E-consumer adoption of innovative last-mile logistics services: A comparison of behavioural models

Abstract

This paper investigates consumers' behavioural responses to innovative last-mile delivery services (self-collection as an example) in the emerging e-commerce market of Singapore. Anchored on theoretical insights from attitude theories and Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory, the mediating role of the e-consumers' attitude between their beliefs and their behavioural intention is examined in three competing models. A total of 209 valid survey responses are collected and the data are analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Our study suggests an irreplaceable mediating role of attitude in determining the desirability of innovative last-mile delivery services. In particular, a sense of relative advantage and compatibility should be communicated to e-consumers. With an inter-disciplinary effort to integrate consumers' behaviour in the management of last-mile logistics service innovations, this study contributes to the theoretical synthesis of these two streams of research. It also represents a unique angle to manage e-consumers' service concerns from the perceptual and the behavioural perspectives.