Customers’ intention to adopt smart lockers in last-mile delivery service: A multi-theory perspective

Many logistics service providers are now adjusting their business service strategies to satisfy consumers' higher demands and expectations. An automated parcel locker for self-pickup is one of the options; however, there is currently no smart locker service available in Thailand. This study integrates resource matching theory, innovation diffusion theory, and theory of planned behavior to clarify Thai consumers' intention to utilize smart lockers. The data for this study were received from 302 participants living in Thailand. Convenience, reliability, privacy security, compatibility, relative advantage, complexity, perceived behavioral control, and attitude were included in the questionnaire to test if they were significant determinants of consumers' intention to use smart lockers. The results reveal that convenience, reliability, privacy security, compatibility, relative advantage, complexity, perceived behavioral control, and attitude influence Thai consumers’ intention to use smart lockers. This study contributes to the literature on combining resource matching theory, innovation diffusion theory, and theory of planned behavior; this enriches theoretical research on self-service technologies in last-mile logistics delivery, and also provides insights for consumer behavioral research.     

A cross-cultural analysis of ridesharing intentions and compliance with COVID-19 health guidelines: The roles of social trust,fear of COVID-19, and trust-in-God

Ridesharing services such as Uber and Lyft have been substantially affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on social capital theory, the current research investigates how social trust relates to three types of trust in compliance with COVID-19 guidelines and consumers' ridesharing intentions. Analyzing data from two economically and culturally distinct countries, the results suggest that social trust positively affects trust in platform companies' compliance with COVID-19 guidelines (TPC), but not (or to a lesser extent) trust in drivers' (TDC) and other riders (TRC) compliance with COVID-19 guidelines in both the United States and Bangladesh. Importantly, TPC, TDC, and TRC are positively related with consumers' ridesharing intentions in the United States but not in Bangladesh. Furthermore, the analysis reveals two counterintuitive moderating effects of fear of COVID-19 and trust in God. The results provide important insights on factors affecting the ridesharing industry in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and they emphasize the importance of considering cultural context in understanding consumers’ intentions to engage in the sharing economy.     

Does playing a video game really result in improvements in psychological well-being in the era of COVID-19?

This study examines the structural relationships between the perceived value dimensions of quality, emotional, price, and social, positive and negative emotions, psychological well-being, and loyalty in the video game context along with the moderating role of the perceived severity of COVID-19. This study collected data from 258 video game consumers in the United States via three waves of surveys. The findings of structural equation modeling revealed significant associations among the perceived value dimensions, emotions, psychological well-being, and loyalty. In addition, the moderating role of the perceived severity of COVID-19 showed that the impact of video game consumers' positive emotions on psychological well-being would be weaker with a high level of perception of the severity of COVID-19. Based on the empirical results, this research proposes theoretical (i.e., extension of the cognitive appraisal theory in a digital environment, and integration of the cognitive appraisal theory with the two-factor theory of motivation) and practical implications (i.e., how to increase levels of users’ psychological well-being and loyalty via video games) for the video game industry during and after the era of COVID-19.     

What drives product involvement and satisfaction with OFDs amid COVID-19?

Online food delivery services (OFDs) have gained the attention of researchers due to the rapid growth of society. With COVID-19 wreaking havoc on markets worldwide, it compelled retailers and service providers to adjust their way of doing business drastically. OFD's emerged as an option either due to consumers' inability to cook, fear of exposure to Covid if they leave the house, monotony of eating home-cooked meals, and safety measures practiced by them. Hence, during this pandemic, the OFDs created a win-win situation for restaurant owners and consumers. However, the current literature does not clearly picture the factors influencing customers' behavioural intentions while using hospitality services in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary objective of our study is to understand the factors influencing customer satisfaction during the pandemic. In addition, explore the mediating role of consumer resilience and consumer attitude to strengthen the relationship between product involvement and customer satisfaction in the OFDs context. We have used the social cognitive theory as the theoretical framework for framing our hypotheses. The present study focuses on Indian consumers who have used OFDs during the pandemic. We employed a cross-sectional survey method to test the proposed research model. Two hundred forty valid questionnaires were collected to empirically test the research model using tools like confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using AMOS-28, direct and indirect relationships were tested using SPSS PROCESS macro. The results indicate that all the proposed hypotheses were supported. Theoretical and Practical implications of the study along with limitations are discussed.     

