Last-mile delivery is the quintessential example of a logistics sector that is ripe for innovation, owing to a powerful confluence in the advancement of technologies and consumption models. Compared to the conventional delivery mode, the delivery robot offers countless advantages, including maintaining social distancing, improving health safety, protecting the environment, and reducing shipping costs and delivery times. Considering the high investments associated with developing and introducing delivery robots, a better understanding is needed of the consumers’ perceptions and willingness to guide practitioners on whether it is worth starting/continuing investing in such innovation. For this reason, this study addresses the following research questions: 1) What are the relevant characteristics of robot delivery and how do consumers cognitively and affectively respond to these characteristics? 2) What are the processes that form consumers’ willingness to reuse the delivery robot and spread the word about it (i.e., WOM)? Drawing on the technology-task fit model, the present study provides three interesting theoretical insights in relation to the post-adoption behaviour on delivery robots. In the first part, the findings enrich the literature by revealing that consumers’ evaluation of the perceived fit of using delivery robots are based on a combination of internal, external and conditional factors. This study found that hedonic motivations, perceived anthropomorphism and robotic service quality exhibited a positive influence on perceived task-technology fit. This indicates that, being able to experience a sense of fun or enjoyment when using novel technologies (e.g., robot services) will encourage future behaviour and push individuals to continue exploring the benefits of this innovation. Also, consumers tend to attribute the human-like robots as more capable and reliable as it gives the feeling that they are interacting with a social entity. The findings also value to current scarcity research and demonstrate the positive influence of service quality in matching the performance and functionality of delivery robots. In the second part, the empirical findings confirm the positive influence of perceived task-technology fit on trust and value-in-use in the emerging context of delivery robots. In the last part, this research goes further, revealing the indirect link between perceived task-technology fit and post-adoption behaviour. In line with consumer behaviour literature that suggests the individual will undergo a psychological state (or mental evaluation) in goal-oriented behavior, this research deepens our understanding of the mechanisms involved in this relationship. It reveals that trust and value-in-use acted as the missing links in bridging the associations through which perceived task-technology fit influences service reuse likelihood and positive word-of-mouth.

• Xin-Jean Lim(Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia)
• Jun-Hwa Cheah(Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia, UK)