Consumer attitudes and purchase intentions toward food delivery platform services

With the advent of the Online to Offline (O2O) era, the rise of various food delivery platforms not only provides consumers with more choices, but also allows restaurant operators to reach more potential consumers and increase their additional revenue. This study is based on theory of planned behavior (TPB), and includes the ‘utilitarian value’ and ‘hedonic value’ as research variables. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to verify the research hypotheses, and to analyze consumers’ purchase intentions toward online food delivery platforms. An online survey was also conducted, and a total of 1300 questionnaires were distributed. After excluding invalid questionnaires with incomplete answers, a total of 1082 questionnaires were deemed valid, and the effective recovery rate was 83.23%. The research results were as follows: (1) the attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control of consumers will have a significant positive effect on utilitarian value and hedonic value; (2) the utilitarian and hedonic values have a significant positive effect on purchase intention; and (3) the utilitarian and hedonic values have a mediating effect on attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and purchase intention. Based on the above results, food delivery platform operators can identify the key factors that drive consumers to use their services in order to formulate effective management strategies and create greater business opportunities for their organizations.