The Impact of Individual Innovativeness and Social Influence on Consumer Intention to Adopt Autonomous Delivery Vehicles

As an innovative last-mile logistics delivery solution that can provide consumers with efficient and contactless delivery services, autonomous delivery vehicles (ADVs) have huge economic and environmental advantages. However, until recently, there has been relatively little research on consumer acceptance of ADVs for parcel delivery in China. Using the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) model as a research framework, this study explores the internal mechanisms by which internal and external stimuli (individual innovativeness and social influence) influence organism (perceived relative advantages, trust in technology, and delivery risk) and thus consumer response (intention to adopt ADVs). Data were collected through an online questionnaire survey platform from China and analyzed using structural equation models. The results show that consumers’ individual innovativeness and social influence significantly affect perceived relative advantage, technology trust and perceived risk. In addition, perceived relative advantage, trust in technology, and delivery risk affect consumers’ intention to adopt ADVs.