What is Self–efficacy

The novelty and dynamism of Internet and ecommerce have lead to the revision of the classic paradigm of consumer behaviour and to the continuous study of individuals’ conduct in virtual environments. In this context, the literature on Internet has placed special attention on the development and testing of theoretical models aimed to describe and explain e-commerce acceptance by final consumers. In this sense, two theoretical frameworks stand out as the most relevant and widely used approaches in e-commerce adoption literature: the Theory of Planned Behaviour (Schifter & Ajzen, 1985; Ajzen, 1991) and the Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989; Davis et al., 1989). Both models are based on traditional theory of consumer behaviour and focus on individuals’ attitudes and beliefs about e-commerce and virtual transactions. However, TPB and TAM differ in the variety of explanatory variables they include and in the identification of beliefs considered as determinants of individuals’ attitudes towards a behaviour or technology.