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BFJ
124,12
4516
Received 30 October 2021
Revised 13 December 2021
Accepted 16 January 2022
British Food Journal
Vol. 124 No. 12, 2022
pp. 4516-4532
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0007-070X
DOI 10.1108/BFJ-10-2021-1169
A model of online food delivery
service quality, customer
satisfaction and customer loyalty:
a combination of PLS-SEM and
NCA approaches
Kian Yeik Koay
Department of Marketing Strategy and Innovation, Sunway University,
Subang Jaya, Malaysia
Chee Wei Cheah
School of Business, Shenzhen Technology University, Shenzhen, China, and
Yi Xuan Chang
Department of Marketing Strategy and Innovation, Sunway University,
Subang Jaya, Malaysia
Abstract
Purpose – The main purpose of this study is to explore how online food delivery (OFD) service quality
influences customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.
Design/methodology/approach – A total of 307 useable data collected from existing users of OFD services
in Malaysia are used to verify the proposed hypotheses through partial least squares structural equation
modelling (PLS-SEM). Necessary condition analysis (NCA) is also conducted to identify the necessary
conditions for customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.
Findings – The PLS results show that five dimensions of OFD service quality, including assurance,
maintenance of meal quality and hygiene, reliability, security and system operation, are significant to customer
satisfaction. Traceability is found to have no significant influence on customer satisfaction. Furthermore,
customer satisfaction is a significant predictor of customer loyalty. The NCA results show that all dimensions
of OFD service quality are necessary conditions for customer satisfaction and customer satisfaction is a
necessary condition for customer loyalty.
Originality/value – Past studies have mainly utilised the sufficiency logic to understand customer
satisfaction and customer loyalty in the context of the OFD. This study is the first to perform NCA that relies on
necessity logic to identify necessary conditions for customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.
Keywords Online food delivery, Customer satisfaction, Customer loyalty, PLS-SEM, NCA
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries have imposed social distancing and wearing
a mask in public to prevent the widespread of the coronavirus (Qian and Jiang, 2020).
Furthermore, many Asian countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand have also
implemented lockdowns, resulting in many restaurants could not survive because customers
could not dine in (Gursoy and Chi, 2020). For this reason, many restaurants have been forced
to offer contactless services such as online food delivery (OFD) services to stay alive during
the COVID-19 pandemic (Pandey et al., 2021). For instance, Statista (2021) reported that the
global OFD market size had reached $111.32bn in 2020 and is expected to grow further. In
addition, it is expected that fewer people will be dining in-house. Furthermore, the USA has
the fastest growth rate of 123% in the OFD industry, followed by Russia and Canada
(Statista, 2021). The China-based Meituan Waimai is one of the top OFD service providers,
with revenue approaching $14bn in 2020.
 With the new social norms of social isolation and staying at home, there is a growing Model of OFD
demand for OFD services worldwide (Ramos, 2021), especially in Malaysia, the context of the
study (Allah Pitchay et al., 2021). It was reported that 38% of new OFD users began using OFD
after the Malaysian government imposed movement control, resulting in a 61% increase in
OFD customers (Vodus, 2021). To help small businesses weather the storm of the COVID-19
pandemic, the Sarawak government has helped small businesses to digitise their operations by
linking them to OFD services (News Sarawak Tribune, 2020) such as Foodpanda, GrabFood,
Meal2U and SmartBite. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the OFD industry has become very 4517
lucrative, thereby attracting many new OFD service providers in the industry (Ramli et al.,
2021). Hence, providing good service quality is crucial to gain a competitive advantage (Zhuang
et al., 2021).
Extant studies have been conducted to understand factors influencing consumers’
satisfaction towards and continuous intention to use OFD services (Alalwan, 2020; Cai and
Leung, 2020; Cho et al., 2019; Kang and Namkung, 2019; Pandey et al., 2021; Roh and Park, 2019;
Shah et al., 2020; Suhartanto et al., 2019; Troise et al., 2021; Wen et al., 2021; Xu and Huang, 2019;
Yeo et al., 2017; Zhao and Bacao, 2020; Zhuang et al., 2021); the influence of OFD service quality
has not been carefully examined. Most existing studies conceptualised OFD service quality
based on service quality scales developed for other contexts such as m-commerce shopping
(Yusra and Agus, 2020) and online self-service (Suhartanto et al., 2019). Furthermore, extant
studies tend to focus only on the service quality of the OFD ordering system or apps but neglect
other service attributes derived from deliverymen (Annaraud and Berezina, 2020; Suhartanto
et al., 2019; Yusra and Agus, 2020). To fill the gap, Cheng et al. (2021) conducted a scale
development study to develop a service quality scale (OFD-SERV) specifically for the food
online delivery context. The scale consisted of six dimensions, including reliability,
maintenance of meal quality and hygiene (MMQH), assurance, security, system operation
and traceability with good reliability and validity.
This study has several contributions. First, this study aims to examine the influence of
OFD service quality using the newly developed OFD-SERV scale by Cheng et al. (2021) on
customer satisfaction and the influence of customer satisfaction on customer loyalty using
both sufficiency and necessity logics based on partial least squares structural modelling
(PLS-SEM) and necessary condition analysis (NCA), respectively. Second, we also conducted
PLS-predict to determine the predictive relevance of the research model and importance–
performance map analysis (IPMA) to obtain better insights into the current performance and
importance of OFD service quality dimensions to customer satisfaction. Third, given that
there is no sign of the end of the COVID-19 pandemic in a foreseeable future, the usage of OFD
services will continue to be high in Malaysia, and therefore, our findings will benefit OFD
service providers to better understand consumers’ expectations of good OFD service quality,
which then could formulate better strategies to enhance customer satisfaction and customer
loyalty.

