Retail takes flight: how consumer motivation and engagement propel drone deliveries

Purpose This study examines how consumer motivation toward drone delivery emerges in omnichannel retailing, addressing a critical gap in consumer-centric supply chain management by exploring underexplored motivational processes that shape consumer readiness for logistics innovations. While prior research has primarily emphasized behavioral intention or adoption using frameworks such as TAM, TPB, and UTAUT, the formation of motivation itself as a psychological state that precedes and sustains intention has received little theoretical attention. Drawing on Expectancy Theory, this study investigates the antecedent mechanisms that underpin motivational readiness and identifies the threshold conditions required for that motivation to emerge. Design/methodology/approach A survey of consumers in the United States was conducted to capture perceptions of valence, expectancy, instrumentality, consumer engagement with retailer (CER), and consumer motivation toward drone delivery. Structural relationships were tested using PLS-SEM, complemented by Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) to identify threshold conditions required for motivation to emerge. Findings The results reveal a hierarchical motivational structure underlying consumer readiness for drone delivery. Valence functions as a foundational gatekeeper. Expectancy and instrumentality are statistically necessary conditions, while valence is the only component that imposes a binding bottleneck threshold on motivation. Consumer Engagement with Retailer (CER) partially mediates the effects of valence, expectancy, and instrumentality, underscoring its amplifying rather than essential role. Together, the results demonstrate how motivational predictors and necessary prerequisites jointly shape pre-adoption readiness for drone delivery in omnichannel retailing, providing a diagnostic framework to assess whether the motivational conditions necessary for logistics innovation scaling have been met. Practical implications Retailers and logistics providers can leverage these findings to design implementation strategies and managerial emphasis aligned with motivational thresholds. Specifically, firms should emphasize value propositions (Valence) to activate consumer motivation, reinforce service reliability and usability (Expectancy) as motivation strengthens, and highlight outcome utility (Instrumentality) to sustain motivation at higher levels. Integrating drone delivery into broader Consumer Engagement with Retailer (CER) strategies can further amplify motivation, providing a structured framework to inform pilot deployments and subsequent scaling decisions in omnichannel retail environments. Originality/value This study is the first to empirically operationalize and validate Valence, Instrumentality, and Expectancy (VIE) scales in the context of consumer drone delivery within omnichannel retailing. By positioning Consumer Motivation rather than behavioral intention as the focal outcome, it addresses a critical gap in logistics and delivery innovation research where the motivational processes underlying consumers' responses to logistics innovations remain underexamined. The study further introduces Consumer Engagement with Retailer (CER) as a novel application in omnichannel fulfillment research, demonstrating its amplifying role in translating motivational beliefs into consumer readiness for emerging delivery innovations.