Gamification and AI-Powered Personalization in ShopeeFood Continuance Intention: E-Trust Moderation in Kupang

Abstract

Online food-delivery platforms increasingly function as digital service, marketing, and culinary-product distribution channels within the hospitality industry. This study examines the relationships of gamification and AI-powered personalization with continuance intention and tests whether E-Trust moderates these relationships among ShopeeFood users in Kupang, Indonesia. A quantitative explanatory design was applied to 154 respondents selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected from June to August 2026 using a 19-item Google Forms questionnaire distributed via WhatsApp. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 25 through measurement-item adequacy assessment, reliability analysis, multiple linear regression, and Moderated Regression Analysis. In the direct-effect model, gamification and AI-powered personalization were positively and significantly associated with continuance intention (p < 0.001), and the model explained 81.8% of the variance in continuance intention. In the moderation model, gamification remained statistically significant (p = 0.001), whereas AI-powered personalization became nonsignificant (p = 0.886). The interaction between gamification and E-Trust (p = 0.843) and the interaction between AI-powered personalization and E-Trust (p = 0.467) were also nonsignificant. Thus, E-Trust did not moderate either relationship in the model tested. The findings indicate that interactive incentives were more consistently associated with continuance intention than personalized recommendations across the two model specifications. Online food-delivery providers should develop attainable and transparent rewards while improving the relevance of restaurant, menu, and promotional recommendations. Restaurant partners can support these initiatives by maintaining accurate digital product and promotional information.