Locus of Control, Web use, and Consumer Attitudes toward Internet Regulation

The authors empirically examine how locus of control, an important consumer behavior construct, differentiates among consumers’ Web use in a marketing policy context and argue that consumers’ general expectancies as to whether they or others control events can predict their Web use and their beliefs regarding the regulation of content on the Internet. The authors test a series of hypotheses pertaining to locus of control and consumer behavior on the Internet among consumers classified as “internals” or “externals” using data collected in conjunction with the tenth WWW User Survey of the Graphics, Visualization, and Usability Center, Georgia Institute of Technology. The authors also assess scale measurement properties using single-factor confirmatory factor analysis models and test hypotheses using a correlational and structural equation modeling framework.