FinTech and the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from electronic payment systems

This paper investigates the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on financial institutions and on consumers' adoption of Financial Technology (FinTech) for payments. This paper documents the following findings in Kenya. (1) The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption and increased the payment concentration of FinTech. We document an approximately 54% increase in mobile banking transactions, a 19.56% increase in mobile banking agents, and a 14.56% increase in the number of mobile banking accounts. (2) The use of all types of electronic payment cards declined significantly during the pandemic. (3) The pandemic magnified interbank contagion and liquidity risks and reduced both domestic and international electronic fund transfers via both the Real-Gross Settlement System and the Automated Clearing House. Overall, our results indicate that FinTech not only partially alleviated the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic during Q1 of 2021 but also accelerated consumers' adoption of FinTech and digital onboarding, especially in Q3 and Q4 of 2022.     

Age-related effects on environmentally sustainable purchases at the time of COVID-19: Evidence from Italy

The present research investigates whether the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has modified consumers' spending on environmentally sustainable products by focusing on the role of age. An empirical study conducted in Italy during the first wave of the pandemic finds that consumers' age affected their reaction to the COVID-19 outbreak, and such age-related effects may have led to an increased propensity to spend on sustainable products. Indeed, the results show that consumers' age is inversely related to their negative affective reaction to the rise of contagion, which, in turn, is inversely related to their level of optimism experienced when the contagion slowed down due to public health interventions. Furthermore, this level of optimism is positively related to consumers’ pro-environmental attitude and, thus, to their tendency to increase sustainable purchases.     

Panic buying in the COVID-19 pandemic: A multi-country examination

The global crisis of COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged the world economy and healthcare, igniting much fear, panic, and uncertainty among billions of people. As lockdowns being implemented in many places, panic buying has emerged as a reliable feature of the Coronavirus outbreak. Therefore, it is of urgent needs to examine consumers' panic buying behaviors during COVID-19 to gain a better understanding of the phenomenon and to provide managerial insights for policy-makers and marketers alike. In this study, under the theoretical guidelines of the Stimuli-Organism-Response model and the Competitive Arousal model, we investigate how in the panic situation created by the pandemic, external stimuli such as Limited Quantity Scarcity (LQS) and Limited Time Scarcity (LTS) affect the emotional arousal among people, which in turn influences consumers’ impulsive and obsessive buying behaviors. This study is conducted in a multi-country setting including the U.S., China, India, and Pakistan. Online surveys were conducted during the peak time of pandemic. Our findings show that LQS and LTS significantly increase perceived arousal in consumers, which further leads to more impulsive and obsessive buying. In addition, our results also reveal that excessive social media use intensifies the relationship between scarcity messages and perceived arousal whereas the urge to buy impulsively moderates the relationship between perceived arousal and behavioral outcomes in all selected countries except for India. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed in details.     

Augmented reality shopping application usage: The influence of attitude,value, and characteristics of innovation

Consumers' intentions are crucial to the wide usage of augmented reality shopping applications (ARSAs). Combining innovation diffusion, perceived value, and attitude theories, this study proposes a theoretical model that identifies the antecedents of consumers' innovation to use ARSAs and specifies their interrelationships. A total of 379 consumers were surveyed using questionnaires, and the data were analyzed through confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Results show that the effects of the perceived relative advantage, perceived compatibility, and perceived observability on consumers' intentions to use ARSAs are mediated by consumers' attitudes toward ARSAs. In addition, attitudes have an indirect impact on consumers' intentions to use ARSAs through perceived value. Theoretically, this study synthesizes behavioral theories anchored on innovation and marketing to explain consumer's use intention. Managerially, this study provides strategic recommendations for technology companies developing ARSAs and retailers wishing to adopt ARSAs.     

