The Effects of Customer Perceived Employee Support on Self-Efficacy and Behavioral Intentions: The Roles of Service Complexity and Choice Freedom

The provision of self-service technologies in the service industry has increased rapidly in recent years. Despite the advantages with increased self-service technologies, removing the frontline employee support can influence customer behavioral intentions towards the service providers. According to social support theory and social cognitive theory, this study develops a conceptual model to investigate how and when perceived employee support affects customer behavioral intentions. The model is tested using a factorial between-subjects experimental design in the self-service environment of China's bank. The results show that the relationship between perceived employee support and customer self-efficacy is moderated by forced use and service complexity. Moreover, the results indicate that self-efficacy is a mediator that explains how perceived employee support may come to be associated with customer behavioral intentions towards the service providers.