Abstract
Recognizing the complexity of UAV adoption as a sociotechnical phenomenon, the objective of this work is to understand the underlying dimensions contributing to the adoption of UAVs in middle-and last-mile logistics. A literature review identified several drivers influencing the adoption of UAVs in this sector. These factors include cost, service level, competitiveness, environmental impact, internal and external stakeholder management, process optimization, safety and security, infrastructural requirements, technological maturity, organizational culture, public acceptance, and regulatory environment. These drivers were systemically categorized according to the seven elements of the sociotechnical systems theory. An online questionnaire was distributed to a pool of experts among practitioners and academics who were asked to evaluate the influence of each driver on the adoption of UAVs. The data collected from this survey were analyzed through exploratory factor analysis to explore the relationships among the observed variables and identify the underlying factors that may influence UAV adoption. Following this first step, the thirteen drivers were reduced to four constructs, explaining 61.5% of the total variance. The first factor includes five drivers: competitiveness with a loading of 0.744, service level (0.702), infrastructural requirements (0.652), safety and security (0.608), and technological maturity (0.498). The second factor includes three drivers: public acceptance (0.851), regulatory environment (0.834), organizational culture (0.615), and environmental impact (0.495). The third factor includes three drivers: external (0.815) and internal (0.597) stakeholders' engagement. The fourth factor includes two drivers: cost (-0.749) and process optimization (0.457). The factor analysis confirmed the existence of underlying constructs that provide a comprehensive understanding of the drivers influencing UAV adoption in middle-and last-mile logistics from a sociotechnical perspective.