2. Literature review
2.1 Equity theory
Equity theory posits that when consumers think that the value of buying a product or service
surpasses the resources (e.g. money and time) spent on the product or service, they are more
likely to experience high levels of satisfaction (Oliver and Swan, 1989). Past studies found that
service quality is an important precursor of customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions
in various industries (Chen et al., 2012; Jiang et al., 2016; Khoo, 2020). Consistent with previous
studies, we argue that when consumers are equitably treated by receiving superior service
quality by OFD service providers, they tend to exhibit high levels of satisfaction, resulting in
high levels of loyalty.
BFJ 2.2 Customer satisfaction and customer loyalty
124,12 Satisfaction is the pleasurable fulfilment of the consumption of a product or service (Oliver,
1999). From the e-service perspective, customer satisfaction has a significant and positive
influence on customer loyalty (Luarn and Lin, 2003). Loyalty is described as the commitment
to consistently repurchase a product or service (Oliver, 1999). Confidence in a service provider
is a key to loyalty (Dick and Basu, 1994), whereby customer satisfaction leads to customer
confidence. Past studies on the OFD industry found that customer satisfaction positively
4518 impacts the continuance intention to use OFD apps (Alalwan, 2020; Al Amin et al., 2021b;
Zhao and Bacao, 2020). Hence, the following hypothesis is developed:
H1. Customer satisfaction has a significant positive influence on customer loyalty.

2.3 Reliability
The term “reliability” refers to the consistency and dependability of the service performance
(Parasuraman et al., 1985). In the context of OFD, reliability is described as the ability of
deliverymen to perform the promised services precisely and correctly. Deliverymen have
direct contact with the customers during delivery tasks (Yusra and Agus, 2020). Therefore,
the performance of deliverymen may influence customers’ perceptions of service quality.
Service reliability is relevant to the deliverymen’s service attitude and appearance.
Deliverymen who cannot meet the service demand will be perceived as unreliable. When
deliverymen can maintain a polite manner, keep their appearances neat and provide
courteous service, customers are more likely to perceive better service performance towards
the OFD service provider (Kim et al., 2009). Good service provision builds consumer trust and
leads to reliability, resulting in higher customer satisfaction (Saad, 2021). Past researchers
found that reliability positively correlates with customer satisfaction in the food and
beverage service industry (Gopi and Samat, 2020; Quang et al., 2018). In addition, reliability
was found to have a significant positive influence on customer satisfaction in the OFD
context (Banerjee et al., 2019; Cheng et al., 2021). Therefore, a hypothesis is developed below:
H2. Reliability has a significant positive influence on customer satisfaction.