The determinants of users’ intention to adopt telehealth: Health belief,perceived value and self-determination perspectives

Telehealth is an effective and promising mode of healthcare delivery. It is crucial for society to understand the determinants of user adoption of telehealth to realize its benefits. This research investigates and analyzes the factors that impact the adoption of telehealth services from the users' perspective. The study integrates three theoretical frameworks, namely, Health Belief Model, Perceived Value Theory, and the Self-Determination Theory, to provide a comprehensive understanding of the determinants of telehealth adoption. Using an online survey conducted in Singapore, the study collected 500 responses for data analysis. The findings indicate that perceived threat, cues to action, and perceived relatedness directly affect perceived value, while self-efficacy, perceived relatedness, and perceived autonomy have a significant direct impact on emotion. Additionally, users' perceived value of telehealth services has a direct and indirect positive influence on their intention to adopt telehealth services through emotions. The study offers practical implications for healthcare organizations, policymakers, and media management teams to encourage the adoption of telehealth services by integrating various psychological and health concerns of users that impact their adoption behavior.     

The impact of COVID-19 on consumer evaluation of authentic advertising messages

This study investigates the relationship between the COVID-19 threat and consumer evaluation of a product with authenticity appeals in advertisements. We propose that threatening situations like COVID-19 motivate consumers to lower their uncertainty and increase their preference for products with authentic advertising messages. Because individuals react differently to threatening environments according to their early-life experiences, commonly reflected in childhood socioeconomic status, we examined whether childhood socioeconomic status moderates the relationship between threat and consumer evaluation of authenticity in advertisements. First, secondary data from Google Trends provided empirical support for our predictions. In additional experimental studies, participants evaluated different target products in four studies that either manipulated (Studies 2 and 3) or measured (Studies 4 and 5) COVID-19 threat. Our results provide converging evidence that consumers positively evaluate products with authentic advertising messages under the COVID-19 threat. Consumers' motivation to lower their uncertainty underlies the effect of COVID-19 threat on their evaluation of authentic messages (Study 3). This attempt to reduce uncertainty is more likely to occur for consumers with relatively higher childhood socioeconomic status (Studies 4 and 5). These findings suggest that using authenticity appeals during a pandemic could effectively reduce consumers' perceived uncertainty and generate positive consumer evaluations.     

Investigating senders’ switching intention to smart lockers: An extension of push-pull-mooring model

Express companies and users prefer contactless pickup and delivery methods such as smart lockers, particularly during the pandemic. Extant studies have examined the determinants of user intentions in using smart lockers but ignored the analysis of the process of their switching from traditional home pickup or delivery to contactless smart lockers. Moreover, neither the moderating role of user characteristics or senders' perspectives have been investigated. To address these gaps, we developed a push-pull-mooring framework and collected two online questionnaires to investigate senders' switching intentions and compare the differences between senders and receivers. The results of the PLS-SEM analysis identify the push effect of low perceived value of home pickup, pull effect of the attractiveness of smart lockers on switching intention and the mooring effects of inertia. The attractiveness of smart locker fully mediates the relationship between low perceived value and switching intention in sending condition and play a suppressing effect in receiving condition. The inertia of using home pickup negatively affects switching intention and strengthens the positive impact of the low perceived value of home pickup on switching intention. This study sheds new light on users’ switching intention to contactless pickup and delivery methods and assists express companies in understanding user intentions and making scientific decisions.     

Behavioural intention to use a contact tracing application: The case of StopCovid in France

This research aims to study citizens' intention to download and use the COVID-19 tracing app in France. The theoretical framework considered the theory of technology acceptance model, the theory of goal-directed behaviour, and the theory of privacy to explain the intention to use the COVID-19 tracing app. The methodology included an online survey to examine the theoretical model, which was tested using structural equation modelling. The results show that anticipated emotions, perceived usefulness, privacy concerns, and perceived permission sensitivity significantly contribute towards the intention to adopt the StopCovid app. Subjective norms and goal desire do not exert a direct impact. These findings provide both theoretical and practical implications by adding the extrinsic social value dimension to the analyses of the StopCovid app and presenting antecedents for enhancing its design and safety.     

