Does COVID-19 Promote Self-Service Usage among Modern Shoppers? An Exploration of Pandemic-Driven Behavioural Changes in Self-Collection Users

Xueqin Wang, Yiik Diew Wong and Kum Fai Yuen
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Xueqin Wang: Department of International Logistics, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 06974, Korea
Yiik Diew Wong: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore
Kum Fai Yuen: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 16, 1-22

Abstract: Due to health concerns related to COVID-19, shoppers have learned to minimise social contact by adopting various contactless self-service technologies to fulfil their consumption needs. This study explores shoppers’ behavioural changes in relation to self-service, using the special research context of e-commerce self-collection services. By synthesising insights from the health psychology literature, this study proposes an affective-cognitive-social perspective to explain the pandemic-driven behavioural changes of self-collection users. The survey instrument is used for online data collection ( n = 500), and a combined (descriptive and quantitative) method is adopted for data analysis. Our results suggest that, although with a relatively weak predictive power, the affective and cognitive appraisals of health risks lead to the reinforced usage of self-collection service. This also applies to the factors of action/coping planning and subjective norm. This study theoretically contributes to the self-service literature and creates managerial implications for retailers and logistics operators.

Keywords: self-service; last-mile logistics; pandemic-driven behavioural change; self-collection locker; e-commerce delivery; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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