From traditional to consumer-centric: the evolution of themes in technology-focused last mile delivery

Purpose Previous research on last mile delivery (LMD) has not attempted to identify thematic patterns within the literature to comprehend the prevailing research direction within this field. This study thus aims to identify significant latent topics in the technology-focused and consumer-centric LMD literature over a span of 45 years (1978–2023) and to propose topics for future research in this domain. Design/methodology/approach This study adopted a text mining methodology in conjunction with bibliometric analysis to comprehensively review the literature. Findings The findings of this study reveal the top emerging topics in the field of LMD and include the bibliometric results. Research limitations/implications This study is based on highly rated Australian Business Deans Council journals found in Scopus and Google Scholar. In addition to its methodological novelty, this study contributes to two interconnected strands of literature. First, it offers a fresh categorization of different concepts in the LMD literature, emphasizing the use of technology built upon prior efforts in the field. Second, it demonstrates the evolution of focus on different dimensions of consumer-centric LMD over time. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to use an unsupervised text mining method called topic modeling in the overall consumer-focused LMD literature. It thus overcomes the limitations of previous analytical methods for conducting literature reviews focused on other time periods.