2.4 Maintenance of meal quality and hygiene (MMQH)

MMQH refers to “the ability to properly maintain meal quality and hygiene during the OFD
service” (Cheng et al., 2021, p. 12). Meal quality is a broad concept that includes the taste,
smell, appearance and temperature of the food (Namkung and Jang, 2007). It is commonly
accepted as a necessary component for satisfying restaurant customers. Although delivery is
the primary service in this industry, the quality of the delivered meal should not be neglected.
It is the responsibility of deliverymen to maintain the meal quality during the delivery
process. Meal quality becomes more important in the OFD context (He et al., 2019). Saad (2021)
found that the food quality condition significantly affects customers’ decision to choose
which OFD service provider to use. Furthermore, Annaraud and Berezina (2020) reported
that food quality significantly influences customer satisfaction with online food ordering.
Apart from food quality, customers are also concerned with hygiene issues of OFD services,
especially during the COVID-19 pandemic (Mehrolia et al., 2020). For instance, deliverymen
are expected to wear a facemask and gloves to deliver meals. Al Amin et al. (2021a) showed
that food delivery hygiene is a significant predictor of consumers’ intention to use OFD
services and actual usage of OFD services. Thus, deliverymen should be trained on
maintaining hygiene standards during the delivery process (Mehrolia et al., 2020). Therefore,
the following hypothesis was forwarded for this study:
H3. MMQH has a significant positive influence on customer satisfaction.
2.5 Assurance Model of OFD
In the service industry, the term “assurance” refers to employees’ knowledge, courtesy, as
well as the ability to convey trust and confidence (Parasuraman et al., 1988). In the OFD
context, assurance indicates “the ability to win customer trust during the OFD service”
(Cheng et al., 2021, p. 12). Consumers evaluate the quality of assurance based on how fast
deliverymen can deliver the ordered food, whether the food and its quantity are correct and
the fees are charged reasonably. Deliverymen are expected to deliver the food exactly as
ordered by customers in a timely manner, with no cancellations once the orders have been 4519
accepted. During the COVID-19 pandemic, OFD service providers should ensure that the food
delivery performance is commensurate with consumers’ expectations, such as providing
accurate ordering and delivery services with quality assurance (Zhao and Bacao, 2020).
Furthermore, it is also important to ensure that the delivery fees are reasonable and fair
without any hidden costs. In general, customers are more likely to experience high levels of
assurance when receiving the ordered meals in time with the right quantity at affordable
prices (Annaraud and Berezina, 2020). Assurance was found to have a significant influence
on customer satisfaction with OFD services (Banerjee et al., 2019). Thus, the following
hypothesis is proposed:
H4. Assurance has a significant positive influence on customer satisfaction.

2.6 Security
In this research, security refers to “the ability to protect customer data during the OFD
service” (Cheng et al., 2021, p. 12). Consumers are particularly concerned about how their data
will be processed, stored and used (Libaque-Saenz et al., 2021). For instance, security has been
one of the main concerns preventing consumers from using an e-wallet (Andrew et al., 2019).
Customers are worried about the vulnerabilities of technologies that may lead to data
breaches, including personal information or credit card data (Cheng et al., 2021; Chopdar et al.,
2018; Pigatto et al., 2017). Previous research reported that perceived security has a positive
influence on consumers’ intentions to use e-service systems (Kim et al., 2006) and mobile
payment services (Sharma et al., 2019). Therefore, security and privacy protection are crucial
factors influencing customers’ purchase intention (Chang et al., 2005; Wang et al., 2019) and
customer satisfaction (Valdez-Juarez et al., 2021) in the context of OFD. OFD service providers
must ensure tight control over the ordering and payment systems. Customers are more likely
to buy food through online food ordering systems if they are satisfied and confident in the
security of the systems. These arguments lead to the following hypothesis:
H5. Security has a significant positive influence on customer satisfaction.

