國立中山大學管理學院國際經營管理碩士學程

碩士論文
Master of Business Administration Program in International
Business
National Sun Yat-sen University
Master Thesis

在新冠疫情影響下餐飲外送平台之消費價值探討- 以
台灣大學生為例
Consumption Values, Food Delivery Apps, and COVID-19: A
study of Taiwanese students

研究生：馬安卓
Andrei Tukmachev
指導教授：安大衛博士
Dr. Andersson David Emanuel

中華民國111年1月
January 2022
Thesis Validation Letter

i
 摘要

新冠肺炎的肆虐不僅改天換地了人們的日常生活模式和心態，亦轉變了購

物習慣。也因此，人們對線上平台的適應性提高，尤其是在「美食外送應用程式

（FDA）」的使用度。本研究旨以消費價值理論角度，剖析在冠狀病毒大流行期

間，消費者對美食外送應用程式的使用意圖。不僅如此，本研究亦對比消費者在

新冠疫情大流行前後，是否對美食外送服務的看法有所轉變。為了深入調查，研

究者在 2021 年 11 月至 2021 年 12 月期間收集數據，共彙整了 250 份台灣學

生的有效問卷反饋，並運用結構方程模型方法進一步分析數據。研究結果表示，

在新型冠狀病毒大流行期間，價格價值是主要驅動消費者對美食外送應用程式的

購買意向。其次，是可供性價值、聲望價值、消費者對新冠病毒的感知恐懼性和

能見度價值。相較之下，個人對於食品安全的疑慮被證明對 美食外送應用程式的

購買意願具負面影響，而健康意識則沒有任何數據上的顯著關聯性。此外，在比

較本研究數據結果與一份新冠病毒大流行前的相關研究後，發現現今消費者更著

重於價格和物有所值，反之，對於可見性營銷方面，獲得的價值較低。最後，本

研究建議美食外送行業的相關利益者如何提升服務以影響當前消費者的購買意願。

關鍵詞：美食外送應用程式、消費價值、消費者行為、新型冠狀病毒肺炎、

消費價值理論

ii
 Abstract
The coronavirus pandemic has not only drastically altered people’s daily lifestyles

and mindsets, but has also shifted shopping habits too. In light of this, we have seen an

acceleration in digital platform adaptation, particularly in the use of food delivery apps

(FDA). This study aims to investigate consumers' intentions to use FDAs during the

COVID-19 pandemic, from a perspective of the theory of consumption values.

Furthermore, the study examines whether consumers' perception of FDA services has

changed compared to the pre-pandemic era. A total of 250 valid responses were collected

from Taiwanese students between November and December 2021 and analyzed using the

structural equation modeling approach. The results indicate that price value is the main

driver of purchase intentions toward FDAs during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is

followed by affordances value, prestige value, perceived fear of COVID-19, and visibility

value, respectively. Comparatively, food safety concerns among individuals were

determined as a negative influence of purchase intentions toward FDAs, while health

consciousness did not share any statistically significant association. Additionally,

comparing our results with a pre-pandemic study, it was found that today’s consumers

are more price and value-for-money orientated, and derive less value from the visibility

marketing aspect. The study concludes with recommendations for relevant stakeholders

in the food delivery industry on how to improve the service in order to influence current

consumers' purchase intentions.

Keywords: Food delivery apps, consumption values, consumer behavior, COVID-19, the

theory of consumption values

iii
 Table of Contents

Thesis Validation Letter ........................................................................................ i

摘要 ...................................................................................................................... ii

Abstract ................................................................................................................ iii

Table of Contents................................................................................................. iv

List of Figures ...................................................................................................... vi

List of Tables ....................................................................................................... vi

List of Abbreviations .......................................................................................... vii

Introduction ......................................................................................1

Research Rationale ..................................................................................1

Research Background ..............................................................................4

Research Structure ...................................................................................5

Literature Review ............................................................................7

Food Delivery Apps.................................................................................7

Theory of Consumption Values .............................................................10

Application of the TCV to FDA ............................................................14

Hypothesis Statement ............................................................................15

Theoretical Framework..........................................................................22

Research Methodology ..................................................................23

Research Method ...................................................................................23

Questionnaire Development ..................................................................23

Sampling and Data Collection ...............................................................27

Research Findings ..........................................................................28

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) ....................................................28

Descriptive Statistics .............................................................................31

iv
 Hypothesis Testing ................................................................................33

Implications and Future Directions................................................37

Theoretical Contributions ......................................................................37

Practical Implications ............................................................................38

Limitations and Future Research Directions .........................................41

References ...........................................................................................................42

Appendix 1: List of Measurements .....................................................................56

Appendix 2: Questionnaire in Chinese ................................................................58

v
 List of Figures
Figure 2-1: O2O Food delivery system (Maimaiti et al., 2018) ........................................7

Figure 2-2: Original TCV model (Sheth et al., 1991) .....................................................11

Figure 2-3: Theoretical Framework .................................................................................22

Figure 4-1: Age and gender distribution of the sample ...................................................32

Figure 4-2: Results of hypothesis testing ........................................................................34

List of Tables
Table 2-1: Summary of studies on the application of TCV to digital environments.......13

Table 4-1: Factor loadings, internal reliability and convergent validity test results .......29

Table 4-2: FL criterion discriminant validity test results ................................................30

Table 4-3: HTMT ratio discriminant validity test results ................................................30

Table 4-4: Measurement model goodness-of-fit summary..............................................31

Table 4-5: Frequency analysis .........................................................................................33

Table 4-6: Results of hypothesis tests .............................................................................35

Table 4-7: Comparison of results with the pre-pandemic study......................................35

vi
 List of Abbreviations
O2O – Online-to-Offline

OFD – Online Food Delivery

FDA – Food Delivery Apps

TAM – Technology Acceptance Model

UTAUT – Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology

TCV – Theory of Consumption Values

CFA – Confirmatory Factor Analysis

CR – Composite Reliability

AVE – Average Variance Extracted

DV – Discriminant Validity

CFI – Comparative Fit Index

TLI – Tucker-Lewis Index

PV – Price Value

FSC – Food Safety Concerns

HC – Health Consciousness

PRV – Prestige Value

AV – Affordances Value

V – Visibility

PF – Perceived Fear

PI – Purchase Intention

vii
 Introduction

Research Rationale

The global COVID-19 pandemic that has suddenly erupted in late 2019 has

changed many aspects of our life. Introducing social distancing, quarantine, and other

restrictive measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact

on consumer behavior. In many countries, the population first faced a shortage of goods,

such as food, hygiene products, and other necessities (Sheth, 2020). The critical situation

pushed human behavior to change in various areas, including product choice, channel

selection, shopping trip frequency, brand preference, and media consumption (Becdach

et al., 2020). The major drivers of these changes were concerns about the disease's rapid

spread, public health concerns, social exclusion, and stress brought on by media attention

(Schiff et al., 2020; Bou-Hamad et al., 2021). Because of restrictive measures, boundaries

between work and leisure dissolved as people started to work, study, shop and entertain

from home. Each of these trends is reflected in structural changes in consumption across

all categories of goods and services, causing consumer segments to pivot and adopt new

habits with some additional aspects of behavior likely to become irreversible.

Among the most significant changes resulting from the crisis, is the way

consumers do their shopping. New habits are hard to form, but throughout 2020 and into

2021, consumers have become accustomed to buying more goods online. In particular,

there have been a surge in demand for purchase of essentials such as food and groceries

and analysts expect these habits to persist as consumers report their intentions to continue

shop online even after the COVID-19 crisis (Charm et al., 2020). For instance, 40 percent

of digital consumers in South East Asia claimed that they increased their online

expenditures for fresh and packaged foods as a response to the pandemic and 80 percent

1
of those said they will continue doing so (UNCTAD, 2021). Considering this, we've seen

an acceleration in the transition of catering businesses from typical in-store service to

online-to-offline (O2O) service in order to survive the crisis and preserve that long-term

viability.

Given that the pandemic has had a great impact on consumer behavioral changes,

the COVID-19 crisis is considered as a situational factor influencing customer behavior

in online food delivery (OFD) ordering (Ali et al., 2020). Several scholars to date have

attempted to better understand consumer attitudes towards OFD services under crisis

conditions. The vast majority of these new studies focus on technological factors, such as

the technology acceptance model theory (TAM) (Hong et al., 2021; Troise et al., 2020),

the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) (Zhao & Bacao, 2020;

Muangmee et al., 2021; Zanetta et al., 2021; Puriwat & Tripopsakul, 2021), and its

extended version UTAUT-2 (Ramos, 2021; Chotigo & Kadono, 2021). While such

theories offer insights into the technology-related factors that influence the behavioral

intent to use OFD platforms, they provide limited knowledge of usage motivations and

the decision-making process (Tandon et al., 2021).

The present study aims to address these research gaps by extending ideas recently

proposed by Kaur et al. (2021) framework which places food delivery applications (FDA)

in the context of the theory of consumption values (TCV) to examine the outlier choice

behavior of FDA users during the pandemic. Scholars emphasize the importance of a

revision of consumption values, as they argue that each’s function of the TCV framework

could be influenced either positively or adversely by COVID-19 crisis conditions, and it

is necessary to define the changes (Tanrikulu et al., 2021). They also contend that

increased public concerns about COVID-19 infection functioned as a driver for OFD

2
services adaptation and the disease-related fears can be considered as the determinant of

consumer intent. (Puriwat and Tripopsakul, 2021). Therefore, this study integrates an

additional variable “Perceived Fear of COVID-19” into the aforementioned TCV

framework to better capture consumers’ purchase intentions towards FDAs during the

COVID-19 pandemic.

The study investigates the following three research questions:

1. Which consumption values can predict consumer choice behavior towards FDAs

during the pandemic in Taiwan?

2. Does “Perceived Fear of COVID-19” influence FDAs consumers’ purchase

intention during the pandemic?

3. Was there a shift in strengths of the relationship between consumption values

and purchase intention towards FDAs as compared with pre-COVID-19

outbreak time?

The findings of this paper can be of value for stakeholders involved in OFD

businesses as they provide relevant insights into actual customers' decision-making

process. The results will also help them identify changes that have occurred in the

behavior of FDA users because of the global COVID-19 pandemic, which may have

accelerated some trends and disrupted others. Companies can then use this information to

improve their segmentation, targeting, and positioning while developing marketing

strategies in order to gain competitive advantages in one of the fastest-growing markets

of e-commerce.