How ethical and political identifications drive adaptive behavior in the digital piracy context

Today, digital piracy remains a growing challenge for both legislators and businesses operating in the entertainment industry. This study explores when and why consumers make trade-offs between illegal and legal streaming services. By drawing on protection motivation theory, we find that consumers' threat and coping appraisals increase their adaptive behavior, i.e., lower intention to consume illegal and higher intention to consume legal streaming services. We also show that the strength of consumers' inherent ethical (relativism) and political (economic liberalism) identities conditions adaptive behavior through social identity theory. We find that low relativism strengthens the adaptive behavior through threat appraisal, while economic liberalism strengthens the adaptive behavior through coping appraisal. Our robustness checks show that these results hold when the model accounts for the level of consumers' digital piracy attitudes. We used a scenario-based approach to test our hypotheses and surveyed 244 consumers who use streaming services. Our study contributes to the literature by showing that consumers' adaptive behavior envisioned through protection motivation theory can be weakened or strengthened by their ethical and political identities.     

To use or not use: Understanding Chinese consumers' intention toward “serving chopsticks”

Serving chopsticks (or “community-use chopsticks”) refers to chopsticks that are used to serve food from a shared dish to an individual's plate, they are used because of concerns about hygiene. This study aims to examine consumers' perceived values toward serving chopsticks and provide an insight into the formation of consumers' intentions to use serving chopsticks. A mixed-method approach was utilized to collect data; interviews were conducted with 62 consumers, followed by a web-based survey with 630 consumers. Qualitative analysis and structural equation modeling analysis were used in the data analysis. Qualitative analysis highlighted four dimensions that contribute to consumers' perceived value of serving chopsticks: functional, altruistic, symbolic, and emotional values. Structural equation modeling analysis illustrated that the more positive values consumers endorse toward serving chopsticks, the stronger they believe not using serving chopsticks has negative consequences. Also, the more they feel responsible for problems caused by not using serving chopsticks, the more they feel personally obliged to use serving chopsticks. Moreover, subjective norm was confirmed as having positive impacts upon consumers' intention to use serving chopsticks. This study contributes to the development of the value-belief-norm theory through exploring the dimensions of the value construct. In addition, the results can assist governments and industry in developing more effective strategies that promote the use of serving chopsticks.     

Mediating effects on the relationship between perceived service quality and public library app loyalty during the COVID-19 era

The demand for using library apps to search for information has been increasing after the COVID-19 outbreak. To look into how the pandemic affects the users’ perception of the loyalty of using library apps, we designed this research by amalgamating the updated IS success model and S–O-R model to evaluate the service quality of a public library app under the Hong Kong Government mobile applications initiative. A third-order model is established to demonstrate the multi-faceted aspects of service quality and mediating effects of perceived brand image, satisfaction, and e-word of mouth. Using structural equation modeling, data collected from Hong Kong, a metropolis where mobile services empower its citizens, showed the interrelationships among service quality and possible outcomes (i.e., perceived brand image, user satisfaction, e-word of mouth, and user loyalty). Findings also indicate that the influence of perceived service quality on user loyalty could only be achieved through perceived brand image and user satisfaction. This is a timely study during the COVID-19 pandemic, as the lockdown and social distancing arrangements created challenges for citizens to search for information in public libraries in person. Our findings and suggestions reiterate the importance of considering the usability concepts when analyzing the service quality of each unique app. They also provide insights for practitioners in developing the next generation of apps for smart public information services and call for further investigation into the proposed hierarchical model and other potential factors related to service quality.     

Online food delivery companies' performance and consumers expectations during Covid-19: An investigation using machine learning approach

Online food delivery (OFD) businesses flourished during COVID-19; however, OFD companies experienced different challenges and customers' expectations. This paper uses social media data to explore OFD companies' performance and customers' expectations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The most important topics in developed and developing countries are identified using machine learning. Results show that customers in India are more concerned about social responsibility, while financial aspects are more important in the US. Overall, customers in India are more satisfied with OFD companies during the COVID-19 pandemic than the US customers. We further find that factors such as OFD companies' brand, market size, country, and COVID-19 waves play a crucial role in moderating customer sentiment. The results of the study offer several managerial insights.     