2.7 System operation

System operation typically refers to the technical functioning of technology (Parasuraman
et al., 2005). In this research, it is defined as “the ability to provide customers with good
system quality and functions during ordering of OFD” (Cheng et al., 2021, p. 12). The ordering
system (apps) is the main tool that allows customers to place orders, make payments and
track the entire ordering process. A clear operating instruction of the OFD apps could make it
easier for customers to find the desired meals and place orders. Customers are more likely to
experience high levels of customer satisfaction when the ordering system has fast load times
and simple online payment systems (Cheng et al., 2021; Kang and Namkung, 2019). In
addition, when consumers feel easy to use the OFD apps, they exhibit a higher tendency to
develop trust towards it (Kang and Namkung, 2019). Pal et al. (2021) found that the visual
design and information design of the OFD apps are significant factors of customer
satisfaction and customer loyalty. Similarly, information quality was a significant factor in
BFJ consumers’ attitudes towards OFD services (Allah Pitchay et al., 2021). Another study by
124,12 Wen et al. (2021) reported that when consumers find it easy to use food delivery apps, they
exhibit higher levels of perceived behavioural control, leading to a higher intention to use the
food delivery apps. Thus, we hypothesise the following:
H6. System operation has a significant positive influence on customer satisfaction.

4520 2.8 Traceability

Online tracking is a location-based service to transmit precise locations using a global
positioning system (Shugan, 2004). “The ability to know the delivery progress and location
during the OFD service” is known as traceability (Cheng et al., 2021, p. 12). An online tracking
system lets consumers know the expected delivery time and communicate with the
deliverymen during the delivery process if there is any issue (Gutierrez et al., 2019).
Consumers shop online because they think it is more time-efficient than offline shopping.
However, a delay in delivery longer than the promised delivery time will cause dissatisfaction
(Roy Dholakia and Zhao, 2010). For instance, Saad (2021) found that delivery time has a
significant positive influence on consumers’ decision to select an OFD service provider. In
addition, Alalwan (2020) discovered that online tracking positively impacts customer
satisfaction and continued intention to use mobile food delivery apps. Based on this, the
following hypothesis is postulated:
H7. Traceability has a significant positive influence on customer satisfaction.
The full research model is presented in Figure 1.

3. Methodology
3.1 Data collection and sample
This research used a survey method to achieve our research objective. Our target
respondents were those who had used OFD services in the past six months. This was to

Figure 1.
Research model
ensure that they had sufficient knowledge to answer the questions asked in the questionnaire. Model of OFD
We conducted a pilot test on 30 respondents to examine the reliability of all the scales. All
Cronbach’s alpha values were greater than 0.7, indicating good reliability. After that, we
distributed our survey link on social media through our contacts and various Facebook
groups. We collected a total of 307 useable data for further analysis.
The demographic distribution of the sample comprised 77 (25.1%) males and 230 (74.9%)
females (see Table 1). In addition, the majority of the respondents were in the age group of 18–
29 (86%), followed by 18–29 (8.8%), 40–49 (2.3%), above 50 (1.3%) and below 18 (1.6%). 4521
Furthermore, a large proportion of the respondents were Chinese (87.9%). In terms of income
level, 167 (54.4%) were in the income bracket of less than RM1,000, 88 (28.7%) were in
RM1,001–RM3,000, 26 (8.5%) were in RM3,001–RM5,000 and 26 (8.5%) were in more than
RM5,000. Additionally, it was reported that GrabFood (57%) and Foodpanda (38.8%) were
the top two most used OFD service providers in the past six months.