3
 Research Background

Over the last two decades, Taiwan's economy has had a steady growth and

macroeconomic stability which jointly have supported greater consumption (Lee et al.,

2020). Widespread internet use and the rapid adoption of mobile gadgets have contributed

to greater use of OFD. Taiwan has the third-highest Internet use rate in Asia, trailing only

Korea and Japan. The country’s internet use rate was 92,6% in 2020, with over 20 million

active users (Taiwan Network Information Center, 2020). As for smartphone usage,

Taiwan had around 28.77 million registered mobile connections in January 2021,

accounting for 120.7 percent of the total population (Kemp, 2021). In 2017, Taiwan also

had the highest e-commerce penetration rate in Asia (67%), as well as the greatest average

revenue per e-commerce user in the region (Augustin & Liaw, 2020). This connectivity,

combined with a rising customer appetite for e-commerce transactions, has enhanced the

potential for food delivery platforms, making Taiwan one of the fastest-growing food

delivery markets in Asia.

Compared to other countries, Taiwan's response to the COVID-19 crisis was

different and regarded as unusually effective. This response included a 255-day stretch

without domestically transmitted cases. However, the sudden increase in local infections

in early May 2021 and rapid community spread forced the government to impose a Level

3 alert requiring people to wear masks when going out, reduce their outside activities, and

maintain social distancing (Kuo, 2021). Except for essential services, it required many

businesses to switch to remote work, and also restricted on-site dining for catering

enterprises.

Under this level of the epidemic warning, in order to avoid exposure to the risk of

infection, people drastically reduced their interactions with other people, which also

4
affected shopping habits. To ensure sufficient social distancing 47.6% of Taiwanese

respondents reported that they switched from physical to online shopping. Affected by

the policy of limiting outings and prohibiting dining in, the number of orders on food

delivery platforms has exploded (Xianen et al., 2021). In July 2021, total spending on

UberEats and Foodpanda services set a new high, even though infection rates had already

slowed down. In the following period, the market contracted somewhat, but the market

volume remains significantly larger than it was prior to the outbreak (Sheng, 2021).

Research Structure

I divide the present study into five chapters, which are:

The introducing chapter explains the rationale for choosing the study and provides a brief

background. It also highlights importance and relevance of the topic, as well as how the

study contributes to the existing literature.

The literature review summarizes the OFD market and discusses concepts and theoretical

frameworks related to the application of TCV. It also outlines all the variables that

connect generic TCV and FDA-specific consumption values, followed by explanations

of how the pandemic may have influenced these values in terms of the intention to use

FDA platforms. Relevant hypotheses are also presented here.

The research methodology chapter discusses the research development and data

collection. It also relates the analytical framework to testable hypotheses.

The research findings chapter presents the findings of the preliminary data analysis,

determines whether the stated hypotheses should be accepted or rejected, and compares

if the results are consistent with the findings of the pre-pandemic comparable study.

5
The implications and future directions chapter examines the research's results and offers

implications from both a theoretical and management perspective. It also outlines

potential extensions of this study.

6
 Literature Review

Food Delivery Apps

Food delivery services have been around for years, but thanks to the recent

development of FDAs, getting food from a favorite restaurant has never been easier. FDA

is an innovative mobile solution that connects catering enterprises and clients by

integrating O2O delivery services (Zhao & Bacao, 2020). The emergence of the O2O

business model presented an opportunity for FDA providers to draw customers through

digital channels so that they can purchase groceries and ready-to-eat meals from physical

locations (Sarkar et al., 2021).

Online
Online feedback Online response and service improve]ment

Online search and order Online order presentation

Mobile devices
Offline delivery and
O2O Offline order processing
Restaurants
consumption

Consumer Business

Offline
Figure 2-1: O2O Food delivery system (Maimaiti et al., 2018)

In the past few years, the O2O concept is gradually dominating the global online

food delivery market. The industry is witnessing fierce competition and attracting

significant investment as new players race to capture bigger market shares and customers

(Rishi et al., 2021). The development of the industry has been facilitated by the emergence

of integrated OFD platforms such as Uber Eats, Baidu Waimai, and GrubHub. These

platforms allow various stakeholders in the restaurant industry, such as street food and

7
local cuisine vendors, to connect with new customers and generate greater revenue

(Chotigo & Kadono, 2021).

Globally, OFD revenue increased to 151.5 billion USD in 2021 and is projected

to surpass 182.3 billion USD by 2024, growing at a compound annual growth rate (GAGR)

of 12.2% from 2018 to 2024 (Statista Reports, 2020). Several key forces have driven the

recent growth, such as the widespread use of mobile gadgets, the deployment of

infrastructure to facilitate payment and delivery, accelerated urbanization around the

world, and COVID-19 (Li et al., 2020; Hong et al., 2021, Roh & Park, 2019). Although

the market showed high growth rates before the COVID-19 outbreak, consumers seemed

to order out ready-to-consume food significantly more in 2020 than they did the previous

year, causing FDA revenues to skyrocket exceeding analysts' market forecast estimates

as compared with expectations before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (Hong et al.,

2021; Morgan Stanley, 2020).

FDAs are a subset of OFD, as they enable to order meals via mobile applications.

We can segment them into two main categories, the platform-to-consumer delivery sub-

segment (online delivery platforms) and the restaurant-to-consumer delivery sub-segment

(restaurant self-delivery).

 Platform-to-consumer delivery sub-segment

Food delivery aggregators are services that enable users to compare options and

buy meals from a variety of restaurants via a single mobile application. When an order is

placed, aggregators are also fully responsible for the logistics of the order which they

handle on their own through crowdsourcing (Han et al., 2021). This business model

provides the greatest benefit to all parties — restaurants, customers, and aggregators.

Aggregators assist restaurants with more than just delivery; they also offer marketing

8
services, which may ultimately lead to customer base expansion and increased revenues.

Customers benefit from greater choice options, while platforms make profits charging up

by to 30% commission from each order. Deliveroo and Uber Eats are the largest

aggregator platforms for restaurants worldwide, with over 100,000 restaurant partners

globally.

 Restaurant-to-consumer delivery sub-segment

According to this model, restaurant self-delivery players commonly provide their

own branded apps for food ordering (Pizza Hut, McDonald's) or partnering with third

parties who handle restaurant sourcing and transaction processing, while restaurants

supply the food and logistics (Delivery Hero, Just Eat). This business model allows for

greater control over the quality of customer service because companies hire their own

chefs to prepare meals on-site, ensuring freshness, and their own couriers to deliver food

orders, ensuring no delays.

The literature review on FDA related articles revealed it is a fast-growing business

segment in many economies around the world, however, there has been little research has

to date. Studying consumer behavior towards FDAs has only recently become of interest

to scholars with none focused on the Taiwanese environment.

Noticeably, most of the existing studies focus on the application of technology

acceptance frameworks such as TAM and UTAUT-2, controlling them with other

variables such as information quality (Lee et al., 2019), compatibility and subjective norm

(Roh & Park, 2019), or the features of mobile food ordering apps (Alalwan, 2020). Few

scholars have attempted to investigate consumers' attitudes towards FDAs by utilizing

9
seminal behavioral frameworks such as the theory of planned behavior (Belanche, 2020),

uses and gratifications theory (Ray et al. 2019), or the TCV (Kaur et al. 2021).

Another important observation is that from 2020 to 2021, the number of FDA-

related articles addressing the impact of COVID-19 on the industry from a consumer

perspective has increased significantly. However, most of the studies still rely on

frameworks based on technology adoption and acceptance (Zhao & Bacao, 2020; Hong

et al., 2021; Muangmee et al., 2021; Prasetyo et al., 2021).

Theory of Consumption Values

The TCV is a marketing theory established by Sheth et al. (1991) to describe the

motivations that drive consumers in choosing products and services. Because of its

emphasis on both utilitarian and hedonic aspects of perceived value, it offers a way to

understand consumer choice behavior from a multi-dimensional perspective. The theory

defines factors influencing consumers’ purchasing motivation as a function of multiple

independent consumption values (Tanrikulu, 2021).

The term "consumption value" refers to the degree of fulfillment of consumer need

by total evaluation of consumers' net utility or satisfaction from a product after weighing

the benefits against the sacrifices (Biswas & Roy, 2015). Five consumption values,

including epistemic value, social value, emotional value, functional, and conditional

value, shape consumers’ choice behavior according to the TCV. These values are drawn

from consumer perceptions and determine the nature and direction of the consumer-

product interaction. (Lee et al., 2015).

10
 Figure 2-2: Original TCV model (Sheth et al., 1991)

According to Sheth et al. (1991) the five consumption values are:

 Functional – The physical characteristics and perceived utility of a product which

is measured by how well a product achieves its functional, utilitarian, or physical

purpose.

 Emotional – The ability of a product to give users a desired feeling or emotional

when in use, which is measured by profiling the feelings a user may experience

by using a product.

 Social – The perceived value or utility of a product by society evoking social

image or status when the user is engaging with said product.

 Epistemic – The ability of a product to incite curiosity, often offering novelty or

excitement about new knowledge in the user.

 Conditional - The utility of a product when the consumer faces decisions in

relation to a specific situation. The utility is only measured in a conditional sense

in unique and situational circumstances.

Since the invention of TCV in the early 1990s, consumption values have been

useful in understanding consumer behavior in a wide range of research areas, from

11
marketing and management to education and tourism. Recently, the theory has received

more attention from scholars because of its adaptation in research contexts such as digital

marketing, sustainable marketing, tourism marketing, higher education, and social

marketing (Tanrikulu, 2021).

More articles applying the TCV to different fields and scenarios were published

between 2015 and 2021 than in the preceding 20 years. (Tanrikulu, 2021). One of the

most popular fields of application has been the role of consumption value in the

hospitality sector. For instance, Parvin et al., (2016) use the TCV model to examine the

value perception of restaurant patrons. The study segments customers based on functional,

social, and emotional values. Boonsiritomachai and Sud-On (2020) apply the multi-

dimensional TCV structure to define the mobile application value and investigate its

relationship with hotel brand awareness and booking intention among travelers. TCV has

also been integrated with TPB to study consumer choice intentions for restaurants listed

in the Michelin Guide Seoul 2017 (Kim & Lee, 2017).

Some scholars have identified digital marketing as the field with the greatest

potential for TCV use and extended the theory to include additional variables in a range

of online contexts to examine consumer attitudes and intents (Tanrikulu, 2021). Table 2-

1 summarizes the limited prior literature on the application of TCV in different online

settings. In general, there are positive associations between the values derived from the

TCV framework and intention to use (Talwar et al., 2020; Zhang and Mao, 2012; Kaur et

al., 2021), continued intention to use (Dhir et al., 2018; Chen and Sharma, 2013), loyalty

(Teng, 2018), and adaptation behavior (Omigie et al., 2017; Peng et al., 2014).

