Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a strict 100-day lockdown period in Spring of 2020 in China. One of the consequences of the lockdown was the disruption of the food supply chain for the millions of people confined to their homes. The well-established online food delivery service (OFDS) in China were disrupted by pressure to scale up rapidly to resolve the last mile of food delivery. The importance of the OFDS during periods of crises became apparent, as did the realization that uninterrupted food distribution was only possible due to the presence and scalability of the existing delivery network. Focusing on the importance of an established OFDS as a foundation for food distribution, this paper seeks to explore factors that affect consumers’ perception and acceptance of the retail food delivery system in urban China. By applying the extended theory of planned behavior (TPB), mean value calculation, univariate linear regression, and multiple linear regression have been adopted to test the hypotheses. Data obtained online from 260 participants demonstrate that the software’s characteristics concerning hedonic motivation (HM), convenience motivation (CM), perceived ease of use (PEOU), navigational design (ND), information quality (IQ), privacy and security (PS), restaurant credibility (RC), and perceived severity (Psev) have positive and significant impacts on customers’ intention to use (ITU), and thus, affects the actual use (AU) of the application in a positive way. The findings of this research contribute to the existing literature by consolidating, validating, and extending the TPB model, especially under the large-scale public health crisis circumstances. Customized practical insights are provided to emphasize developing HM, CM, Psev, and RC factors with maximal marginal effects that promote consumer acceptance; this is a prerequisite to the development of a robust OFDS. which can be repurposed during periods of crises to provide sustainable last-mile food delivery networks.
Highlights
The development and sustained operation of robust and efficient last mile food distribution networks can be of vital importance in the event of mass lockdowns of large urban populations
To gain an understanding of the factors that affect consumer acceptance of food delivery services that may become last-mile food distribution networks, this study focuses on the leading online food delivery service (OFDS) software application in China, the MD application, and attempts to contribute to the foundation of knowledge on that topic
The data were analyzed by calculating the mean value and conducting the Cronbach’s alpha test, and linear regression with one and multiple regressors; these subsequently addressed the main research question concerning Chinese customers’ attitudes towards OFDS in the case of MD application
Summary
The importance of global supply chain sustainability has been brought to the forefront as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic (Pandemic). Millions of people worldwide have experienced periods of lockdown or self-isolation and have been reliant on the “last mile”. Of food distribution networks, sometimes for extended periods of time. While food delivery services were operational in most cities worldwide before the Pandemic, the distribution network in China was well established and operational.
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