3.2 Measures
Most of the scales to measure OFD service quality were developed based on SERVQUAL
(Banerjee et al., 2019), e-SELFQUAL (Suhartanto et al., 2019; Annaraud and Berezina, 2020) or
M-S-QUAL scales (Yusra and Agus, 2020). Many important OFD service attributes were not
captured in those scales, as highlighted by Cheng et al. (2021). Hence, this study used the OFD
service quality scale developed by Cheng et al. (2021). The scale comprised six dimensions,
including reliability (seven items), MMQH (six items), assurance (five items), security (three
items), system operation (three items) and traceability (three items). Customer satisfaction
was measured using a four-item scale adapted from Zhao and Bacao (2020). A sample item
includes “My interaction with the OFD service provider is very satisfying”. Customer loyalty
was assessed using a four-item scale adapted from Suhartanto et al. (2019). A sample item
includes “I will continue to use the OFD service provider”. All items were measured in a
response format of a five-point Likert scale.

4. Data analysis
This study chose PLS-SEM to examine the influence of OFD service quality on customer
satisfaction and customer loyalty (Hair et al., 2019). Apart from the general hypothesis testing
using the sufficiency logic, PLS-SEM also allows researchers to yield more insights from the
data through various analyses such as PLS-predict and IPMA. Also, the latent variable scores

Frequency Percentage

Gender Male 77 25.1

Female 230 74.9
Age Below 18 5 1.6
18–29 264 86.0
30–39 27 8.8
40–49 7 2.3
Above 50 4 1.3
Ethnicity Malay 11 3.6
Chinese 270 87.9
Indian 6 2.0
Others 20 6.5
Income level Less than RM1,000 167 54.4
RM1,001–RM30,00 88 28.7 Table 1.
RM3,001–RM5,000 26 8.5 Respondents’
More RM5,000 26 8.5 demographic
BFJ were used as input in RStudio to conduct NCA (Richter et al., 2020), which allows us to
124,12 understand the must-have factors of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.
Common method bias was examined using the marker variable approach (Podsakoff et al.,
2003). We collected the data of a theoretically unrelated construct and pointed it at all
constructs. Subsequently, we tracked whether the coefficient of determination (R2) for
customer satisfaction (before 5 0.545, after 5 0.560) and customer loyalty (before 5 0.714,
after 5 0.722) changed substantially after and before the inclusion of the marker variable.
4522 The results showed that there was no significant difference was observed. In addition, the
comparison of the path coefficients between two research models with and without the
marker variable showed no difference in the significance of the paths (Koay et al., 2020).
Hence, we can conclude that CMB was not evident in this research.

4.1 Measurement model

We followed Hair et al.’s (2019) suggestions to assess the measurement quality by testing
construct reliability, convergent validity and discriminant validity. The full measurement
model results are presented in Table 2. All Cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability values

Construct Item Loading CA CR AVE

Assurance A1 0.861 0.899 0.925 0.713

A2 0.868
A3 0.820
A4 0.851
A5 0.820
Maintenance of meal quality and hygiene MMQH1 0.857 0.886 0.914 0.641
MMQH2 0.833
MMQH3 0.847
MMQH4 0.792
MMQH5 0.813
MMQH6 0.641
Reliability R1 0.653 0.879 0.907 0.583
R2 0.779
R3 0.791
R4 0.840
R5 0.771
R6 0.655
R7 0.833
Security S1 0.901 0.856 0.913 0.777
S2 0.900
S3 0.843
System operation SO1 0.874 0.843 0.905 0.761
SO2 0.895
SO3 0.847
Traceability T1 0.698 0.755 0.858 0.670
T2 0.889
T3 0.856
Customer loyalty CL1 0.887 0.876 0.915 0.730
CL2 0.907
CL3 0.886
CL4 0.725
Customer satisfaction CS1 0.894 0.910 0.937 0.787
CS2 0.900
Table 2. CS3 0.903
Measurement model CS4 0.852
were greater than 0.7, suggesting good construct reliability. Next, convergent validity was Model of OFD
achieved as all loadings and average variance extracted (AVE) were greater than 0.7 and 0.5,
respectively. Items with loadings between 0.4 and 0.7 were retained as long as AVE values
were greater than 0.5. In this research, satisfactory discriminant validity was achieved
because all HTMT were less than 0.9, as suggested by Henseler et al. (2015) (see Table 3).