12
Table 2-1: Summary of studies on the application of TCV to digital environments

Relevant studies Field of research Significant variables

(p< .05)
Peng et al. (2014) Branded mobile apps ● Functional value;
● Emotional value;
Omigie et al. (2017) Mobile financial services ● Functional value;
● Epistemic value;
● Emotional value;
● Conditional value;
Talwar et al. (2020) Online travel agencies ● Functional value;
● Social value;
● Epistemic value;
● Conditional value;
Zhang and Mao (2012) Smartphone location- ● Social value;
based services ● Epistemic value;
● Emotional value;
● Conditional value;
Kaur et al. (2021) Food delivery apps ● Social value;
● Epistemic value;
● Conditional value;
Dhir et al. (2018) Mobile instant messaging ● Functional value;
apps ● Social value;
Teng (2018) Online gaming ● Functional value;
● Social value;
● Epistemic value;
● Emotional value;
Chen and Sharma (2013) Social Media ● Functional value;
● Social value;
● Epistemic value;
● Emotional value;
● Conditional value;

13
 The theory has become widely used in consumer behavior studies in Taiwan, with

the number of publications second only to the United States (Tanrikulu, 2021). Taiwanese

scholars have used the TCV framework to examine consumers’ choice behavior in various

contexts such as mobile application use (Wang et al., 2013), branded apps adoption (Peng

et al., 2014), smartphone brand switching, (Wong et al., 2019), online games (Teng, 2018),

physical and online music products (Wu et al., 2017), purchasing of virtual goods in

online-games (Ho & Wu, 2014), and green products (Lin et al., 2010). These studies

provide empirical evidence of appropriateness of TCV and its flexibility in Taiwanese

consumer research.

Application of the TCV to FDA

By extending the TCV to the FDA context and considering both application-

related values and values obtained from the consumption of supplied meals (e.g., food

safety and quality), Kaur et al., (2021) identify six FDA-specific consumption values with

reference to the original TCV framework. The FDA captures functional value with three

dimensions: price value, health consciousness, and food-safety concerns. Prestige is an

extended generic social value as it refers to the self-image that consumers create among

their social groups by using FDA services. Epistemic and conditional generic values in

the FDA framework are represented as visibility and affordances value, accordingly.

 Purchase intention

Predicting purchase intentions helps marketers forecasting future sales and

determining how their activities will affect consumers' purchasing behavior (Morwitz,

2012). By definition, purchase intention is the degree of a person's desire to engage in a

certain action or decide to acquire a product. We can define it as the likelihood of a

14
consumer to purchase a product or avail a service in the future (Gómez-Suárez et al.,

2016). Scholars argue that consumers' purchase intentions are frequently linked to their

behaviors, perceptions, or attitudes. For instance, the theory of planned behavior suggests

that an individual's behavior may be determined and anticipated based on their intentions,

which are a function of three fundamental factors: attitude, subjective norm, and

perceived behavioral control (Ajzen, 1991).

The literature review reveals that the OFD sector is projected to have a high

growth rate in the foreseen future. Therefore, it is important for FDA providers to evaluate

consumer purchase intent, because they regard this factor as the key determinant of actual

behavior, i.e., purchases made through FDA platforms. Also, prior literature indicates that

there are many factors that can influence FDA consumers' purchase intention in general,

and during COVID-19 pandemic in particular. This research will help to clarify some of

them.

Hypothesis Statement

 Price value

Price value is the comparison of the benefits perceived by consumers versus the

financial cost they pay for a product. If the benefits outweigh the costs, price value

positively influences a customer's desire to purchase the product. (Ramos, 2021).

Consumers favor online shopping platforms over offline retail outlets because they

provide better monetary value and additional benefits (Noble et al., 2005). Tandon et

al. (2020) indicate that monetary and quality-of benefit values positively influence food-

ordering decisions, particularly individuals’ purchase intention towards OFD services.

In the context of FDA, Kaur et al., (2021) identify price value as a combination

of the following three components: price reasonableness, value for money, and price

15
satisfaction and also found a positive correlation between the price value and FDA

consumer purchase intentions, arguing that most FDA users are price-conscious and

looking for a cost advantage (Kaur et al., 2021).

Recent literature suggests that economic instability caused by the pandemic

resulted in many consumers becoming more price sensitive. For instance, Hartono et al.

(2021) claims that factors such as reduced income and job uncertainty have challenged

consumers to adopt more saving habits, and engage in cheaper alternatives while

purchasing. Kulkarni et al., (2021) identifies that today’s consumers are increasingly

seeking better value for money.

H1 (a): Price value positively affects FDA consumers’ purchase intentions during the
pandemic.

H1 (b): As compared with the pre-pandemic research, the strength of association is

higher.

 Health consciousness

Health consciousness refers to a person's intrinsic motivation to engage in

preventative health compliance behavior (Shin et al., 2018). Health-conscious consumers

prefer fresh, organic, and nutritious food over unhealthy options. Jin et al. (2017) argues

that the desire to live healthily influences individuals’ feelings about their dining

experience, as they prefer healthy menu choices. A study conducted at a food court of a

university in the United States, where customers faced two options; a locally sourced

restaurant presented as a healthy option versus quick-service fast-food joints, shows that

health consciousness is a critical factor in determining individuals’ behavioral intents and

purchase decision (DiPietro et al., 2016). Accordingly, Hwang and Cranage (2010) found

16
that consumers with a higher level of health-consciousness are more critical of their food

choices and are less inclined to buy junk food.

Emphasizing the importance of health consciousness in food consumption and

considering that a large proportion of FDA-provided food options are not deemed

nutritious, Kaur et al. (2021) identifies this factor as a negative influence on FDA users’

intents. However, no significant association between health consciousness and intention

to use FDAs was identified in the empirical study conducted prior to the COVID-19

outbreak (Kaur et al., 2021).

Saah et al. (2021) argue that during the pandemic and because of the virus’ highly

contagious nature, some aspects of health-seeking behavior have improved, one of them

being health consciousness. For instance, investigating recent changes in consumer

behavior, Faldu (2020) found that most consumers intend to change their buying and

eating habits towards more health-conscious options. This is in line with the Accenture

report, which shows that in the COVID-19 era, health-conscious behaviors have become

one of the top priorities among shoppers (Accenture, 2020).

H2 (a): Health consciousness negatively affects FDA consumers’ purchase intentions

during the pandemic.

H2 (b): As compared with the pre-pandemic research, the relationship between Health
Consciousness and Purchase Intention is significant.

 Food safety concerns

Food safety concerns show the extent of consumers’ worry about quality or the

likelihood of not being harmed by consuming a particular food. Due to increased media

attention to this topic and several food-borne disease outbreaks, consumers are becoming

more aware of food safety risks in the food-service industry (Cha and Borchgrevink,

17
2018). Knight et al. (2007) state that there are four main indicators of food safety that

influence consumers’ value perception in a restaurant setting: personal hygiene,

workplace sanitation, food handling, and food preparation. Researching consumers’

behavioral intentions towards dining out, Cha and Borchgrevink (2018) report a strong

correlation between perceived food safety and satisfaction and loyalty. Additionally,

Suhartanto et al. (2018) consider food safety as a reflection of quality value and suggest

that the quality of food significantly influenced OFD customers’ purchase behavior

(intentions and loyalty).

In the context of FDAs, Kaur et al., (2021) define food safety concerns as the

degree of customers’ anxiety about the risks of harm or sickness when they intend to

consume a meal delivered from a selected restaurant. A high level of anxiety may

negatively influence consumers’ intentions to use FDA services. Nevertheless, the study

found no significant correlation between food safety concerns and the intention to use

FDAs (Kaur et al., 2021).

However, COVID-19 related studies show that, since the beginning of the

pandemic, consumers’ perceptions regarding food safety issues have changed (AlTarrah

et al., 2021). Although there is no evidence that the virus can be transmitted through the

consumption of food, people are more concerned about food safety than they used to be

(Min et al., 2020). For instance, a survey conducted among US citizens revealed that over

30 percent of consumers reported that they choose to avoid certain foods and beverages

because they may pose a food safety risk of COVID-19 (International Food Information

Council, 2020).

H3 (a): Food safety concerns negatively affect FDA consumers’ purchase intentions
during the pandemic.

18
H3 (b): As compared with the pre-pandemic research, the relationship between Food
safety concerns and Purchase Intention is significant.

 Prestige value

Prestige value reflects the social value that a person gains from the adaptation and

use of technology (Dhir et al., 2018). It represents the esteem that users gain within their

social networks by appearing intelligent for utilizing modern technologies (e.g., food

ordering from a smartphone). Social prestige and status feelings have a significant impact

on consumer choice behavior. Some individuals believe that technology usage changes

the way others perceive them and that they gain the value of an improved self-image

(Barboza & Filho, 2019; Santos-Pinto & Sobel, 2005).

As related to FDA, prestige value comprises the following three components: self-

image enchantment, creating a favorable impression among social peers, or appearing to

be smart. A study conducted before the pandemic revealed that prestige value

significantly influences purchase intentions of FDA users (Kaur et al., 2021).

H4: Prestige value positively affects FDA consumers’ purchase intentions during the
pandemic.

 Affordances value

The term “affordance” is borrowed from graphic design terminology. By

definition, it means an object's quality or features that determine its potential uses or

specify the way it should be utilized. For FDAs, it represents a conditional value and

indicates the factors which may attract consumers to use FDA services. The factors vary

from improved special offers and restaurant directories to reduced delivery time and fees.

According to Kaur et al., (2021), the conditional value is a neglected aspect in

FDA-related studies even though it has a significant positive effect on customer decision-

19
making in the fields of hospitality and tourism. The study revealed that affordances value

(conditional) is the second key driver encouraging Indian consumers to use FDAs (Kaur

et al., 2021).

H5: Affordances value positively affects FDA consumers’ purchase intentions during the
pandemic.

 Perceived fear of Covid-19

The recent TCV related literature suggests that we may consider the effect of the

pandemic on consumer behavior as a conditional value in TCV framework (Tanrikulu,

2021). Therefore, the present research integrates the effect of the pandemic in terms of

“Perceived Fear of COVID-19” as an additional independent variable into the existing

FDA-related TCV framework. This will help us better understand current consumer

choice behavior, particularly the increased intention to use food ordering services via

mobile apps.

In the past, scholars established that fear motivates consumers to take part in

adaptive behavior in order to evade or counter the threat (Mcdaniel & Zeithaml, 1984).

Recent COVID-19 related literature also reflects this statement, where scholars have

argued that consumers’ decision- making process and shopping behavior in the COVID-

19 era is influenced by their fears; the more anxious people are, the more likely they are

to change their behavior (Alsaad & Al-Okaily, 2021; Eger et al., 2021).

Some scholars have attempted to investigate the relationship between fear and

consumption behavior. For instance, Al-Maroof et al. (2020) study the relation between

fear emotions (COVID-19 related) and technology adoption (Google meet). The study

found that perceived fear was one of the main factors influencing students’ intention to

accept and adopt the technology. Additionally, Puriwat & Tripopsakul, (2021)

20
incorporate perceived COVID-19 fears as an additional variable in the UTAUT model

and found that it has a significant direct impact on the intention to use OFD services,

especially among teenagers.

