EMPIRICAL ARTICLE Self-customization of online service environments by users and its effect on their continuance intention Youn Jung Kang • Won Jun Lee Received: 9 September 2013 / Accepted: 7 January 2014 Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014 Abstract Service providers embed self-customization options into their web- based service systems to facilitate user-centered service creation and consumption. The aim of this study is to demonstrate that provision of such self-customization features offers customer lock-in effects. Specifically, the study explores how the act of self-customization enhances users’ self-efficacy beliefs and perceived fit of the resulting service environment with their wants and needs. An AMOS analysis based on survey data of 600 undergraduate students indicates that (1) self-customization enhances perceived fit and self-efficacy and (2) they in turn enhance users’ moti- vation and continuance intention. Keywords Perceived fit Á Self-customization Á Self-efficacy Á Service environments Á Continuance intention 1 Introduction Self-customization is ubiquitous on current Internet platforms, including websites and social media outlets (e.g., Google ?, Facebook, and Twitter) and smartphones. Operating systems such as Android and iOS of smartphones offer a complex set of customization features, such as background photos, applications and services, ringtones, and other context-aware options (Korpipa ¨a ¨ et al. 2006). The wide range Y. J. Kang Á W. J. Lee (&) Sungkyunkwan Business School, Sungkyunkwan University, 53 Myungryun-3ga, Jongro-Gu, Seoul 110-745, Korea e-mail: leewj@skku.edu Y. J. Kang e-mail: elle0821@gmail.com 123 Serv Bus DOI 10.1007/s11628-014-0229-y