4.2 Structural model 4523

Six out of seven hypotheses were supported based on the results generated from a
bootstrapping procedure of 5,000 resamples (see Table 4). Customer satisfaction (β 5 0.738,
p < 0.001) was found to have a significant positive influence on customer loyalty.
Furthermore, it was found that five dimensions of OFD service quality including reliability
(β 5 0.163, p < 0.01), MMQH (β 5 0.262, p < 0.01), assurance (β 5 0.196, p < 0.01), security
(β 5 0.103, p < 0.05) and system operation (β 5 0.267, p < 0.001) were significant factors of
customer satisfaction. However, traceability (β 5 0.028, p > 0.05) was found to have no
significant influence customer satisfaction. To determine the predictive capability of the
research model, we conducted a PLS-predict analysis to compare the prediction errors of the
PLS path model against simple mean predictions. As shown in Table 5, prediction errors of
the PLS path model were lower than the linear regression model. We can conclude that our

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1. Assurance
2. Customer loyalty 0.695
3. Customer satisfaction 0.829 0.812
4. Maintenance of meal quality and hygiene 0.791 0.670 0.825
5. Reliability 0.869 0.773 0.840 0.882
6. Security 0.806 0.708 0.786 0.761 0.773
7. System operation 0.810 0.722 0.835 0.712 0.797 0.821 Table 3.
8. Traceability 0.886 0.719 0.750 0.753 0.836 0.783 0.822 HTMT criterion

Confidence
Path Std t p intervals bias
Relationship coefficient error value value corrected Decision

H1: Customer 0.738 0.043 17.159 0.000 [0.659, 0.800] Supported

satisfaction → Customer loyalty
H2: Reliability → Customer 0.163 0.067 2.429 0.008 [0.053, 0.272] Supported
satisfaction
H3: Maintenance of meal quality 0.262 0.056 4.690 0.000 [0.175, 0.357] Supported
and hygiene → Customer
satisfaction
H4: Assurance → Customer 0.196 0.062 3.166 0.001 [0.100, 0.307] Supported
satisfaction
H5: Security → Customer 0.103 0.057 1.804 0.036 [0.005, 0.195] Supported
satisfaction
H6: System 0.267 0.054 4.963 0.000 [0.178, 0.355] Supported
operation → Customer
satisfaction Table 4.
H7: Traceability → Customer 0.028 0.052 0.543 0.294 [ 0.112, 0.056] Not supported Structural model
satisfaction results
BFJ Q2_predict
124,12
Customer loyalty 0.510
Customer satisfaction 0.702

PLS LM PLS-LM Decision of predictive

RMSE Q2_predict RMSE Q2_predict RMSE Q2_predict relevance
4524
CL1 0.637 0.425 0.650 0.402 0.013 0.023 Moderate
CL3 0.590 0.451 0.602 0.429 0.012 0.022
CL2 0.642 0.416 0.684 0.338 0.041 0.078
CL4 1.010 0.161 0.994 0.187 0.016 0.026
CS1 0.511 0.572 0.538 0.526 0.027 0.046 Strong
CS3 0.546 0.544 0.578 0.490 0.031 0.054
Table 5. CS2 0.475 0.588 0.494 0.556 0.018 0.032
PLS-predict CS4 0.581 0.486 0.598 0.455 0.017 0.031

