Effects of Portion Number and Marital Status on Decision-Making Dependence When Using Food Delivery Applications

Abstract

Delivery applications represent more than just substitutes for phone calls when ordering food. Unlike phone calls, delivery applications not only facilitate orders and payments, but also assist users in narrowing down the multiple options to a final choice. This research focused on the extent to which users rely on delivery applications to make food-ordering decisions and examined how two factors—portion number and marital status—affect this dependence. The empirical results supported our prediction that (i) single-portion users depend more heavily on delivery applications than multiple-portion users, as the latter have no meal companions to consult; and (ii) unmarried (vs. married) users exhibited an even greater dependence on delivery applications in a single-portion-meal context, due to a weaker sense of responsibility for and agency over meal preparation. These findings illustrate how delivery applications can contribute to the expansion of delivery service markets by influencing food-ordering decision-making behavior.