Personalization, DCX and willingness to pay: The role of PERVAL

The purpose of this paper is to examine the direct and indirect effects of personalization and digital customer experience (DCX) on willingness to pay (WTP) for online education, with perceived value (PERVAL) modeled as a mediator and perceived marketing efforts (PMN) as a control variable. A quantitative crosssectional research design was applied using a structured online survey (N = 169) across CEE/SEE respondents who had purchased or planned to purchase online courses. Constructs were measured with validated Likert-type scales, and data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) with bias-corrected bootstrapping (5,000 resamples). The results indicate that personalization and DCX significantly enhance PERVAL, which in turn strongly predicts WTP. However, the direct effects of personalization and DCX on WTP were not significant, confirming PERVAL as the key mediating mechanism. Practical implications highlight the importance of prioritizing features that increase perceived value, such as relevance, embodiment micro-interactions, and transparent payment procedures, instead of superficial interface improvements. Originality lies in integrating technological and psychological determinants into a unified value mechanism within the underexplored CEE/SEE educational market, providing evidence that PERVAL functions as the crucial bridge between user experience and economic decision-making