Factors influencing consumers’ continuance usage intention toward Food Delivery Apps during COVID-19 in Bangladesh

Abstract

The aim of this research is to identify the factors that are crucial to formulating consumers’ attitude toward using food delivery apps (FDAs) continuingly during the coronavirus pandemic. Due to the pandemic, the catering enterprises changed their way of doing business significantly and gone through a digital transformation to survive. Consequently, this marked a shift in consumers’ attitude towards FDAs. To understand the shift and how consumers’ technological and mental perceptions are contributing to continuance usage intentions, a hypothetical model was proposed using variables from Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), Expectancy Confirmation Model (ECM) and the Task-Technology fit Model. A structured questionnaire was used to collect feedback from the repeat users of the FDAs through online social media sites and food review groups. In total 198 valid responses were gathered and analyzed. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) through AMOS 26 was utilized to test the proposed model fit. Some items in the constructs had to be dropped off to make the model fit. Initially four hypotheses were proposed. Among them only two were validated.  The outcomes show that satisfaction and social influence have significant positive impact in determining continuance usage intention toward FDAs among Bangladeshi consumers. While perceived Task-technology fit and trust have non-significant relationship with consumers’ continuance intention. These insights might prove helpful for both online food aggregators and catering businesses in designing marketing plan and formulating effective strategies to build a sustainable consumer base. Future research can extend the model by adding more variables to understand relevant technology’s continuance usage intention. This paper is a unique contribution to the existing literature on FDA continuance intention on coronavirus emergency because no previous studies were undertaken to investigate Bangladeshi consumers. So, this is an original piece of work according to the best of the researchers’ knowledge