H6: Perceived fear of COVID-19 positively affects FDA consumers’ purchase intentions
during the pandemic.

 Visibility value

Visibility is a measurement of epistemic value as it represents the extent to which

the public is aware of a particular technology (Johnson et al., 2018). They may reflect this

awareness in seeing advertising campaigns or observing others using the technology,

which will increase a person's curiosity about a product or a service. Several studies have

identified the important role of visibility in predicting consumer behavior and intention

to use e-commerce platforms (Slyke et al., 2010), m-payment services (Johnson et al.,

2018), and mobile banking (Püschel et al., 2010).

Since FDAs are a mobile-based subset of e-commerce, Kaur et al. (2021)

identifies this variable as a potential construct that affects consumers’ intent to use the

services and found that visibility is the main driver affecting Indian individuals to use

FDAs. Similarly, Zhu & Phongsatha, (2021) found the significance of this variable with

Chinese consumers purchase intentions regarding OFD services. However, the strength

of the relationship was not as strong.

H7: Visibility value positively affects FDA consumers’ purchase intentions during the
pandemic.

21
Theoretical Framework

H1(a;b)
Price value
Controls
Age / Gender
Functional Health
value consciousness H2(a;b)

Food safety H3(a;b)

concerns

Social value Prestige value

H4 Purchase
intention

H5
Affordances
value
Conditional
H6
value
Perceived fear
of Covid-19
H7

Epistemic Visibility
value value

Figure 2-3: Theoretical Framework

22
 Research Methodology

Research Method

The research was carried out using a quantitative research approach with primary

data collection by a self-administered questionnaire. The method employs surveys and

statistical analyses and seems to be the most appropriate to test the proposed hypotheses

and examine the relationships between consumers' consumption values and intentions to

use FDAs. This is in line with other studies which have used the TCV framework to

investigate factors influencing consumers' purchase intentions (Talwar et al., 2020; Zhang

and Mao, 2012; Kaur et al., 2021).

Questionnaire Development

I adopted the initial version of the questionnaire from the previous research

conducted by Kaur et. al (2021) and comprised 3 items measuring demographic variables,

26 items measuring independent variables, and 4 items measuring the dependent variable.

However, after consultation with the thesis adviser Dr. David Andersson, minor

adjustments were made regarding control variables, the categorical age variable was

replaced with continual, and the economic background item was excluded from the

questionnaire. Also, two demographic variables were added concerning FDA usage

frequency and place of residence. For the “Perceived Fear of COVID-19” construct

measurement items were taken from the Puriwat and Tripopsakul (2021) study.

For a brief acquaintance of the participants with the upcoming survey, the

information was placed in the questionnaire's header as “The purpose of this academic

study is to better understand consumers’ behavior in relation to the use of food delivery

apps”. Respondents were also informed that the provided information will be kept

23
confidential, and only the researcher involved in the project will have access to the

survey’s data.

To make sure that the respondents had an experience of food ordering via FDAs

during the pandemic (since level 3 Alert was announced), the first question of the

questionnaire was regarding whether participants have ordered food online using FDAs

(e.g., Foodpanda, Uber Eats, McDonald's) in the previous 6 months. Those who answered

"No" were later excluded from the statistical analysis, as it was assumed that their food

purchasing habits were not affected by the pandemic conditions.

The questionnaire later was translated into Chinese since the target audience for

the research is Taiwanese students. This was necessary in order to reduce the possibility

of linguistic misunderstanding and to increase the accuracy of responses collected. Two

NSYSU graduate students from the Department of Management then independently

revised the questionnaire, eliminating any possible translation flaws.

After creating the Chinese questionnaire, the next phase was to conduct a

pretesting process to ensure that the time required to complete the questionnaire was

reasonable and to reveal any issues with the questionnaire that might jeopardize the

study's accuracy and reliability. The pilot testing revealed that some of the proposed

questions did not fit the proposed model, as the answers within a construct were

inconsistent or even the opposite. For instance, for the only two items measuring food

safety concerns, proposed by Kaur et. al (2021), namely “The quality and safety of food

nowadays concerns me” and “I’m very particular about the quality and safety of food

which I intend to consume” commonly the difference in answers was reaching up to 4

positions on a 7-point scale. This dynamic was observed with several other constructs and

I decided to improve the questionnaire by replacing and adding several items. In the final

24
version of the survey, three questions were replaced and eight added from a related prior

literature.

3.2.1 Demographics

As part of the research, sociodemographic information was obtained from

participants to describe characteristics of the responses and to provide a better

understanding of the dataset. For this purpose, in the first part of the questionnaire

respondents were asked to provide information regarding their age (continuous variable),

gender (Male/Female), place of residence (dormitory/ off-campus) and FDA usage

frequency (more than 4 times per week/ 2-3 times per week/ 2-3 times per month/ 1-2

times per month).

3.2.2 Measurements

Since one of the research objectives is to compare the relationship between

context-specific consumption values proposed by Kaur et.al (2021) and intentions to use

FDAs under the COVID-19 pandemic conditions (the present research) versus pre-

pandemic (the earlier research), most measurement items were adopted from the previous

study. However, several items were altered, because of the reasons explained in the

“Questionnaire development” section of the current chapter. The model was also

supplemented with an additional independent variable: “Perceived Fear of COVID-19”.

All the proposed items are measured on Likert-type rating scale composed of 7-

points, with 1 being "strongly disagree" (or " not at all concerned ") and 7 being "strongly

agree" (or " extremely concerned ").

25
Price value (PV) – A four-item scale is used to assess the construct: P1, P2, P3, P4 (refer

to Appendix 1). The items, which were adapted from Kaur et.al (2021) and Tandon et al.

(2021) are related to price reasonableness, value for money, and price satisfaction.

Food Safety Concerns (FSC) - A four-item scale is used to assess the construct: FSC1,

FSC2, FSC3, FSC4 (refer to Appendix 1). The items, which were adapted from Kaur et.al

(2021) and Ryu and Rho (2011) are related to consumers’ worry about quality and safety

of food, and food safety behavior.

Health consciousness (HC) - A four-item scale is used to assess the construct: HC1,

HC2, HC3, HC4 (refer to Appendix 1). The items, which were adapted from Kaur et.al

(2021) and Hoek et al. (2004) are related to customers' self-perceptions of their own health.

Prestige Value (PRV) - A four-item scale is used to assess the construct: PRV1, PRV2,

PRV3, PRV4 (refer to Appendix 1). The items, which were adapted from Kaur et.al (2021)

and Tandon et al. (2021) are related to self-image enchantment, creating an impression

among social circles or appearing to be smart.

Affordances Value (AV) - A four-item scale is used to assess the construct: AV1, AV2,

AV3, AV4 (refer to Appendix 1). The items, which were adapted from Kaur et.al (2021)

are related to customers' perceptions about restaurant listing, delivery service, and

marketing promotions.

Visibility (V) - A four-item scale is used to assess the construct: V1, V2, V3, V4 (refer

to Appendix 1). The items, which were adapted from Kaur et.al (2021) and Tandon et al.

(2021) are related to the extent to which an individual witnesses’ others using FDA

services or sees promotional advertisements.

26
Perceived Fear (PF) - A four-item scale is used to assess the construct: PF1, PF2, PF3,

PF4 (refer to Appendix 1). The items, which were adapted from Puriwat and

Tripopsakul (2021) and Ahorsu et al. (2020) are related to consumers’ worries and

thoughts about the pandemic or being infected by the virus.

Purchase Intention (PI) - A four-item scale is used to assess the construct: PI1, PI2, PI3,

PI4 (refer to Appendix 1). The items, which were adapted from Kaur et.al (2021) are

related to consumers’ future intentions to use FDAs.

Sampling and Data Collection

The study's target audience is Taiwanese students who have purchased ready-to-

eat meals from FDAs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of the limited resources

available to the researcher for collecting data online, the data was collected in person.

Using a convenience sampling technique, students who were willing to participate in the

study were recruited from the campuses of two major Kaohsiung universities: Sun Yat-

sen National University (NSYSU) and Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages. The

data collection process took place between November and December 2021 and targeted

students pursuing different university degree levels to provide a more reliable result. The

participants were provided with a paper-based questionnaire, which was filled out in

person. Finally, the researcher digitized and prepared the data for analysis.

27
 Research Findings

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)

To confirm our measurement theory, we conducted a CFA analysis of the total

sample using R software. We examined factor loadings as a part of the CFA to determine

whether the variables are being tested with reliable and accurate measures. The analysis

shows (refer to Table 4-1), that all factors have sufficient loading estimates and exceed

0.7 (ideal value) except for one item (FSC4), where the loading was just below the ideal

value, but within an acceptable range ≥ 0.5 (Hair et al., 2019). We then concluded that

the measurement items and underlying constructs are highly correlated, therefore all the

items are appropriate.

We also examined the reliability and validity of the CFA model to confirm their

consistency and accuracy. To access a measure of scale reliability we used composite

reliability (CR) and Cronbach’s alpha (α), which represent how closely related a set of

items are as a group. The results show that estimated values for each construct are higher

than recommended benchmark values (α ≥ 0.7; CR ≥ 0.7) and we can confirm the

reliability of the data set (Hair et al., 2019). Next, average variance extracted (AVE) was

computed to assess the convergent validity of the data. AVE represent an average

percentage of variation explained (variance extracted) among the items of a construct of

each factor. The results show that estimated AVE for each factor in excess of the

suggested minimum of 0.50, indicating good convergent validity. Table 4-1 summarizes

the results of the performed analyses.

28
Table 4-1: Factor loadings, internal reliability and convergent validity test results

Item Factor
Construct CR AVE α
code loadings
PV1 0.864
Price Value (PV) PV2 0.839 0.925 0.756 0.924
PV3 0.891
PV4 0.884
FSC1 0.867
Food Safety Concerns
FSC2 0.942 0.945 0.814 0.944
(FSC) FSC3 0.868
FSC4 0.688
HC1 0.897
Health Consciousness
HC2 0.933 0.908 0.715 0.903
(HC) HC3 0.885
HC4 0.892
PRV1 0.871
Prestige Value (PRV) PRV2 0.943 0.933 0.778 0.933
PRV3 0.967
PRV4 0.760
AV1 0.863
Affordances Value
AV2 0.838 0.906 0.710 0.904
(AV) AV3 0.911
AV4 0.746
V1 0.742
Visibility (V) V2 0.920 0.856 0.599 0.851
V3 0.731
V4 0.716
PF1 0.899
Perceived Fear (PF) PF2 0.888 0.931 0.772 0.931
PF3 0.862
PF4 0.871
PI1 0.938
Purchase Intention (PI) PI2 0.911 0.939 0.794 0.939
PI3 0.819
PI4 0.906

29
 In addition, we used the Fornell & Larcker Criterion (FL criterion) and Heterotrait

Monotrait (HTMT) Ratio to determine the discriminant validity (DV) of the measurement

model. The FL criterion approach implies that discriminant validity can be verified if the

square root of AVE of each factor is greater than the inter-correlations among other

constructs (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). As shown in Table 4-2, each construct satisfies this

condition, and we can therefore confirm the discriminant validity of the dataset.

