The dark side of applying unified theory of acceptance and use of technology: Behavioral intentions toward food addiction and food waste among food delivery applications’ users in China

The "Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology" (UTAUT) has been extensively employed to discover the factors driving positive adoption of new technologies. However, there is a lack of research on the potential adverse effects of UTAUT driving factors on user behavior. This study aims to fill this research gap by investigating the negative behavioral intentions of food delivery applications (FDA) users based on a questionnaire administered in China (n=428). Using structural-equation-modeling analysis, this study confirms the direct and indirect effects of various UTAUT driving factors, including "performance expectancy", "effort expectancy", "social influence", "facilitating conditions", "price value", "hedonic motivation", and "habit", on FDA users' food addiction and waste behavioral intentions. Furthermore, it also highlights the effect of food addiction on food waste. This research reveals more comprehensive driving factors of FDA users' adverse behavioral intentions that have not been adequately explored in the existing literature, illustrating that elements commonly linked with technology adoption can profoundly strengthen the rewarding effects associated with food addiction and food waste. These findings suggest the potential value of applying UTAUT in predicting users' adverse behaviors, presenting new avenues for more comprehensive studies and practices in responsible user management within IT-enabled hospitality and tourism businesses.