| The primary purpose of this research is to expand our knowledge of self-service phenomena by determining the significance of customer attributes and competing alternatives to repeat usage of self-service applications. Additional contributions of these investigation are developing a framework of significant determinates for a self-service application based upon the behavioral psychology theories of reasoned action and planned behavior and offering a model of self-service usage, which can be applied to explain electronic commerce usage.; We begin by identifying the importance of self-service in modern commerce and by establishing the significance of self-service. An overview of the behavioral theories of reasoned action and planned behavior, the foundational theories of this research, are presented along with a conceptual model of a self-service encounter as the bases of the research framework for this investigation. A review of the pertinent literatures of service management, self-service, self-service technologies, theory of roles and scripts, and consumer behaviorism concept of satisfaction provide a summary of our current knowledge. With the relevant constructs that have been identified in these research streams being overlaid upon our conceptual model of a self-service encounter, we establish the need for research into the significance of customer attributes and competing alternatives. The research questions and hypotheses as well as the proposed conceptual model for this investigation and the proposed operationalizations of the constructs with planned methodology of the investigation are developed in an attempt to meet this need. The data analysis provides support for the use of the theories of reasoned action and planned behavior as a foundation for developing a model of self-service.; We conclude with a discussion of our findings and the implications for self-service process design. Based upon our findings, we present a model for self-service usage that incorporates both the customer and the process. |
