When social phobia meets online-to-offline delivery apps: the perspective of protection motivation

Purpose Online-to-offline (O2O) delivery represents an innovative e-commerce paradigm that bridges the Internet with physical commercial activities, including, but not limited to, food delivery. Although frequent engagement with the O2O delivery application (O2ODA) has been linked to physical health problems (e.g. unhealthy lifestyle and dietary habits), its relationship with mental health aspects (e.g. social phobia) remains underexplored. Therefore, this study aims to explore how social phobia relates to consumers’ engagement with O2ODA. Design/methodology/approach This study adopted a survey design. Framed by the protection motivation theory (PMT), a two-stage online survey was conducted in China, and the collected data (N = 451) were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Findings Social phobia, together with coping appraisal components (i.e. response efficacy, self-efficacy, and response costs), predicted consumers’ behavioral intention to use O2ODA. Furthermore, social phobia exerted a direct positive influence on use behavior and weakened the effect of intention on behavior. Originality/value The study extends the PMT into a novel consumer-technology context, broadens the scope of problematic technology use from a hedonic domain into a utilitarian one, and demonstrates the link between O2ODA engagement and mental health (i.e. social phobia).