The Human Factor in Last-Mile Logistics in Morocco: The Impact of Delivery Drivers’ Stress and Well-Being on Customer Loyalty

Neffar Fatima Ezzahra, Mounya Chahboune

Morocco’s e-commerce sector is experiencing rapid growth, driven by near-universal household internet penetration (approximately 90%) and the structural dominance of Cash on Delivery (COD), which accounts for over 80% of online transactions. Within this context, last-mile logistics has emerged as a critical strategic battleground encompassing both operational and human dimensions. This study investigates how the psychological well-being of last-mile delivery workers — conceptualized through the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model — shapes customer satisfaction and loyalty in Morocco’s COD-dominated digital commerce ecosystem. Using a sequential mixed-methods design involving 80 active delivery workers across Casablanca, Rabat, and Agadir, and employing Structural Equation Modeling via Partial Least Squares (PLS-SEM), the results confirm that job demands (particularly cash management and urban congestion) strongly predict worker burnout (β = +0.67; R² = 0.48), which in turn significantly degrades the quality of customer interactions (β = −0.58; R² = 0.35). Conversely, organizational resources attenuate this effect (β = −0.41). These findings position delivery worker well-being as a strategic customer retention lever, extending well beyond corporate social responsibility considerations.