Abstract
This study explored the factors that influence the continuous use of grocery delivery apps in South Africa a sector that saw significant growth during the COVID-19 pandemic when customers were restricted from conducting their normal shopping activities. Post-pandemic, not much is known about the factors that promote their sustained use. This research employed the most recent version of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT3) as the theoretical framework to analyse the factors that influence the ongoing use of grocery delivery apps in South Africa.
A survey strategy utilising a self-administered questionnaire was employed to gather data, which yielded 307 usable responses from customers of the four major retail stores with grocery delivery apps (Checkers Sixty60, Pick n Pay ASAP!, Woolies Dash, and SPAR2U). This study employed partial least squares structural equation modelling via SmartPLS version 3 to assess the measurement model’s properties and test the proposed hypotheses.
The study found that performance expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation, and habit significantly influence behavioural intention to use grocery delivery apps, while personal innovativeness directly impacts actual use. Notably, behavioural intention did not translate into actual use, highlighting a gap between intention and behaviour. These findings validate UTAUT3 in the South African retail context and provide practical guidance for retailers to improve convenience, usability, engagement, and innovation in their apps to sustain customer use. However, the study is limited by convenience sampling, the exclusion of non-users, and the restricted explanatory power of UTAUT3 for actual use. Future studies should adopt more representative sampling, include non-users, and consider extended models to better explain usage behaviour.
The findings of this study support existing research on grocery delivery apps in South Africa. Additionally, this study evaluated the UTAUT3 in the South African context, specifically within the grocery retail sector and applied mobile grocery delivery apps, thereby contributing to the validation of the theoretical framework.