{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T16:33:46Z","timestamp":1785429226980,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,17]],"date-time":"2026-04-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1776384000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["71964032"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["71964032"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["71964032"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["71964032"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01h0zpd94","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JTAER"],"abstract":"<jats:p>While existing research has established that air pollution-induced \u201cavoidance behavior\u201d significantly drives the growth of online food delivery volumes, the Average Order Value (AOV) remains unexplored. This study utilizes micro-transactional data provided by the store owner and employs machine learning algorithms to detect the impact of air quality (measured by the AQI) on online food delivery AOV and analyze the underlying consumer behavior. The findings indicate that: (1) Air quality deterioration significantly drives up the AOV. The global average response coefficient is 0.0053, showing a 2.4-fold acceleration effect once the AQI crosses the median (66). (2) Crucially, this growth stems from a directional divergence in consumer decision-making. Air pollution leads to the simultaneous occurrence of a reduction in average item quantity (impact coefficient: \u22120.0014) and a surge in Average Item Price (AIP) (impact coefficient: 0.0066). (3) Causal analysis further identifies a \u201csubstitution mechanism.\u201d Specifically, every one-unit decrease in average item quantity induces a CNY 1.098 jump in average item price. These findings suggest a plausible behavioral logic where environmental stress may induce psychological fatigue but does not necessarily trigger \u201cdefensive frugality.\u201d Instead, the observed pattern is consistent with a \u201cdecision avoidance\u201d mode where consumers streamline item quantities; simultaneously, to hedge against potential experience risks resulting from simplified choices, they appear to utilize saved cognitive resources to target high-value \u201csignature\u201d items. Theoretically, this study fills the gap in environmental stress research regarding the price dimension of online consumption and reveals a behavioral evolution from \u201cpure avoidance\u201d to \u201cvalue-oriented selection.\u201d Practically, it provides empirical support for online food delivery merchants to optimize product selection, differentiate pricing, and implement precision marketing in dynamic environments.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jtaer21040121","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,17]],"date-time":"2026-04-17T10:11:04Z","timestamp":1776420664000},"page":"121","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["\u201cBuying Fewer but More Expensive\u201d: The Impact of Air Quality on Average Order Value (AOV) in Online Food Delivery and an Analysis of Consumer Behavior"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"21","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6531-8867","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ye","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Economics and Management, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 830046, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jinye","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Economics and Management, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 830046, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Minggang","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"E-Government Research Institute, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"212","DOI":"10.1038\/s41562-020-00961-1","article-title":"Air pollution as a determinant of food delivery and related plastic waste","volume":"5","author":"Chu","year":"2021","journal-title":"Nat. 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