Table 4-2: FL criterion discriminant validity test results

Construct PV FSC HC PRV AV V PF PI

PV 0.869
FSC 0.151 0.846
HC 0.152 0.599 0.902
PRV 0.292 0.187 0.107 0.882
AV 0.397 0.301 0.126 0.029 0.842
V 0.206 0.272 0.172 0.028 0.611 0.774
PF 0.124 0.375 0.216 0.057 0.267 0.221 0.879
PI 0.532 0.069 0.020 0.288 0.515 0.388 0.259 0.891

However, the FL criterion has lately been criticized by scholars because of its
inferiority and inefficacy (Najmi et al., 2021), and a new approach for establishing
discriminant validity among constructs, the HTMT ratio, is becoming more widely used.
According to this method, the values of each construct should not surpass the 0.85 cutoff
(Henseler et al., 2014). Table 4-3 shows that in the present study, none of the construct's
values exceed the suggested cutoff value, therefore establishing discriminant validity.

Table 4-3: HTMT ratio discriminant validity test results

Construct PV FSC HC PRV AV V PF

FSC 0.168
HC 0.150 0.613
PRV 0.277 0.200 0.130
AV 0.362 0.292 0.127 0.061
V 0.211 0.280 0.160 0.089 0.597
PF 0.111 0.373 0.203 0.064 0.247 0.213
PI 0.498 0.076 0.032 0.317 0.464 0.394 0.241

30
 For evaluating overall goodness of fit of the measurement model, we referred to

the computations of four common model-fit indicators. As suggested by Hair et al. (2019),

we also tested one absolute index: mean square error of approximation (RMSEA); and

two incremental indices: comparative fit index (CFI) and Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) in

addition to the chi-squared test that represents the exact fit of the model. All goodness-

of-fit measures are within the acceptable thresholds, showing that the data is suitable for

the model. The results of the test and recommended values for each goodness-of-fit

measure are summarized in Table 4-4.

Table 4-4: Measurement model goodness-of-fit summary

X2/df CFI TLI RMSEA

Estimated value 2.4 0.962 0.957 0.049
Suggested value <3 > .9 > .9 < .08

Descriptive Statistics

For descriptive statistics analysis, IBM SPSS 28 was used to examine

demographic data of the sample. Of the 287 students taking part in the survey, 37

responses were excluded from further research for two main reasons: some responses

were obtained from PhD students aged 34 to 47 that do not represent the desired sample

of data, the other part of the responses was invalidated because these respondents had not

used FDA services in the past 6 months.

The final sample of this study included 250 responses, collected from

undergraduate and graduate students. Among them, males made up the bulk of

participants (about 62%; n = 156), while females were represented by a smaller number

(nearly 38%; n = 94). The respondents varied in age from 18 to 29, with the mean age of

31
20,84. Informally, students aged 18 to 21 may be categorized as undergraduates and they

accounted for the majority of respondents (just above 66%, n = 166), while the remaining

approximately 34% of participants (n = 84) aged 22 and over most likely were graduate

students. Figure 4-1 illustrates the distribution of age and gender of the sample.

Gender
17 Female
16
14 Male
Count

16
6
33 10
27 4
26
17 17 2/2
13 13 3 2/1
5 5 1
18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
Age
Figure 4-1: Age and gender distribution of the sample

The distribution of respondents by place of residence is relatively even, 52.6% (n

= 131) of students reported that they reside outside of a university campus, whereas 47.4%

(n = 119) claimed that they stay in a university dormitory. In terms of the frequency of

FDAs usage, most of those surveyed said they use the platforms once or twice a month

36.8% (n = 92), followed by 30.4% (n = 76) who use them 2-3 times per month. Those

who make purchases through FDAs weekly 25.6% (n = 64) responded that they do so 2-

3 times per week, and only 7.2% (n = 18) over 4 times per week. Table 4-5 summarizes

the results of descriptive statistics analysis.

32
Table 4-5: Frequency analysis

Characteristics of respondents N %

Male 156 62
Gender
Female 94 38

18-21 166 66
Age
22-29 84 34
Dormitory 119 47.4
Place of residence
Off-campus 131 52.6
more than 4 times per week 18 7.2
2-3 times per week 64 25.6
FDA usage frequency
2-3 times per month 76 30.4
1-2 times per month 92 36.8

Hypothesis Testing

To test the proposed hypothesis and discover the association between

consumption values and FDA consumers’ purchase intentions during the COVID-19

pandemic path coefficients (β) as well as critical t ratios were computed for each construct

using IBM SPSS 28 software. The analysis revealed that eight out of ten proposed

hypotheses were found to be statistically remarkable. Figure 4-2 illustrates the results of

hypothesis testing analysis.

33
 Price value Controls
Age Gender
0.335***
Health 0.06 0.07
Functional
value consciousness
- 0.038
Food safety
concerns
- 0.195**

Social value Prestige value 0.208***

Purchase
intention

R2 = 0.483
0.302***
Affordances
value
Conditional 0.173**
value
Perceived fear
of Covid-19 Significance level:
0.151* *** p <0.001
**p <0.01
Epistemic Visibility *p <0.05
value value

Figure 4-2: Results of hypothesis testing

First, we referred to the computation of a coefficient of determination (R-Squared

value), as shown in Figure 4-2, in the present research R2 = 0.483 implying that proposed

FDA - specific consumption values explain 48.3 percent of the variance in FDAs

consumers’ purchase intention. We then examined whether proposed control variables,

namely age and gender, correlate with purchase intention and found no significance.

Regarding the proposed hypotheses, the findings suggest that the hypothesized

relationship between Price Value and Purchase Intention is positive and significant (β =

0.335; t = 6.263) hence validating H1 (a) hypothesis. Compared to the pre-pandemic study,

where the strength of the association between these two constructs was lower (β = 0.19),

we indicate that H1 (b) is supported. Concerning the relationship between Health

Consciousness and Purchase Intention similarly to the previous research, we found a

negative insignificant association (β = - 0.038; t = -0.642), therefore, both H2 (a) and H2

(b) are rejected. The relationship between Food Safety Concerns and FDA consumers’

34
purchase intention was found to be negative and significant (β = -0.195; t = -3.064). This

contradicts the pre-pandemic research findings where the relationship is determined as

insignificant (β = - 0.02), and supports the evidence of recent COVID-19 related literature,

which suggests that today's consumers are more concerned about food safety than they

were before the pandemic and that this affects their decision-making regarding food

purchases. Thus, we show that H3 (a) and H3 (b) are supported. Additionally, Affordances

Value (β = 0.302; t = 4.672), Prestige Value (β = 0.208; t = 4.207), Perceived Fear of

COVID-19 (β = 0.173; t = 3.406), and Visibility (β = 0.151; t = 2.547) were all found to

be positively and significantly correlated with FDAs consumers’ purchase intentions,

while Affordances Value turned out to be the second most significant predictor (after

Price Value) among all other constructs. Therefore, H4, H5, H6, and H7 are supported

accordingly. Table 4-6 summarizes the results of hypothesis tests.

Table 4-6: Results of hypothesis tests

Structural Standardized Standard t-value Testing

Hypothesis
paths estimate (β) error results
H1 (a) PV PI 0.33 0.045 6.263*** Supported
H2 (a) HC PI -0.04 0.052 -0.642 Rejected
H3 (a) FSC PI -0.19 0.066 -3.064** Supported
H4 PRV PI 0.21 0.042 4.207*** Supported
H5 AV PI 0.30 0.092 4.672*** Supported
H6 PF PI 0.17 0.047 3.406** Supported
H7 V PI 0.15 0.089 2.547* Supported
***p < 0.001; **p < 0.01; *p< 0.05

Table 4-7: Comparison of results with the pre-pandemic study

Structural Present Pre-pandemic

Hypothesis
paths research (β) research (β)
H1 (b) PV PI 0.33 0.19 Supported
H2 (b) HC PI -0.04 -0.09 Rejected
H3 (b) FSC PI -0.19 -0.02 Supported
PRV PI 0.21 0.13

35
 AV PI 0.30 0.37
V PI 0.15 0.47

Although during the literature review there was no evidence found to hypothesize

how the pandemic conditions may have affected consumers’ perceptions in relation to

visibility, affordances value, and social influence, we can make a comparison based on

path coefficient estimated in the present study with those of the pre-pandemic research

conducted by Kaur et al. (2021). As shown in Table 4-7 the most noticeable change is

observed in relation to visibility value, as in the previous research it was found to be the

main driver of purchase intention through FDA platforms. However, the present study

suggests that it is the least considerable one of all significant predictors, whereas price

value is a far more important influence. Since both studies measured visibility and price

value identically: as consumers’ perceptions towards promotional ads or the curiosity

sparked by seeing others use FDAs and price reasonableness, value for money, and price

satisfaction, respectively. We see current consumers are less reliant on epistemic factors

and are more price and value oriented. This statement is partially reflecting the fact that

consumers’ perceptions in relation to affordances value, which was measured through

improved FDA service quality (e.g., restaurant listing, delivery service, and marketing

promotions) remained relatively high, while all of these FDAs conditional components

refer to value-added marketing.

36
 Implications and Future Directions

Theoretical Contributions

Addressing the limitations of previous research and extending ideas recently

proposed by Kaur et al. (2021) contextualized TCV framework, the present study has

several important contributions to the emerging FDA related literature. To begin with, the

study empirically evidences what drives FDA consumers' purchase intention in the era of

COVID-19 pandemic from a TCV perspective. The importance of a revision of

consumption values considering consumers’ outlier choice behavior during the pandemic

has been underlined not only by the author of the previous study but also by other scholars

(Kaur et.al 2021; Tanrikulu et al., 2021). Also, as mentioned in the literature review,

existing research on FDAs both before and during the pandemic mostly focuses on

technology-related factors neglecting other possible drivers of FDA consumers’ intents.

However, the current study's findings suggest that, since the outcome of FDA usage is

food consumption, today’s consumers are increasingly considering key food-choice

aspects, such as food safety. The findings also indicate that food safety concerns amongst

individuals are a significant negative influence of FDAs’ purchase intentions and should

not be underestimated.