research model has strong predictive relevance for customer satisfaction and moderate
predictive relevance for customer loyalty.
Next, we conducted NCA to determine the must-have factors of customer satisfaction and
customer loyalty (Dul, 2016). Figure 2 displays the scatter plots for all relevant relations. We
used the ceiling envelopment–free disposal hull (CE-FDH) line to “separate the space with
observations from the space without observations” (Richter et al., 2020, p. 2246). Based on
Table 6, the results showed that customer satisfaction is necessary for customer loyalty. In
addition, all six dimensions of OFD service quality were necessary conditions for customer
satisfaction. Interestingly, it was found that traceability was a must-have factor but not a
should-have factor of customer satisfaction. Furthermore, we also used the bottleneck
technique to identify threshold levels of the necessary conditions for reaching a certain level
of outcomes. Table 7 shows that in order to reach a 60% level of customer satisfaction, five
necessary conditions have to present: assurance at no less than 30%, MMQH at no less than
34%, reliability at no less than 36.6, security at no less than 33.5% and system operation at no
less than 17.6%.
Finally, the IPMA was performed to explore underperforming but yet important
constructs so that businesses can enhance those areas. IPMA results revealed that MMQH
(0.251), system operation (0.249) and assurance (0.193) are the three most important drivers of
customer satisfaction (see Table 8 and Figure 3). Although MMQH was the most important
factor in customer satisfaction, it was also the worst-performing factor. Hence, OFD service
providers should improve in this area.

5. Discussion
5.1 Theoretical implications
This study is the first to examine the influence of various dimensions of OFD service quality
on customer satisfaction using both sufficiency and necessity logics. Earlier studies have
mainly used a sufficiency logic through structural equation modelling or ordinary least
squares (OLS) regression-based techniques to understand factors influencing customer
satisfaction and customer loyalty (e.g. Kang and Namkung, 2019; Saad, 2021; Allah Pitchay
et al., 2021; Choi, 2020; Ray et al., 2019; Prasetyo et al., 2021). However, these techniques can
only detect the should-have factors but not the must-have factors of an outcome (e.g.
customer satisfaction). Should-have factors are sufficient but may not be necessary to lead to
an outcome.
Model of OFD

4525

Figure 2.
NCA (scatter plots)
BFJ Customer loyalty Customer satisfaction
124,12 Effect size (d) (CE-FDH) p value Effect size (d) (CE-FDH) p value

CS 0.416 0.000
R 0.246 0.000
MMQH 0.354 0.000
A 0.307 0.000
4526 S 0.225 0.000
SO 0.167 0.000
T 0.141 0.000
Table 6. Note(s): 0 < d < 0.1 5 small effect size; 0.1 ≤ d < 0.3 5 medium effect size; 0.3 ≤ d < 0.5 5 large effect size;
NCA results d ≥ 0.5 5 very large effect size

A MMQH R S SO T

Customer satisfaction
0 NN NN NN NN NN NN
10 20 21.2 NN NN NN NN
20 20 21.2 NN NN NN NN
30 20.2 26.4 NN NN NN NN
40 30 26.4 NN NN NN NN
50 30 30 NN NN NN NN
60 30 34 36.6 33.5 17.6 NN
70 30 34 54.4 50 17.6 27.1
Table 7. 80 30 59.1 56.6 50.6 39.9 50
Bottleneck table 90 64.8 59.1 56.6 50.6 42.2 50
(percentage-levels) 100 64.8 59.1 60.3 58.5 74.6 50

Construct Importance Ranking Performance Ranking

Assurance 0.193 3 76.021 1

Maintenance of meal quality and hygiene 0.251 1 69.801 6
Reliability 0.166 4 72.297 5
Security 0.096 5 73.320 4
Table 8. System operation 0.249 2 75.510 2
IPMA results Traceability 0.026 6 75.168 3

Based on the PLS results, customer satisfaction was found to have a significant positive
influence on customer loyalty, supporting H1. The finding implies that for consumers to reuse
the OFD apps, customer satisfaction should be met. Satisfied consumers tend to continue to
use the OFD service provider, recommend others to use the OFD service provider and spread
positive word-of-mouth about the OFD service provider (Yusra and Agus, 2020). Next, it was
found that reliability, MMQH, assurance, security and system operation are should-have
factors for customer satisfaction, supporting H2, H3, H4, H5 and H6. However, traceability
does not have a significant influence on customer satisfaction. Thus, H7 is not supported. The
findings indicate that customer satisfaction can be developed if OFD service providers can
provide high levels of reliable services, meal quality, hygiene, assurance, security and system
operation.
Model of OFD

