The present article examines the nature and function of human agency within the conceptual model of triadic reciprocal causation. In analyzing the operation of human agency in this interactional causal structure, social cognitive theory accords a central role to cognitive, vicarious, self-reflective, and self-regulatory processes. The issues addressed concern the psychological mechanisms through which personal agency is exercised, the hierarchical structure of self-regulatory systems, eschewal of the dichotomous construal of self as agent and self as object, and the properties of a nondualistic but nonreductional conception of human agency. The relation of agent causality to the fundamental issues of freedom and determinism is also analyzed.

Empirical evidence supporting frame-of-reference (FOR) training as an effective intervention for calibrating raters is convincing. Yet very little is known about who does better or worse in FOR training. We conducted a field study of how motivational factors influence affective, cognitive, and behavioral learning outcomes, as well as near transfer indexed by achieving professional certification. Relying on goal orientation theory, we hypothesized effects for 3 goal orientations: learning, prove performance, and avoid performance. Results were generally supportive across learning outcomes and transfer. Findings further supported a hypothesized interaction between learning self-efficacy and avoid performance goal orientation, such that higher levels of learning self-efficacy mitigated the negative effects of higher performance avoid tendencies.(c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved.

The statistical tests used in the analysis of structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error are examined. A drawback of the commonly applied chi square test, in addition to the known problems related to sample size and power, is that it may indicate an increasing correspondence between the hypothesized model and the observed data as both the measurement properties and the relationship between constructs decline. Further, and contrary to common assertion, the risk of making a Type II error can be substantial even when the sample size is large. Moreover, the present testing methods are unable to assess a model's explanatory power. To overcome these problems, the authors develop and apply a testing system based on measures of shared variance within the structural model, measurement model, and overall model.

In the decision support systems literature, most studies have concentrated on the direct effects of DSS use and design on decision outcomes and user performance in the workplace. Fewer DSS studies have integrated decision process variables, such as user beliefs and attitudes, in their models. In this paper, we examine the mediating role of decision process variables in the use of an online customer DSS. We do so through an experimental study of an alternative-based and an attribute-based DSS for product customization by online customers. Using cognitive fit and flow theories, we develop a theoretical model with four mediating decision process variables (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived enjoyment, and perceived control) and two of their antecedents: interface design (attribute-based versus alternative-based) and task complexity (choice set size). Our results show that the impact of DSS interface design on behavioral intentions is fully mediated by perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment, although not by perceived control. Specifically, we verify that users of an attribute-based DSS express higher perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment than users of an alternative-based one. In addition, we find that task complexity has an interesting relationship with usefulness and enjoyment, both ofwhich follow an inverted U-shaped curve as choice set size increases. Finally, we find that for users of the alternative-based DSS, perceived ease of use and perceived control decrease as task complexity increases. However, the attribute-based DSS alleviates that decline for both variables. Among other contributions, our results indicate the importance of including decision process variables when studying DSS as well as the complex effect of task complexity on those variables. Our study also provides some important guidelines for online companies that provide customer DSS on their websites, especially the danger of providing too many product choice options that can overwhelm customers and harm their shopping experience.

As many post-industrial societies are rapidly ageing, intelligent and innovative solutions from the technology side are sought to ensure that welfare services continue in the future. Both social and nonsocial assistive robots are considered as solutions. To ensure the successful implementation of new technology, it is essential to understand the factors that influence the user's decision to accept or reject technology. The aim of this study was to understand the association between robot use self-efficacy and acceptance of robots. Acceptance of humanoid, pet, lifting, and telepresence robots were studied among care work staff (N = 3800). Analyses were based on linear regression analysis. The results showed that robot use self-efficacy is associated with the acceptance to use humanoid, pet, and telepresence robots. The strongest connection was found between robot use self-efficacy and the functional and social acceptance of a humanoid robot. General self-efficacy was not associated with any of the robot types studied in the final models. Furthermore, no interaction effect was found between general self efficacy and robot use self-efficacy. The results underline that psychological processes on acceptance of robots vary between different types of robots. The results imply that robot use self-efficacy is important for understanding acceptance and implementation of robots. The explanatory power of self-efficacy is better when it is tied to a specific matter such as the use of care robots.

Despite its considerable potential in the manufacturing industry, the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in the industry still faces the challenge of insufficient trust. Since AI is a black box with operations that ordinary users have difficulty understanding, users in organizations rely on institutional cues to make decisions about their trust in AI. Therefore, this study investigates trust in AI in the manufacturing industry from an institutional perspective. We identify three institutional dimensions from institutional theory and conceptualize them as management commitment (regulative dimension at the organizational level), authoritarian leadership (normative dimension at the group level), and trust in the AI promoter (cognitive dimension at the individual level). We hypothesize that all three institutional dimensions have positive effects on trust in AI. In addition, we propose hypotheses regarding the moderating effects of AI self-efficacy on these three institutional dimensions. A survey was conducted in a large petrochemical enterprise in eastern China just after the company had launched an AI-based diagnostics system for fault detection and isolation in process equipment service. The results indicate that management commitment, authoritarian leadership, and trust in the AI promoter are all positively related to trust in AI. Moreover, the effect of management commitment and trust in the AI promoter are strengthened when users have high AI self-efficacy. The findings of this study provide suggestions for academics and managers with respect to promoting users’ trust in AI in the manufacturing industry.