The current study is among the few to include COVID-19 fears as a potential

driver of today's consumers’ behavior, and the first one to consider the COVID-19 factor

within TCV framework as a conditional variable, which is suggested by Tanrikulu et al.,

(2021). The results show that, along with the other factors examined in this study (besides

health consciousness), consumer behavior is greatly influenced by COVID-19 fears

during a pandemic. When comparing our findings with those of the pre-pandemic study,

we observed a noticeable difference in strength of association between several constructs

37
(e.g. price value, visibility, food safety), therefore the study contributes to the existing

research by mapping distinctions in consumer perceptions related to FDA usage.

Another contribution provided by this study addresses the call of Kaur et al. (2021)

to expand the geographic scope of FDA's consumer research through the lens of the TCV

model. Given that Taiwan is among the biggest e-commerce markets in the region, in

terms of the number of online users per capita, with extremely high level of internet

penetration, the present study shields light on how local consumers perceive new digital

services, particularly FDAs. Hence, it broadens the current body of FDA-related

knowledge to a culture, with a considerable level of digital consumption, that has not yet

been empirically studied.

Practical Implications

Besides theoretical contributions, this study also provides practical insights for

relevant stakeholders in the food delivery industry. Based on the results, supplemented

by an analysis of the relevant literature, we see how the pandemic conditions have

changed consumers' perceptions of food delivery services. Since experts predict a

protracted and for some aspects irreversible impact of the pandemic on consumer

behavior, while analysts expect a gradual and long-term development of the food delivery

industry, we are certain that food delivery platforms must evolve to satisfy modern and

future customers' needs. We also firmly believe that the current business model of these

FDA providers may limit the possibilities for service improvement. We therefore propose

a revolutionary approach that requires significant investment, but in the long run will lead

to increased customers base, and therefore profitability, since it aims to satisfy the major

expectations of today's consumers revealed in this study.

38
 First, with price and affordances value being two key factors influencing FDA

consumers’ purchase intentions, we recommend that FDA providers focus their marketing

strategies on price and value-added components. By that we imply that customers should

be charged with reasonable and affordable prices, while additional benefits should be

offered (e.g., wide variety of restaurant selection, fast delivery, and order/delivery

promotions).

Under the current business model, when foodservice operators are burdened by

high affiliate commissions from food delivery aggregators, and forced to increase prices

for ordering through applications, whereas many potential customers avoid using the

services because of unreasonable food and delivery charges, it is difficult to find a middle

ground in which all stakeholders benefit financially. Therefore, we encourage FDA

providers to facilitate the development of the recently emerged concept of “cloud

kitchens”. This concept implies that the restaurant's kitchen operates only for delivery,

with no dining area, no servers or other service personnel, allowing foodservice

businesses to reduce significantly their operating costs associated with rent and labor,

which ultimately leads to cheaper prices. Food delivery operators can also attempt to

locate several "cloud kitchens" under one roof in proximity to locations with many

potential customers, such as universities, business centers and residential areas. This will

not only contribute to reduced delivery time and costs, but will also give customers an

opportunity to choose meals from menus of different restaurants that can be delivered

together, and therefore provide an additional value that will highly differentiate delivery

services from traditional restaurants.

Another possible, perhaps more costly, way to enhance aforementioned two core

values consumers derive from FDA usage is the development of infrastructure to facilitate

39
drone delivery. Today, such a delivery method is not a fiction, the technology is already

here and has been tested and used in various economic sectors. Although major global e-

commerce companies such as Alibaba and Amazon are taking significant steps to develop

solutions for last-mile drone delivery, a relevant example here is UberEATS which plans

to deliver meals via drone in 2023 (Ferrell & Ferrell, 2020). Since drone delivery has the

potential to reduce the cost and time of online deliveries, we encourage FDA providers to

consider such investments at the early stages of the technology development to achieve a

first-mover advantage.

Second, concerning visibility and prestige values, which have also been identified

as favorable factors of consumers’ intents to use FDAs, meaning that delivery apps can

increase their presence through advertisements, positive word of mouths, and boosting

consumer self-esteem. When developing marketing strategies, we encourage marketers

to consider increasing collaboration with celebrities and online influencers. We believe

that today's consumers are far more likely to trust their favorite celebrities than impersonal

commercial messages. Since media traffic has been steadily shifting online, and platforms

such as Instagram and Facebook have become the primary channels for communication

with customers, implementing influencer marketing strategies have a huge potential to

reach the target audience, and position the brand as modern and desirable.

Finally, and perhaps most crucially in the pandemic era is how consumers

perceive food delivery services in terms protection from contracting the virus while using

FDA services as well as food safety issues. Since fears associated with COVID-19 disease

are an external factor that FDA providers don’t have control over, managers should try to

ensure that customers feel protected while using the services, and there is no risk of being

infected. It is also necessary to implement several measures to ensure food safety while

40
transport / delivery food products, recommended by the World Health Organization, and

strictly monitor their compliance. Delivery staff must follow the rules of personal hygiene:

wear medical masks, disposable gloves should be changed after each delivery and

transporting bags should be disinfected after each delivery (WHO, 2020).

Limitations and Future Research Directions

Although the study provides a number of practical contributions on how FDA

providers can improve their service in order to influence consumers' purchase intentions,

we would like to point up a few limitations of the present research.

First, samples were collected from university students aged 18 to 29, representing

Generation Z and Millennials. Despite this two groups dominate online communities and

are demanding customers for many online retailers, including OFD platforms (Suhartanto

et al., 2019; Banerjee et al., 2019), such data set does not fully reflect the entire FDA-

targeted population. Future studies are recommended to consider the generational group

of baby boomers, as they are known to be more engaged in health behaviors, and health-

consciousness factor may be critical for them when making food purchasing decisions.

Second, the study was carried out between November and December 2021 due to

the fact that SARS-CoV-2 (2019-nCoV) virus tends to mutate, and the newest Omicron

variant, which has not yet been sufficiently studied, could potentially be more

transmissible and provoke a new wave of the epidemic. The research findings'

applicability may be limited to the current stage of the pandemic and further research is

recommended to determine the drivers of purchase intentions towards FDA in the later

COVID-19 period.

41
 References
Accenture. (2020). How COVID-19 will permanently change consumer behavior.

https://www.accenture.com/_acnmedia/PDF-134/Accenture-COVID19-

Consumer-Behaviour-Survey-Research-PoV.pdf#zoom=40

Ahorsu, D. K., Lin, C. Y., Imani, V., Saffari, M., Griffiths, M. D., & Pakpour, A. H.

(2020). The Fear of COVID-19 Scale: Development and Initial Validation.

International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction.

Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human

Decision Processes, 50(2), 179–211.

Alalwan, A. A. (2020). Mobile food ordering apps: An empirical study of the factors

affecting customer e-satisfaction and continued intention to reuse. International

Journal of Information Management, 50, 28–44.

Ali, S., Khalid, N., Javed, H. M. U., & Islam, D. M. Z. (2020). Consumer Adoption of

Online Food Delivery Ordering (OFDO) Services in Pakistan: The Impact of the

COVID-19 Pandemic Situation. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market,

and Complexity, 7(1), 10.

Al-Maroof, R. S., Salloum, S. A., Hassanien, A. E., & Shaalan, K. (2020). Fear from

COVID-19 and technology adoption: the impact of Google Meet during

Coronavirus pandemic. Interactive Learning Environments, 1–16.

Alsaad, A., & Al-Okaily, M. (2021). Acceptance of protection technology in a time of

fear: the case of Covid-19 exposure detection apps. Information Technology &

People, ahead-of(ahead-of-print).

42
AlTarrah, D., AlShami, E., AlHamad, N., AlBesher, F., & Devarajan, S. (2021). The

Impact of Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Purchasing, Eating

Behavior, and Perception of Food Safety in Kuwait. Sustainability, 13(16), 8987.

Augustin, J. L. P. M., & Liaw, S. Y. (2020). Does Gender, Age and Usage Matter in Big

Data’s Perception Applied in Online Tourism? Journal of Management and

Sustainability, 10(2), 1.

Banerjee, S. P., Jain, D., & Nayyar, R. (2019). Measuring Service Quality of Food

Delivery Services: A study of Generation Z. African Journal of Hospitality,

Tourism and Leisure, 8(1).

Barboza, M. N. L., & Filho, E. J. M. A. (2019). Green Consumption Values in Mobile

Apps. Journal of International Consumer Marketing, 31(1), 66–83.

Becdach, C., Brown, B., Halbardier, F., Henstorf, B., & Murphy, R. (2020, May 7).

Rapidly forecasting demand and adapting commercial plans in a pandemic.

McKinsey & Company. Retrieved October 20, 2021, from

https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-

insights/rapidly-forecasting-demand-and-adapting-commercial-plans-in-a-

pandemic

Belanche, D., Flavián, M., & Pérez-Rueda, A. (2020). Mobile Apps Use and WOM in the

Food Delivery Sector: The Role of Planned Behavior, Perceived Security and

Customer Lifestyle Compatibility. Sustainability, 12(10), 4275.

Biswas, A., & Roy, M. (2015). Leveraging factors for sustained green consumption

behavior based on consumption value perceptions: testing the structural model.

Journal of Cleaner Production, 95, 332–340.

43
Boonsiritomachai, W., & Sud-On, P. (2020). Increasing Purchase Intention and Word-

Of-Mouth through Hotel Brand Awareness. Tourism and Hospitality

Management, 26(2), 265–289.

Bou-Hamad, I., Hoteit, R., & Harajli, D. (2021). Health worries, life satisfaction, and

social well-being concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic: Insights from

Lebanon. PLOS ONE, 16(7), e0254989.

Cha, J., & Borchgrevink, C. P. (2018). Customers’ perceptions in value and food safety

on customer satisfaction and loyalty in restaurant environments: moderating roles

of gender and restaurant types. Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality &

Tourism, 20(2), 143–161.

Charm, T., Coggins, B., Robinson, K., & Wilkie, J. (2020, December 14). The great

consumer shift: Ten charts that show how US shopping behavior is changing.

McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-

functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/the-great-consumer-shift-ten-charts-

that-show-how-us-shopping-behavior-is-changing

Chen, R., & Sharma, S. K. (2013). Understanding Member Use of Social Networking

Sites: A Value Analysis. Communications of the Association for Information

Systems, 33.

Chotigo, J., & Kadono, Y. (2021). Comparative Analysis of Key Factors Encouraging

Food Delivery App Adoption Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in

Thailand. Sustainability, 13(8), 4088.

Dhir, A., Kaur, P., & Rajala, R. (2018). Continued Use of Mobile Instant Messaging Apps:

A New Perspective on Theories of Consumption, Flow, and Planned Behavior.

Social Science Computer Review, 38(2), 147–169.

44
DiPietro, R. B., Remar, D., & Parsa, H. G. (2016). Health consciousness, menu

information, and consumers’ purchase intentions: An empirical investigation.

