Are there any key factors that encourage food delivery applications use during the COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand and the role of HRM?

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Recently, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, customer sentiment has evolved as the new “normal” for food consumption—as it affects customer behavioral change, including the way customers eat. Therefore, understanding customer demands and needs will help food delivery aggregators and retailers produce sustainable, competitive advantage and drive profitability. OBJECTIVE: This paper aims to investigate the determinant factors of Thai consumers’ intention to use on-demand food delivery applications. METHODS: Convenient random sampling was used to gather data from 250 participants who have used food delivery applications in Thailand and Amos version 23 to test model validity and the hypotheses. RESULTS: The results show that satisfaction is critical for the intention to use food delivery applications. Social influence, trust, convenience, and application quality were found to play an essential role in meeting the needs of satisfaction toward the intention to use, and application quality is the most important. However, habit showed a negative relationship, and price value was found to have a nonsignificant impact on satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: Food delivery aggregators should ensure the quality of application updates and efficiency and that users have the best quality experience to maintain customer satisfaction. However, customers are also concerned about their health and safety, which has altered their purchasing behavior. Therefore, restaurant players should add a third delivery system that optimize online ordering and delivery.