Impact of Perceived Risk on Online Food Purchase Intention: Evidence from Food Ordering App Users in Sri Lanka.

Abstract

With the change in consumer behavior, consumers in Sri Lanka have started to use food ordering apps more than before. This is because these apps make buying food easy and convenient. However, consumers’ intention to use these food ordering apps has often been affected by different types of perceived risks, including product risk, financial risk, psychological risk, and social risk. Therefore, this study examines how perceived risks affect online purchase intention when using food ordering apps. A quantitative method with a descriptive research design was employed, focusing on consumers who use food ordering apps in Sri Lanka. Perceived risk in food ordering apps was conceptualized based on key risk dimensions: financial risk, product risk, social risk, and psychological risk. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 120 consumers who use food ordering apps, using a convenience sampling method. Cronbach’s alpha was used to ensure reliability, and multiple regression analysis was used to test the study hypotheses. The results revealed that only social risk (β = -0.14, p = 0.02) has a significant negative impact on online purchase intention. Financial risk (β = -0.16, p = 0.05) was marginally insignificant, while product risk (β = 0.09, p = 0.29) and psychological risk (β = -0.03, p = 0.64) showed no significant impact. Overall, only social risk significantly impacts users’ intention to use food-ordering apps. This highlights the importance of social understanding and its risk in influencing consumers. Businesses should try to reduce social concerns by improving their brand image using positive feedback and social proof, as our findings indicate that social risk significantly influences online purchase intention. App developers can increase user trust by being transparent and adding features that make the app more reliable. Future research could explore diverse demographic groups and additional perceived risks that may impact the use of food ordering apps.