The effect of chemical pressure on the structural, transport, magnetic and electronic properties of ZnV₂O₄ has been investigated by doping Mn and Co onto the Zn sites of ZnV₂O₄. With Mn doping the V–V distance increases and with Co doping it decreases. The resistivity and thermoelectric power data indicate that, as the V–V distance decreases, the system moves towards quantum phase trans ition. The transport data also indicate that the conduction is due to small polaron hopping. The chemical pressure shows a non-monotonous behaviour of charge gap and activation energy. On the other hand, when Ti is doped on the V-site of ZnV₂O₄, the metal–metal distance decreases and, at the same time, T_N also increases.