Activating the Consumer: Toward More Sustainable Last‐Mile Delivery

This article investigates the impact of sustainability messaging on activating consumers' preferences for more sustainable last-mile delivery options, namely the use of parcel lockers versus home delivery. By employing signaling theory, this research ex-plores how firms can effectively communicate the sustainability impact of last-mile delivery options to drive consumers towardmore sustainable options. Through three scenario-based experiments, we analyze the influence of positive and negative sustain-ability messages across the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of the Triple Bottom Line on US consumers' likeli -hood to select parcel lockers. Our findings reveal that consumer choices are significantly affected by the framing of sustainabilitymessages, as well as by shopping motivations and residential location. Notably, rural consumers exhibit a preference for parcellockers when presented with negative sustainability messages, while urban consumers favor them under positive messaging andhedonic motivations. This research contributes to the stream of research on consumer logistics and last-mile delivery by provid-ing valuable understanding into consumer-centric strategies that can enhance sustainability in logistics operations. The implica-tions for both theory and practice are discussed, highlighting the need for targeted communication strategies in promoting parcellocker adoption and activating sustainable delivery practices