The customers’ role is significant in the delivery and consumption of many types of services. This study examines customers’ beliefs about their ability to participate in a service (service use self-efficacy) and its effect on response to service. A theoretical model is proposed that explains how self-efficacy affects customers’ perceptions of service value and complaint intentions (“voice”). These factors, in turn, predict exit intentions and positive word of mouth. The model is tested on a sample of 444 members of a group insurance plan. The results of a structural equation model confirm the hypothesized relationships. The findings suggest that service managers should take steps to increase customer service use self-efficacy, such as providing training with feedback, vicarious experiences (e.g., print or video portrayals of successful service experiences), verbal persuasion (e.g., “You can do this”-type coaching), and a low-stress environment. It is also important to develop varied opportunities for customer comments.

There is considerable evidence to suggest that consumer dissatisfaction with self-service technologies is widespread. However, there has been little conceptual or empirical scrutiny of the likelihood that consumers will complain to an organization (likelihood of voice) in this context. This study contributes to the service domain by testing empirically a model of the antecedents of consumers' likelihood of voice in unsatisfactory encounters with self-service technologies. A model is tested that combines established antecedents of voice, such as likelihood of voice success, and those that have not yet been considered, including self-service technology powerlessness and need to vent. The results support the proposed model in general. Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed.

To date, many important threads of information privacy research have developed, but these threads have not been woven together into a cohesive fabric. This paper provides an interdisciplinary review of privacy-related research in order to enable a more cohesive treatment. With a sample of 320 privacy articles and 128 books and book sections, we classify previous literature in two ways: (1) using an ethics-based nomenclature of normative, purely descriptive, and empirically descriptive, and (2) based on their level of analysis: individual, group, organizational, and societal.

Recent years have witnessed increased use of self-service technologies (SSTs) across the services sector, which has dramatically changed the nature of the service delivery process. Although an abundance of research has investigated how customers evaluate a new SST and what drives the initial adoption, little is known about how customers interact with, and adapt to, an SST after their first experience. Thus, this study focuses on the dynamic and complex process through which customers move from initial adoption to continued use, after repeated interactions with an SST. A three-wave longitudinal study examines how habit, self-efficacy, and satisfaction affect SST usage over time in a retailing context. The results indicate that as learning occurs and experience accumulates, customers’ continued use of an SST is initially largely rational driven (self-efficacy), then largely emotional driven (satisfaction), and, finally, habitual (habit). Over time, habit completely mediates the impact of intentions on future usage. The article concludes with a discussion of the managerial implications and directions for further research.

As an emerging e-commerce model that combines the convenience of traditional e-commerce with the real-time and interactive nature of live streaming, live-streaming (LS) e-commerce is loved and recognized by consumers. At the same time, LS e-commerce also faces many difficulties such as homogenization of marketing content and consumers’ low willingness to repeat purchase. Therefore, how to better stimulate consumers’ continuous purchase willingness in LS has become a hot topic of current research. Based on the stimulus–organism–response (SOR) model, this paper constructs a model of consumers’ purchase intention mediated by consumers’ trust in LS e-commerce, measuring consumers’ perceived value in LS e-commerce in three dimensions: utilitarian value, hedonic value and social value, and using consumers’ trust in the streamer and trust in the product as mediators to investigate the influence of perceived value on consumers’ continuous purchase intention. Data of Chinese users were collected by questionnaire survey to prove the assumptions of this paper. The results show that consumers’ perceived utilitarian value, hedonic value and social value significantly and positively influence their trust in the streamer; consumers’ perceived utilitarian value and social value significantly and positively influence their trust in product; trust in streamer significantly and positively influences their trust in the product; and consumer trust partially mediates the relationship between perceived value and consumers’ willingness to continue to purchase.

Extant research confirms the importance of value cocreation through customer participation (CP), but relatively little is known about whether and how it creates an enjoyable experience for customers and service employees and the consequential outcomes of this positive affective experience. This study applies the concept of flow as an overarching framework and draws theoretical support from social cognitive theory, particularly its extension (i.e., the conceptual model of relational efficacy beliefs), to examine how customers and employees derive enjoyment from CP conditional on their perceived efficacy of themselves (self-efficacy [SE]) and their partners (other-efficacy [OE]) in financial services. Empirical results from 223 client–financial adviser dyads confirm that participation enjoyment, in addition to economic and relational values, mediates the impact of CP on participants’ satisfaction evaluations, with SE positively moderating CP's impact on participation enjoyment. The synergistic effect of SE and OE on participation enjoyment also differs for clients versus financial advisers: Even incongruent levels of SE and OE can enhance participation enjoyment as long as they help validate role expectations of the respective participants.