complicated the traditional boundaries of knowledge production and consumption, and ambiguity in intellectual property norms and authors’ rights has introduced substantial socio-cultural and legal risks into students’ information-seeking behavior.

This study investigates these norms, analyzes their socio-cultural ramifications, and proposes strategies to strengthen ethical information-seeking. Employing a mixed-methods design, the research includes 23 semi-structured interviews analyzed via grounded theory (MAXQDA 2020), the construction of a 68-item questionnaire, and survey data from 424 postgraduate students. Data were analyzed using SPSS and SmartPLS (PLS-SEM), including mediation testing. Findings indicate that adherence to authors’ rights is positively and significantly associated with ethical information-seeking, with the quality of virtual environment use—comprising information literacy,critical appraisal, and understanding of attribution—emerging as a salient mediator.Conversely, the absence of targeted instruction and clear institutional policies correlates with unethical practices. Balancing freedom of information with privacy protection, delivering focused instructional programs, clarifying institutional policies, and employing Creative Commons licensing are essential to sustain scholarly trust.