How long before Take-off? Sociotechnical Enablers and Barriers to UAVs Logistics

According to the literature, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) promise to improve logistics processes, as they are environmentally friendly, provide an economic advantage and improve delivery services simultaneously. However, existing research has primarily focused on the operational aspects of UAVs technology, neglecting a comprehensive understanding of the enablers and barriers to its adoption from a sociotechnical perspective. The current state-of-the-art provides a limited overview of this technology's enablers and barriers, by focusing only on the technological and regulatory elements, as well as consumers' social acceptance, while disregarding the significance of human-technology interactions in UAVs adoption. It is crucial to view UAVs as "disruptive socio-technical systems" and consider the intricate relationship between humans and technology when studying their adoption. Drawing on the sociotechnical system (STS) theory and focusing on middle- and last-mile logistics, this study recognizes UAVs adoption as a complex system that necessitates the examination of its social and technological components. The analysis employs six key elements: people, goals, processes, infrastructures, culture, and technology. Therefore, to contribute to fill this literature gap, we develop a preliminary framework through a systematic literature review that identifies the enablers and barriers to UAVs adoption and categorizes them according to the six elements of the STS theory. This framework also examines the impact of UAVs adoption on humans, particularly logistics workers, within the context of logistics processes. This study offers both theoretical and managerial contributions. On the one hand, it applies the STS theory to middle- and last-mile logistics and the UAVs technology domain. On the other hand, it provides a holistic STS analysis of the middle- and last-mile logistics system, offering a comprehensive understanding of the enablers and barriers to the adoption of UAVs technology. This comprehensive perspective can encourage practitioners to adopt UAVs by addressing their concerns beyond individual issues such as regulations and financial feasibility, and by considering the overall sociotechnical impacts of technology usage, including the effects of UAVs on logistics workers.