Give your hunger a new option: Understanding consumers' continuous intention to use online food delivery apps using trust transfer theory

The recent growth of online food delivery apps (OFDAs) centralized the restaurant's business in electronic distribution platforms. Recently, a few researchers have attempted to understand consumer behaviour towards using OFDAs. However, various aspects related to the usage of OFDAs have not been explored. Drawing from trust transfer theory, the purpose of this study is to fill this gap by investigating the trust transfer from OFDAs to restaurants and to address the boundary condition of trust transfer by examining the moderating effect of perceived effectiveness of dispute resolution (PEDR) between trust in OFDAs and trust in a restaurant. The model was tested via structural equation modelling (SEM) using data obtained from 836 users of OFDAs through structured questionnaire. The results show that trust in OFDAs positively influence the trust in restaurant, which ultimately leads to the consumers' continuous purchase intention. Further, PEDR positively moderates the relationship between trust in OFDAs and trust in a restaurant. Additionally, disposition to trust and online reviews significantly develops consumer trust in OFDAs. The present research makes substantial theoretical and practical contributions as it develops a trust transfer mechanism by considering an emerging mobile-commerce field. The study provides a first theoretical outlook on consumers' continuous intention to use OFDAs, using trust transfer theory, which has not been considered so far. The findings provide information for food delivery platforms on how to manage conflict resolution to succeed in the market and help restaurants in selecting the most effective food delivery platforms with which to collaborate.     

Service innovativeness in retailing: Increasing the relative attractiveness during the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 primarily spreads through close contact between humans and has affected retailing industries extremely hard. To manage the situation retailers have turned to service innovation to change their operations to make consumers feel safe while shopping. This research focuses on the role of service innovativeness in retailing firms during the COVID-19 pandemic through an empirical study of almost 6000 consumers of 28 retailing firms. The results suggested that retailers with high service innovativeness performed COVID-19 imposed innovations better to improve their relative attractiveness. For retailers with physical stores, changes to the servicescape and the offering were found to be the key antecedents of service innovativeness. The findings on COVID-19 imposed service innovations demonstrate the importance of service innovativeness in successfully changing retailing services to adjust to the restrictions from governments and safety needs of customers.     

Information overload and fake news sharing: A transactional stress perspective exploring the mitigating role of consumers’ resilience during COVID-19

The spread of fake news in social networks has become a major concern for various sectors of society, including retail and service providers, some of whom have suffered from decreasing sales due to misinformation consumers shared online. The current COVID-19 crisis has added to the surrounding hysteria, as fake news during crises can heighten negative behavioural responses in consumers, such as irrational panic buying or taking false medical precautionary measures. In fact, driven by the ubiquitous social media landscape, the dissemination of misinformation and the overarching overabundance of information have been major challenges of the pandemic. Given that current research offers little insight into the processes behind the sharing of fake news among consumers and that research on consumer-centred mitigating mechanisms is missing, this study explores the relationship between information overload, fake news sharing, and the overlooked concept of consumers' resilience as a potential shield as viewed through the lens of the current crisis. Structural equation modelling is applied to cross-sectional data from 241 social media users. Drawing from theories of transactional stress and psychological resilience, it is demonstrated that information overload leads to an increased likelihood of fake news sharing by increasing consumers' psychological strain. Furthermore, the study shows that consumers' resilience has the power to mitigate the drastic effects of this negative chain of influence by inhibiting each of the processual components. The results have important implications extending beyond crises. Measures should be taken to enhance consumers’ resilience amidst technology-induced stressors while altering the information environment confronting consumers.     

Research on the influencing factors of consumers’ green purchase behavior in the post-pandemic era

The severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world has caused consumers to think about environmental issues. Although green products are very important to environmental sustainability, the factors that influence consumers' purchase behavior of green products is unclear. This study aims to explore the impact mechanism of social media marketing on consumers' green product purchase behavior in the post-pandemic era. Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study constructs an extended TPB model to understand the influencing factors of Chinese consumers' green product purchase behavior in the post-pandemic era. The empirical results of 489 questionnaires show that social media marketing, product knowledge and crisis awareness have a direct or indirect positive influence on purchase intentions. Perceived behavioral control and intentions have positive effects on behavior. The attribution of responsibility facilitates the relationship between intentions and behaviors. The results have important implications for enterprises’ sustainability strategies and provide a framework for investigating green buying behaviors in Chinese culture in the post-pandemic era.