The present research provides evidence that deficient self-regulation is an impor- tant factor in electronic commerce and that unregulated buying exists online, at least among college students. Moreover, this "irrational" component may be a more important determinant of online buying activity than either rational economic
expectations about the cost and convenience of Internet shopping or the personal and economic characteristics of e-commerce consumers. Self-efficacy beliefs also are important predictors of online shopping activity, suggesting that consumers must reach a certain level of comfort with the internet before they actively engage in
e-commerce. Taken together, unregulated online buying tendencies, expectations about e-commerce outcomes, and self-efficacy beliefs offer a powerful socio- cognitive explanation of online buying that accounts for two-fifths of the variation in shopping behavior.