Article
Trust and Consumer Satisfaction in Smart Food Delivery Applications: Examining the Role of Competence, Benevolence, and Integrity
Smart Food Delivery Applications (SFDAs) are fast becoming ubiquitous in the food space and have revolutionized the way food is accessed, offering consumers new convenience through technology. But in addition to their convenience, customer fulfilment could very much rely on how these platforms are perceived as trustworthy. This paper draws from McKnight's Trust Model, which focuses on three dimensions (perceived competence, perceived benevolence and perceived integrity) of the consumer's trust and then explores their impact on the consumer's satisfaction regarding SFDAs in Bangladesh. A quantitative, cross-sectional research design was used, and the data were obtained using a structured questionnaire and convenience sampling. There were 152 responses, of which 120 were usable and used. Established scales and five-point Likert scales were used to measure the constructs, and SPSS 27.0 was used for multiple regression analysis. The results show that perceived benevolence has the highest positive and significant correlation with consumer satisfaction (β = 0.633, p < 0.001), and perceived integrity has the next highest positive and significant correlation with consumer satisfaction (β = 0.254, p = 0.006). However, when perceived competence is tested, it does not have a significant influence on satisfaction (β = −0.028, p = 0.659). The variance in consumer satisfaction is accounted for by the three trust dimensions together to 67.9%. The results underpin the need for relational trust among SFDAs, specifically benevolence and integrity, to increase consumer satisfaction and offer some implications for digital food delivery services in Bangladesh.