Journal of Foodservice Business Research, 19(5), 497–513.

Eger, L., Komárková, L., Egerová, D., & Mičík, M. (2021). The effect of COVID-19 on

consumer shopping behaviour: Generational cohort perspective. Journal of

Retailing and Consumer Services, 61, 102542.

Faldu, R. (2020). Study of change in consumer behavior towards food & dining habits

post COVID-19 in Gujarat state. An Internation Bilingual Peer Reviewed

Refereed Research Journal, 7(28), 195–198.

Ferrell, O. C., & Ferrell, L. (2020). TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGES AND

OPPORTUNITIES FACING MARKETING EDUCATION. Marketing

Education Review, 30(1), 3–14.

Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Structural Equation Models with Unobservable

Variables and Measurement Error: Algebra and Statistics. Journal of Marketing

Research, 18(3), 382–388. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224378101800313

Gómez-Suárez, M., Paiva, G., & Schnettler, B. (2016). Private Labels in Chile. Handbook

of Research on Strategic Retailing of Private Label Products in a Recovering

Economy, 79–102.

Gupta, R., & Nair, K. (2021). FOOD DELIVERY APPS: INTENTION TO USE

DURING COVID-19. Academy of Entrepreneurship Journal, 27, 1–9.

Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., & Babin, B. J. (2019). Multivariate Data Analysis, 8th edition

(Seventh edition). CENGAGE INDIA.

Han, W., Raab, C., Belarmino, A., & Tang, J. (2021). Are online meal delivery platforms

part of the sharing economy? Journal of Foodservice Business Research, 1–24.

45
Hartono, A., Ishak, A., Abdurrahman, A., Astuti, B., Marsasi, E. G., Ridanasti, E.,

Roostika, R., & Muhammad, S. (2021). COVID-19 Pandemic and Adaptive

Shopping Patterns: An Insight from Indonesian Consumers. Global Business

Review.

Henseler, J., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2014). A new criterion for assessing

discriminant validity in variance-based structural equation modeling. Journal of

the Academy of Marketing Science, 43(1), 115–135.

Ho, C. H., & Wu, T. Y. (2014). Factors affecting intent to purchase virtual goods in online

games. International Journal of Electronic BusinessManagement. International

Journal of Electronic Business Management, 10(3), 204–212.

Hoek, A. C., Luning, P. A., Stafleu, A., & de Graaf, C. (2004). Food-related lifestyle and

health attitudes of Dutch vegetarians, non-vegetarian consumers of meat

substitutes, and meat consumers. Appetite, 42(3), 265–272.

Hong, C., Choi, H. H., Choi, E. K. C., & Joung, H. W. D. (2021). Factors affecting

customer intention to use online food delivery services before and during the

COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 48, 509–

518.

Hwang, J., & Cranage, D. (2010). Customer Health Perceptions of Selected Fast-Food

Restaurants According to Their Nutritional Knowledge and Health Consciousness.

Journal of Foodservice Business Research, 13(2), 68–84.

International Food Information Council. (2020). FOOD & HEALTH SURVEY 2020.

https://foodinsight.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/IFIC-Food-and-Health-

Survey-2020.pdf

46
Jin, N. P., Line, N. D., & Lee, S. M. (2017). The health conscious restaurant consumer.

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 29(8), 2103–

2120.

Johnson, V. L., Kiser, A., Washington, R., & Torres, R. (2018). Limitations to the rapid

adoption of M-payment services: Understanding the impact of privacy risk on M-

Payment services. Computers in Human Behavior, 79, 111–122.

Kaur, P., Dhir, A., Talwar, S., & Ghuman, K. (2021). The value proposition of food

delivery apps from the perspective of theory of consumption value. International

Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 33(4), 1129–1159.

Kemp, S. (2021, February 11). Digital in Taiwan: All the Statistics You Need in 2021.

DataReportal – Global Digital Insights. https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-

2021-taiwan

Kim, J. J., & Lee, A. J. (2017). A Study on the Effect of Consumption Value with Planned

Behavior Theory on Purchase Intention of the consumers of the Michelin-starred

Restaurant in Seoul. FoodService Industry Journal, 13(3), 171–190.

Knight, A. J., Worosz, M. R., & Todd, E. (2007). Serving food safety: consumer

perceptions of food safety at restaurants. International Journal of Contemporary

Hospitality Management, 19(6), 476–484.

Kulkarni, P. M., Kumar, P., & Jana, S. (2021). A STUDY OF CHANGE IN CONSUMER

BUYING BEHAVIOR TOWARDS TOURISM DUE TO COVID-19.

International Interdisciplinary Research Journal, 1, 528–531.

Kuo, C. W. (2021). Can We Return to Our Normal Life When the Pandemic Is under

Control? A Preliminary Study on the Influence of COVID-19 on the Tourism

Characteristics of Taiwan. Sustainability, 13(17), 9589.

47
Lee, C. H., Liu, C. F., Lin, Y. T., Yain, Y. S., & Lin, C. H. (2020). New agriculture

business model in Taiwan. International Food and Agribusiness Management

Review, 23(5), 773–782.

Lee, C., Levy, D., & Yap, C. (2015). How does the theory of consumption values

contribute to place identity and sustainable consumption? International Journal

of Consumer Studies, 39(6), 597–607.

Lee, E. Y., Lee, S. B., & Jeon, Y. J. J. (2017). Factors influencing the behavioral intention

to use food delivery apps. Social Behavior and Personality: An International

Journal, 45(9), 1461–1473.

Lee, S. W., Sung, H. J., & Jeon, H. M. (2019). Determinants of Continuous Intention on

Food Delivery Apps: Extending UTAUT2 with Information Quality.

Sustainability, 11(11), 3141.

Li, C., Mirosa, M., & Bremer, P. (2020). Review of Online Food Delivery Platforms and

their Impacts on Sustainability. Sustainability, 12(14), 5528.

Lin, P., Huang, Y., & Wang, J. (2010). Applying the theory of consumption values to

choice behavior toward green products. 2010 IEEE International Conference on

Management of Innovation & Technology.

Maimaiti, M., Zhao, X., Jia, M., Ru, Y., & Zhu, S. (2018). How we eat determines what

we become: opportunities and challenges brought by food delivery industry in a

changing world in China. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 72(9), 1282–

1286.

Mcdaniel, S. W., & Zeithaml, V. A. (1984). The effect of fear on purchase intentions.

Psychology and Marketing, 1(3–4), 73–82.

48
Min, S., Xiang, C., & Zhang, X. H. (2020). Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on

consumers’ food safety knowledge and behavior in China. Journal of Integrative

Agriculture, 19(12), 2926–2936.

Mirabi, V., Akbariyeh, H., & Tahmasebifard, H. (2015). A Study of Factors Affecting on

Customers Purchase Intention. Journal of Multidisciplinary Engineering Science

and Technology, 2(1), 267–273.

Morgan Stanley. (2020). COVID-19 Era Serves Up Big Changes for U.S. Restaurants.

Retrieved October 2021, from

https://www.morganstanley.com/ideas/coronavirus-restaurant-trends

Morwitz, V. (2012). Consumers’ Purchase Intentions and their Behavior. Foundations

and Trends® in Marketing, 7(3), 181–230.

Muangmee, C., Kot, S., Meekaewkunchorn, N., Kassakorn, N., & Khalid, B. (2021).

Factors Determining the Behavioral Intention of Using Food Delivery Apps

during COVID-19 Pandemics. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic

Commerce Research, 16(5), 1297–1310.

Najmi, A., Kanapathy, K., & Aziz, A. A. (2021). A pathway to involve consumers for

exchanging electronic waste: a deep learning integration of structural equation

modelling and artificial neural network. Journal of Material Cycles and Waste

Management.

Noble, S. M., Griffith, D. A., & Weinberger, M. G. (2005). Consumer derived utilitarian

value and channel utilization in a multi-channel retail context. Journal of Business

Research, 58(12), 1643–1651.

49
Omigie, N., Zo, H., Rho, J., & Ciganek, A. (2017). Customer pre-adoption choice

behavior for M-PESA mobile financial services. Industrial Management & Data

Systems, 117(5), 910–926.

Parvin, S., Wang, P., & Uddin, J. (2016a). Using best-worst scaling method to examine

consumers’ value preferences: A multidimensional perspective. Cogent Business

& Management, 3(1), 1199110. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2016.1199110

Parvin, S., Wang, P., & Uddin, J. (2016b). Using best-worst scaling method to examine

consumers’ value preferences: A multidimensional perspective. Cogent Business

& Management, 3(1), 1199110.

Peng, K. F., Chen, Y., & Wen, K. W. (2014). Brand relationship, consumption values and

branded app adoption. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 114(8), 1131–

1143.

Prasetyo, Y. T., Tanto, H., Mariyanto, M., Hanjaya, C., Young, M. N., Persada, S. F.,

Miraja, B. A., & Redi, A. A. N. P. (2021). Factors Affecting Customer Satisfaction

and Loyalty in Online Food Delivery Service during the COVID-19 Pandemic:

Its Relation with Open Innovation. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology,

Market, and Complexity, 7(1), 76

Praveena, K., & Thomas, S. (2018). Explaining user acceptance and usage of social

networking sites: the role of trust, social connectedness and visibility in extending

UTAUT2. International Journal of Management Practice, 11(3), 318.

Puriwat, W., & Tripopsakul, S. (2021). Understanding Food Delivery Mobile Application

Technology Adoption: A UTAUT Model Integrating Perceived Fear of COVID-

19. Emerging Science Journal, 5, 94–104.

50
Püschel, J., Afonso Mazzon, J., & Mauro C. Hernandez, J. (2010). Mobile banking:

proposition of an integrated adoption intention framework. International Journal

of Bank Marketing, 28(5), 389–409.

Ramos, K. (2021). Factors influencing customers’ continuance usage intention of food

delivery apps during COVID-19 quarantine in Mexico. British Food Journal,

ahead-of(ahead-of-print).

Ray, A., Dhir, A., Bala, P. K., & Kaur, P. (2019). Why do people use food delivery apps

(FDA)? A uses and gratification theory perspective. Journal of Retailing and

Consumer Services, 51, 221–230.

Rishi, A., Patil, C., & Prasad H D, V. (2021). Factors Influencing Consumer Attitude And

Perception Towards Online To Offline (O2o) Food Delivery Business In A Tier 3

City Of India. Journal of University of Shanghai for Science and Technology,

23(08), 5–30.

Roh, M., & Park, K. (2019a). Adoption of O2O food delivery services in South Korea:

The moderating role of moral obligation in meal preparation. International

Journal of Information Management, 47, 262–273.

Roh, M., & Park, K. (2019b). Adoption of O2O food delivery services in South Korea:

The moderating role of moral obligation in meal preparation. International

Journal of Information Management, 47, 262–273.

