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We investigated whether or not self-efficacy mediated the enhancing effect of perceived control on purchase intention in online shopping. We randomly assigned 263 participants to experimental conditions in which they encountered different customer services. We assessed their perceived control, self-efficacy, and purchase intention via a self-evaluation survey. Results indicated that participants with the availability of live customer service had a higher level of perceived control and stronger purchase intention. There were significantly positive correlations among perceived control, self-efficacy, and purchase intention. Structural equation modeling showed that self-efficacy was a significant partial mediator of the effect of perceived control on purchase intention, accounting for 17.4% of the total effect. This finding implies that the provision of customer service in online shopping that leads consumers to have a perception of greater control can enhance their self-efficacy, and induce stronger purchase intention.
Li et al. (Tue,) studied this question.