Cognitive Determinants
Perceived ease of use
If an innovation is perceived as complex to use, that will undermine its likelihood to be
adopted. Similarly, if an innovation is perceived as easy to use, that will enhance its adoption
(Davis, 1989; Rogers, 1995). Te’eni (1989) also concluded that perceived complexity affects
the decision maker’s actions and performance.
The less easy to use a technology is perceived to be, the higher the cognitive effort
required. This difficulty, if perceived excessive, may undermine the individual’s interest in
using such a technology and limit his/her usage of a technology-based remote channel.
H5: A consumer’s perceived ease of use of a delivery channel will influence the
likelihood of that consumer using more frequently the delivery channel.
Perceived risk
Perceived risk is particularly relevant in consumer decision-making, as it represents the
uncertainty about the potential outcomes of behavior and about the unpleasantness of those
outcomes (Cunningham, 1967; Taylor, 1974; Murray, 1991; Dowling and Staelin, 1994).
Perceived risk has to do with what one acquires, but also with how and where one acquires it
(Hisrich et al., 1972). Consumers perceive risk in store purchases, thus it is expected that they
perceive higher risk in remote purchases. Additionally, in services, the uncertainty of the
outcomes and, consequently, the perceived risk is higher than in a goods context (Mitchell,
1994). As a result, delivery channels have their own specific risks and the risk perception of a
new channel influences the choice for transacting via that channel (Bhatnagar et al., 2000).
Recent research on perceived risk focusing on Internet shopping suggests that the reluctance
that many consumers have to shop online is due to the higher perceived risks (Forsythe and
Shi, 2003).
H6: A consumer’s risk perception of a delivery channel will influence the likelihood
of that consumer using more frequently the delivery channel.
Perceived service quality
Service quality is considered to be a cognitive evaluative element that influences the usage
decision for both interpersonal and technology-based encounters (Gronroos, 1988; Berry and
Parasuraman, 1991). In this research, the scale used to measure service quality derives from
SERVPERF (Cronin and Taylor, 1992) since it contains only perception items, but it
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