TY - JOUR
T1 - Consumer acceptance of drone-based technology for last mile delivery
AU - Schmidt, Sebastian
AU - Saraceni, Adriana
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank the OP Zuid program awarded funding. The project is made possible in part by financial support from the European Union (European Fund for Regional Development), OP-Zuid, the Province of North Brabant, the Province of Limburg and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate. The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful reflections and comments towards improving our manuscript. The proposed alterations were pertinent and very instructive for improving the overall quality of our paper. Many thanks.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023
PY - 2024/3/1
Y1 - 2024/3/1
N2 - Drones are expected to allow faster and more efficient last mile parcel delivery while at the same time reducing relevant costs. This studies' purpose is to understand what factors influence consumer acceptance in Germany. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model was expand using an incremental approach. The construct performance expectancy was replaced with the three context-specific constructs, environmental performance expectancy, speed expectancy, and relative advantage of contact-free delivery. Four perceived risk constructs (i.e., privacy risk, safety risk, noise risk, financial risk) were added. Eleven hypotheses were developed and tested via an online survey. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Relative advantage of contact-free delivery, hedonic motivation, and social influence are the highlights among the factors investigated for their influence on consumer acceptance. The influence on the perceived risk constructs privacy risk and safety risk varies depending on drone usage experience and gender. The value of the study stems from the proposed extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model, tailored to a new technology context (drones for last mile parcel delivery) and a different cultural setting (Germany). This research contributes to the multidisciplinary approach of existing drone research by adding a consumer perspective to the mainly logistics provider-oriented engineering, informatics, and operations research.
AB - Drones are expected to allow faster and more efficient last mile parcel delivery while at the same time reducing relevant costs. This studies' purpose is to understand what factors influence consumer acceptance in Germany. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model was expand using an incremental approach. The construct performance expectancy was replaced with the three context-specific constructs, environmental performance expectancy, speed expectancy, and relative advantage of contact-free delivery. Four perceived risk constructs (i.e., privacy risk, safety risk, noise risk, financial risk) were added. Eleven hypotheses were developed and tested via an online survey. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Relative advantage of contact-free delivery, hedonic motivation, and social influence are the highlights among the factors investigated for their influence on consumer acceptance. The influence on the perceived risk constructs privacy risk and safety risk varies depending on drone usage experience and gender. The value of the study stems from the proposed extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model, tailored to a new technology context (drones for last mile parcel delivery) and a different cultural setting (Germany). This research contributes to the multidisciplinary approach of existing drone research by adding a consumer perspective to the mainly logistics provider-oriented engineering, informatics, and operations research.
KW - Drones
KW - Last mile delivery
KW - Perceived risk
KW - Technology acceptance model
KW - UTAUT2
U2 - 10.1016/j.retrec.2023.101404
DO - 10.1016/j.retrec.2023.101404
M3 - Article
SN - 0739-8859
VL - 103
JO - Research in Transportation Economics
JF - Research in Transportation Economics
M1 - 101404
ER -