Unlocking sustainable last mile deliveries through interventions in the pre-delivery stage

Technological innovations such as parcel lockers can only contribute to reducing the negative impact of last mile logistics on people, planet and profit outcomes if consumers adopt them. Using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) as a theoretical lens, the purpose of this study was to design effective interventions in the pre-delivery stage that stimulated consumers to choose to use parcel lockers, focusing on incentives and actions that online retailers and logistic service providers can easily implement. A vignette-based experiment was used to examine the impact of providing consumers with information about sustainability, information about parcel lockers and information about distance to nearest parcel locker on their choice to use a parcel locker instead of receiving their package at home. The originality of the study is twofold. The role of geographical context which is oftentimes overlooked was examined explicitly in this study by conducting the study with participants from the Netherlands and Lithuania. The present study used causal mediation analysis to study the combined effects of interventions and previous experience with parcel lockers through the UTAUT constructs. The findings showed that providing information about sustainability and information about the distance to the nearest parcel locker were effective interventions, however the effect of distance was country specific. Causal mediation analysis showed that familiarity with parcel lockers was positively associated with the choice to use parcel lockers by increasing perceived ease of use, expected performance, and reducing perceived risk.