Attitude towards drone food delivery services—role of innovativeness, perceived risk, and green image

The possibility of drone usage for food delivery is met with enthusiasm by businesses as it promises instantaneous benefits such as reduced costs, improved customer satisfaction, and reduced environmental imprint. The objective of this paper is to explore consumer attitude and intention towards adopting a disruptive technology such as drone food delivery in the Indian context through motivated consumer innovativeness (MCI), green image, and perceived risk. We analyzed the questionnaire survey data collected from 310 respondents using structural equation modeling— partial least squares method. Functionally motivated consumer innovativeness and cognitively motivated consumer innovativeness were found to be significant positive predictors of consumer attitude and intention. Perceived privacy risk was found to have a significant negative influence on attitude. Green image had a significant positive effect on attitude towards drone usage. Other components of MCI namely, hedonic and social as well as performance and delivery risk did not show a significance influence. This study, to our knowledge, is first of its kind in India, a populous country with an established and booming economy, where the enabling and impeding antecedents of drone food delivery usage intention is simultaneously studied. The findings of this research will mainly benefit food delivery companies in framing successful drone food delivery strategies.