From click to cuisine: Unpacking the interplay of online food delivery services through barriers, trust, post-usage usefulness, and moral obligation

• Published in: International journal of hospitality management 2025-01, Vol.124, p.103961, Article 103961
• Main Authors: Taheri, Babak, Banerji, Diptiman, Hosen, Mosharrof, Sharma, Gagan Deep
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Moral obligation; Online food delivery; Post-usage usefulness; Trust
• ISSN: 0278-4319
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2024.103961

Online food delivery (OFD) has gained popularity because of rapid urbanization and busy lifestyles of individuals in the last decade. Nevertheless, despite the surging fame and significance of OFD, certain gaps in research demand attention. Thus, this study aims to examine comprehensive barriers (economic, efficiency, experience), trust, post-usage usefulness, loyalty, and electronic word-of-mouth (e-WoM) within OFD services. It also considers the moderating effect of moral obligation on the relationship between these concepts. PLS-SEM was employed for data analysis (n=650). The findings of the study indicate that barriers related to economic, efficiency, and user experience have a significant and detrimental impact on trust, the utility of the service after usage, electronic word-of-mouth (e-WoM), and loyalty in the context of adopting online food delivery (OFD) services. The findings contribute to a better understanding of consumers’ perception of OFD. Several theoretical and practical implications were offered. •To examine multiple barriers to the adoption of OFD as a composite variable.•Customers' moral obligations moderates relationship between trust, barriers and post-usage usefulness.•Trust and post-usage mediates the relationship between barriers and eWoM in OFD services.