4527

Figure 3.
IPMA graph
BFJ Based on the NCA results, all dimensions of OFD service quality are must-have factors of
124,12 customer satisfaction, suggesting that OFD service providers should ensure that they meet a
certain level of these factors to achieve customer satisfaction. Notably, although traceability
was found not a should-have factor of customer satisfaction based on the sufficiency logic, it
is a necessary condition for customer satisfaction. In other words, OFD platforms should
have the basic feature to let consumers know the delivery progress and location during the
OFD service. For instance, consumers may only want to know the expected delivery time, but
4528 other information may not be required, such as the name of the deliverymen. Finally,
customer satisfaction is a precondition for customer loyalty.
This study contributes to the OFD literature in several ways. First, our findings are
consistent with equity theory, suggesting that consumers are more likely to develop high
levels of satisfaction when they perceive superior service quality from an OFD service
provider, thereby developing high levels of loyalty. Second, reliability, MMQH, assurance,
security and system operation are must-have and should-have factors for satisfaction. Third,
traceability is necessary for satisfaction, but improving this aspect will not further increase
satisfaction. All in all, the combined use of PLS-SEM and NCA allows us to have a more
holistic understanding of which dimensions of OFD service quality are sufficient and
necessary for satisfaction, which past studies have not examined (e.g. Allah Pitchay et al.,
2021; Suhartanto et al., 2019).

5.2 Managerial implications

This study offers several important managerial implications which are important for the
Malaysian OFD service providers. First, OFD service providers should train their
deliverymen to know what to do to solve consumers’ problems. Second, OFD service
providers need to maintain the quality and hygiene of the ordered meals. For instance, OFD
service providers must ensure that all deliverymen use thermal delivery bags to deliver food
to maintain the food temperature after delivery. Next, consumers are getting more concerned
with how fast the food can be delivered and how much the prices of the OFD services. Hence,
OFD service providers should reward deliverymen who constantly deliver food to consumers
in time, and food delivery services should be charged at reasonable prices (Allah Pitchay et al.,
2021). Furthermore, it is also important that the ordering system (apps) furnishes clear
operating instructions, so that new consumers can make orders easily without any issues.
Finally, although maintaining high levels of traceability does not increase satisfaction, a
certain level of traceability is required to satisfy consumers. Hence, OFD service providers
should let consumers know the delivery progress through the system platform. Overall,
based on the IPMA results, OFD service providers should prioritise MMQH, system operation
and assurance in order to increase customer satisfaction. Given that our findings were mainly
generated using data from existing users of GrabFood and Foodpanda (95.8%) in Malaysia,
the managerial recommendations are also applicable for OFD service providers operating in
Southeast Asian countries as GrabFood and Foodpanda are the dominant OFD service
providers in Southeast Asia (Sri, 2021).

6. Conclusion
This study is the first to examine the role of OFD services in affecting customer satisfaction
and customer loyalty using sufficiency and necessity logics based on PLS-SEM and NCA,
respectively. Overall, it was found that all dimensions of OFD service quality are important
factors of customer satisfaction although traceability is not a must-have factor. Despite all the
benefits, this study has several drawbacks. First, we collected cross-sectional data, which has
the limitation of making causal inferences. Future studies are recommended to collect
longitudinal data. Second, our data were collected from existing users of OFD services in
Malaysia, and the majority of them were Chinese. Future scholars should consider replicating Model of OFD
the research model using samples from other countries. Third, common method bias may be
an issue of concern in this research. Hence, we suggest that future scholars collect data from
respondents at different time points. Finally, this study only examined the role of OFD service
quality in affecting customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Future research should
conduct qualitative research to gain deep insights into factors influencing customer
satisfaction and loyalty.
4529

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Corresponding author
Chee Wei Cheah can be contacted at: cheah_chee_wei@sztu.edu.cn; cheahcw@hotmail.com

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