Technology-empowered productive logistics roles by end-consumers: conceptualisation and empirical validation

Purpose The contemporary logistics context has been altered by technology. Empowered by self-service technologies and the recent rise of crowd-sourced platforms, end consumers have started to assume more productive roles. Thus, we aim to conceptualise and validate the technology-empowered productive logistics roles of consumers, focusing on the role structure and defining dimensions. Design/methodology/approach A conceptual typology of productive roles is proposed by incorporating the sociological view of consumption work into the service context of last-mile delivery. A survey instrument is designed for data collection, and a series of exploratory-confirmatory-structural analyses are performed for model validation. Findings Our analysis confirms the validity of a two-dimensional role structure as well as the nomological antecedent associated with each dimension. More specifically, six productive roles are identified, which are labelled as crowd out-sourcer, crowd in-sourcer, incentivised self-server, utilitarian community supporter, relational community builder and devoted self-server. On the one hand, we find that the roles are defined by the payment nature (i.e. paid or unpaid) of the logistics activities and driven by the embedded money attitude of the consumer. On the other hand, the roles are also characterised by the productive logistics context (i.e. social or private), where consumers’ interdependent self-construal explains the perceived role value. Originality/value This study offers an initial typology of consumers’ productive roles empowered by technology. We also provide managerial insights in guiding consumer-producer interactions given the changing technological context in last-mile delivery.