Beyond direct effects: perceived enjoyment as a driver of attitude formation in express grocery delivery

Purpose Express grocery delivery is typically modeled as a utilitarian service, yet modern eGrocery platforms increasingly incorporate hedonic design features. This study asks whether the enjoyment users derive from these features influences their reuse intention directly, by shaping their overall attitude toward the service, or through both channels. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from users of express grocery delivery in Russia during 2023 using an online survey administered in three successive waves (independent samples). The analysis proceeds in four stages: (1) assessment of the common measurement model; (2) estimation of the three competing structural models; (3) model comparison; and (4) mediation analysis of the winning model with bootstrap confidence intervals (5,000 resamples). Findings The impact of impulse buying tendency on attitude loses significance once the path from perceived enjoyment to attitude is introduced, suggesting that hedonic service evaluation contributes more than trait-based impulsivity to eGrocery attitudes. The study confirms perceived enjoyment as a central construct in eGrocery adoption models and carries practical implications for hedonic UX design. Originality/value The study shows that the standard specification of perceived enjoyment as a direct-only predictor of behavioral intention in TPB-based eGrocery models is incomplete. eGrocery sits closer to gaming and social commerce than to traditional e-commerce, where full mediation tends to prevail.