Understanding consumers' intention to use autonomous delivery vehicles during the COVID-19 pandemic: The stimulus-organism-response approach (preprint)

ABSTRACT

Autonomous delivery vehicles (ADVs) have attracted much attention since COVID-19. As an emerging last-mile delivery tool, the large-scale implementation of ADVs depends on consumers’ willingness to adopt them. However, until recently, research on user acceptance and adopting emerging technology has been relatively rare. The present study is the first that applies the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model to investigate how stimulating factors (COVID-19 risk and human-computer interaction) affect consumers’ intention to use ADVs in last-mile delivery by triggering consumers’ inner states (delivery risk, price sensitivity, perceived enjoyment, trust in technology). Quantitative data based on university students in Zhejiang, China, was collected through an online survey platform (n = 298), and structural equation modeling was undertaken. The results reveal that COVID-19 risk and human-computer interaction can lead to adoption behaviors by triggering different inner states of consumers. Further, innovation is also considered to be one of the factors determining behavioral intention. The findings have profound theoretical and practical contributions to last-mile delivery and technology acceptance research.