Technical support may be a part of sale or after sale service. It can be independent variable, mediating variable or moderating variable. Let me differentiate among them first. An independent variable means a variable, which does not affect the sale or after sale service. A mediater variable is something which acts as a mediator between the seller and customer in order to provide a service related to some product. A moderator variable means a service that is neither entirely independent, nor entirely dependent, but partially dependent. Let me clarify it with one example of each. Suppose you buy a tv. The company provides you a warranty of a limited time, which is over now. If the tv needs some repair now,after the warranty is over, the costomer hires services of some private agency in order to get it repaired. This is the independent variable. Consider another situation in which you buy a tv from some online shopping site, which acts as a mediator between saller and customer. If the customer on reaching the product at his home finds that the product is not working properly. He immediately contacts the shopping site,which assures him to provide technical assistance. But it does not provide technical support itself,but asks the seller to do so. This is an example of mediater variable. Now take one more example. If a product is bought online and all the technical support the product needs is provided by the company in form of online instructions only, it is called moderate variable.

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A mediating variable or mediator explains the process throug... View the full answer