What is it about?
This study explores why some online shoppers are more willing to use parcel lockers, which are self-service pickup stations where you collect your deliveries using a code, while others are not. We surveyed 363 online shoppers in Sakarya, Turkey, and found that people who enjoy trying new technologies tend to trust parcel lockers more and are more influenced by what their social circle thinks about using them. Both of these factors, trust and social influence, help explain why innovative shoppers are more likely to intend to use parcel lockers. However, if using a locker feels too costly or inconvenient (for example, traveling to the location or dealing with a complicated process), even the most tech-savvy consumers become less likely to adopt the service. The study shows that 76% of the variation in people's intention to use parcel lockers can be explained by these factors together.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
Parcel lockers are gaining attention as a greener and more efficient solution to last-mile delivery problems, but adoption remains low in many emerging markets, including Turkey. Most existing research focuses on mature markets and on the technical features of locker systems, leaving individual-level drivers and psychological mechanisms largely unexplored. This study is the first to examine consumer innovativeness as a driver of parcel locker adoption in Turkey, and one of the few to integrate trust, social influence, and transaction costs into a single model. The findings offer actionable guidance for e-commerce companies and logistics providers on how to accelerate adoption: target early adopters, build trust through security and reliability, leverage peer influence, and reduce perceived costs of use.
Perspectives
Parcel lockers represent a small but telling example of how consumer psychology shapes the uptake of sustainable technologies. Conducting this research in Sakarya, one of the first cities in Turkey to host a parcel locker, gave me a rare opportunity to observe first-time user behavior in a truly nascent market. What struck me most was how strongly social approval and trust mattered even among consumers who were otherwise open to new technologies. This reinforces my broader view that behavioral intentions are rarely shaped by a single factor; they emerge from the interplay of personal traits, social context, and situational barriers. I hope this work encourages more research on technology adoption in emerging markets, where the dynamics often differ meaningfully from what Western-centric studies have documented.
yusuf arslan
Sakarya Universitesi
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: E-shopper innovativeness and parcel locker adoption: Mediating roles of social influence and trust, and the moderating impact of transaction costs, Research in Transportation Business & Management, January 2026, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.rtbm.2025.101550.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
