Understanding consumer acceptance of autonomous delivery services: the asymmetric roles of technology readiness in dual-valence behavioral reasoning

E-commerce expansion has intensified pressure on urban last-mile delivery, spurring interest in autonomous delivery services (ADS) enabled by autonomous delivery vehicles and robots. As ADS combine app-based coordination with autonomous movement and parcel handover in shared urban spaces, consumer acceptance is psychologically complex, involving functional benefits alongside concerns about reliability, privacy, pedestrian safety, and accountability. Drawing on behavioral reasoning theory (BRT) and technology readiness (TR), this study examines ADS acceptance as a dual-valence reasoning process and investigates how four TR dimensions relate to context-specific reasons for and against use. Survey data from 827 adults in five Chinese cities were analyzed using covariance-based structural equation modeling. Results reveal a pronounced asymmetry: functional “reasons for” has a strong positive association with intention ( β = 0.857), whereas “reasons against” shows a weak negative association ( β = −0.064). TR dimensions also exhibit asymmetric patterns: innovativeness and discomfort are associated with both reasoning valences in opposite directions, while optimism and insecurity primarily relate to supportive and inhibitive reasoning, respectively. Further indirect-effect analysis shows that innovativeness and discomfort are associated with intention primarily through consumers' reasoning, whereas optimism has both direct and reasoning-based associations with intention. For insecurity, only the pathway through inhibitive reasoning is statistically supported. This study advances ADS acceptance research by conceptualizing acceptance as a dual-valence reasoning process and extends BRT by showing that TR dimensions are distinctly associated with supportive and inhibitive reasoning. The findings suggest communicating functional utilities, reducing operational concerns, and tailoring support to technology-readiness profiles to foster ADS acceptance.