Ryu, J. H., & Rho, J. O. (2011). The Consumption Behavior and Perceptions of

Environment-friendly Agricultural Products by University Students in Korea. The

Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition, 24(1), 101–110.

51
Saah, F. I., Amu, H., Seidu, A. A., & Bain, L. E. (2021). Health knowledge and care

seeking behaviour in resource-limited settings amidst the COVID-19 pandemic:

A qualitative study in Ghana. PLOS ONE, 16(5), e0250940.

Santos-Pinto, L., & Sobel, J. (2005). A Model of Positive Self-Image in Subjective

Assessments. American Economic Review, 95(5), 1386–1402.

Sarkar, B., Dey, B. K., Sarkar, M., & AlArjani, A. (2021). A Sustainable Online-to-

Offline (O2O) Retailing Strategy for a Supply Chain Management under

Controllable Lead Time and Variable Demand. Sustainability, 13(4), 1756.

Schiff, M., Zasiekina, L., Pat-Horenczyk, R., & Benbenishty, R. (2020). COVID-Related

Functional Difficulties and Concerns Among University Students During

COVID-19 Pandemic: A Binational Perspective. Journal of Community Health,

46(4), 667–675.

Sheng, C. (2021, October 28). Tale of Two Guys: Food Delivery Market in Taiwan. Data

Insights - Measurable AI. Retrieved November 2021, from

https://blog.measurable.ai/2021/10/28/tale-of-two-guys-food-delivery-market-in-

taiwan-ubereats-versus-foodpanda/

Sheth, J. (2020). Impact of Covid-19 on consumer behavior: Will the old habits return or

die? Journal of Business Research, 117, 280–283.

Sheth, J. N., Newman, B. I., & Gross, B. L. (1991). Why we buy what we buy: A theory

of consumption values. Journal of Business Research, 22(2), 159–170.

Shin, Y. H., Im, J., Jung, S. E., & Severt, K. (2018). Motivations behind Consumers’

Organic Menu Choices: The Role of Environmental Concern, Social Value, and

Health Consciousness. Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism,

20(1), 107–122.

52
Slyke, C. V., Bélanger, F., Johnson, R. D., & Hightower, R. (2010). Gender-Based

Differences in Consumer E-Commerce Adoption. Communications of the

Association for Information Systems, 26.

Statista. (2020, June). Online Food Delivery Report 2020.

https://www.statista.com/study/40457/food-delivery/

Suhartanto, D., Dean, D., Leo, G., & Nyoman Triyuni, N. (2019). Millennial Experience

with Online Food Home Delivery: A Lesson from Indonesia. Interdisciplinary

Journal of Information, Knowledge, and Management, 14, 277–294.

Suhartanto, D., Helmi Ali, M., Tan, K. H., Sjahroeddin, F., & Kusdibyo, L. (2018).

Loyalty toward online food delivery service: the role of e-service quality and food

quality. Journal of Foodservice Business Research, 22(1), 81–97.

Taiwan Network Information Center. (2020). Taiwan Internet Report 2020. TWNIC.

Retrieved October 21, 2021, from

https://report.twnic.tw/2020/en/TrendAnalysis_internetUsage.html

Talwar, S., Dhir, A., Kaur, P., & Mäntymäki, M. (2020). Why do people purchase from

online travel agencies (OTAs)? A consumption values perspective. International

Journal of Hospitality Management, 88, 102534.

Talwar, S., Dhir, A., Scuotto, V., & Kaur, P. (2021). Barriers and paradoxical

recommendation behaviour in online to offline (O2O) services. A convergent

mixed-method study. Journal of Business Research, 131, 25–39.

Tandon, A., Kaur, P., Bhatt, Y., Mäntymäki, M., & Dhir, A. (2021). Why do people

purchase from food delivery apps? A consumer value perspective. Journal of

Retailing and Consumer Services, 63, 102667.

53
Tanrikulu, C. (2021). Theory of consumption values in consumer behaviour research: A

review and future research agenda. International Journal of Consumer Studies,

45(6), 1176–1197.

Teng, C. I. (2018). Look to the future: Enhancing online gamer loyalty from the

perspective of the theory of consumption values. Decision Support Systems, 114,

49–60.

Troise, C., O’Driscoll, A., Tani, M., & Prisco, A. (2020). Online food delivery services

and behavioural intention – a test of an integrated TAM and TPB framework.

British Food Journal, 123(2), 664–683.

UNCTAD. (2021, March). COVID-19 and e-commerce: a global review. United Nations

Publications. https://unctad.org/system/files/official-

document/dtlstict2020d13_en_0.pdf

Wang, H., Liao, C., & Yang, L. (2013). What Affects Mobile Application Use? The Roles

of Consumption Values. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 5(2).

WHO. (2020). COVID-19 and food safety: guidance for food businesses.

https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/331705/WHO-2019-nCoV-

Food_Safety-2020.1-eng.pdf

Wong, K., Chang, H., & Yeh, C. (2019). The effects of consumption values and relational

benefits on smartphone brand switching behavior. Information Technology &

People, 32(1), 217–243.

Wu, C., Tao, Y. H., & Lin, Y. M. (2017). Repurchase decision for music products in

Taiwan: physical versus online media. Digital Policy, Regulation and Governance,

19(4), 302–316.

54
Xianen P., Anling S., Yiru X., & Weichen C. (2021). Investigation of New Life for

Epidemic Prevention under the Third Level of Alert. TTR Taiwan Trend Research.

Retrieved October 15, 2021, from https://www.twtrend.com/trend-detail/COVID-

19-Level3-new-life-survey01/

Zanetta, L. D., Hakim, M. P., Gastaldi, G. B., Seabra, L. M. J., Rolim, P. M., Nascimento,

L. G. P., Medeiros, C. O., & da Cunha, D. T. (2021). The use of food delivery

apps during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil: The role of solidarity, perceived

risk, and regional aspects. Food Research International, 149, 110671.

Zhang, J., & Mao, E. (2012). What’s Around Me? International Journal of E-Business

Research, 8(3), 33–49.

Zhao, Y., & Bacao, F. (2020). What factors determining customer continuingly using

food delivery apps during 2019 novel coronavirus pandemic period? International

Journal of Hospitality Management, 91, 102683.

Zhu, L., & Phongsatha, S. (2021). FACTORS INFLUENCING PURCHASE

INTENTION TOWARD ONLINE FOOD DELIVERY SERVICE: A CASE

STUDY OF EXPERIENCED CONSUMERS IN HUNAN PROVINCE, CHINA.

AU EJournal of Interdisciplinary Research, 6(2), 103–112.

55
 Appendix 1: List of Measurements
Item Measurement

PV1 FDAs charge a reasonable price

PV2 FDAs offer good value for money

PV3 At current price, FDAs provide a good value

PV4 Overall, I am happy with the prices available on FDAs

FS1 I’m very particular about the quality and safety of food which I
intend to consume
FS2 I am concerned about food safety

FS3 For me it is important that the food I consume contains no hazardous

ingredients.
FS4 I have a lot of interest in food safety

HC1 I reflect about my health a lot

HC2 I’m very self-conscious about my health
HC3 I’m alert to changes in my health
HC4 I consider myself very health conscious
PrV1 Using FDAs enhances my self-image to others

PrV2 The use of FDAs helps me to gain social approval

PrV3 The use of FDAs helps to make a positive impression on other

PrV4 After using FDAs, I feel like a smarter person

AV1 I would use FDAs more often if they reduced the delivery charges

AV2 I would use FDAs more often if more restaurants of my preference

joined these platforms
AV3 I would use FDAs more often if better promotional incentives were
offered
AV4 I would use FDAs more often if they reduced the delivery time

V1 It is common to find people who use FDAs

V2 I have had plenty of opportunities to see FDAs being used

56
V3 Most of my friends are using FDAs

V4 I have seen advertisements about FDAs

PF1 The COVID-19 pandemic worries me

PF2 I am afraid of being infected by COVID-19

PF3 It makes me uncomfortable to think about COVID-19

PF4 Overall, to what extent do you worry about COVID-19

PI1 I’d be happy to use FDAs

PI2 I plan to use FDAs in the future

PI3 I intend to use FDAs soon

PI4 I would like to reuse FDAs

57
 Appendix 2: Questionnaire in Chinese

這項學術研究的目的是為了了解消費者對美食外送服務的行為

** 您所提供的信息將保密，只有參與該項目的研究人員才能採用與研究本調查中的信息

個人基本資料

1. 在過去 6 個月內，您是否使用美食外送應用程式（空腹熊貓/優步吃/麥當勞等）網路購買食品？ 是 否

2. 性別： 男 女

3. 年齡： _______ 歲

4. 居住地： 學校宿舍 校外

5. 美食外送應用程式使用頻率： 每週 4 次以上 每週 2-3 次 每月 2-3 次 每月 1-2 次

非常不 有點不 有點 非常

同意 不 同意 同意 沒意見 同意 同意 同意

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

美食外送應用程式收取合理價格       
美食外送應用程式提供物超所值的服務       
以目前的價格，美食外送應用程式提供很好的價值
      
總體而言，我很滿意美食外送應用程式上的價格       
我非常注重我要吃的食物品質和安全性       
我滿擔心食品安全問題。       
對我來說，我吃的食物不含有害成分，是滿重要的事       
我對食品安全議題滿感興趣的       
我經常反思自己的健康狀況       
我很注意自己的健康狀況       
我會警覺自己的健康變化       
我覺得自己滿注重健康       
使用美食外送應用程式，會提升他人對我的形象       

58
 非常不同意 沒意見 非常同意

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
使用美食外送應用程式，會幫助我獲得社會認可       
使用美食外送應用程式，有助於給他人留下正面印象       
用美食外送平台，我覺得自己更聰明了       
如果美食外送應用程式降低運費，我會更常使用       
如果更多我喜歡的餐廳加入這些美食外送平台，我       
會更常使用應用程式
如果美食外送應用程式提供更好的促銷活動，我會       
更常使用
如果能外送食物更快，我會更常使用美食外送應用程式
      
會使用美食外送應用程式的人滿普遍的       
我滿常有機會看到有人在用美食外送平台       
我大部分的朋友都有在用美食外送平台       
我看過有關美食外送應用程式的廣告       
武漢肺炎的大流行讓我感到擔憂       
我害怕被武漢肺炎感染       
想到武漢肺炎，就讓我感到不安、不自在       
非常不擔心 沒意見 非常擔心

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
總體而言，您在多大程度上擔心武漢肺炎？       
非常不同意 沒意見 非常同意

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
我很樂意用美食外送應用程式       
我打算未來用美食外送應用程式       
我打算很快就用美食外送應用程式       
我想重複用美食外送應用程式       

59