Do neighborhood food environments matter for eating through online-to-offline food delivery services?

Abstract

Eating through online-to-offline (O2O) food delivery services has in recent years emerged as an important diet behavior especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic. There is not much understanding of this relatively new diet behavior and its influence factors. In an attempt to answer the research question if the neighborhood food environment matters for eating through O2O food delivery services, this research collects primary data on people's experience of using O2O food delivery services through a sample questionnaire survey and secondary data on foodscapes including the spatial distributions of food sources of various types in Shanghai. Personal sociodemographic characteristics, home and workplace food environments are considered as potential explanatory factors of eating through O2O food delivery services. The study reveals that there are significant differences between home and workplace food environments in Shanghai and that home food environments are more influential on eating through O2O food delivery services than workplace food environments; the healthy food availability and accessibility at residential neighborhoods are found to significantly reduce the probability of eating through O2O food delivery services; lack of healthy food choices and being in the suburb explain O2O food delivery service consumptions at workplace. Findings of this research are relevant for promoting healthy eating through urban planning and urban design practices.