Unlocking the smart home: exploring key factors affecting the smart lock adoption intention

Perceived usefulness of Internet of Things (IOT) in the quality of life of special needs and elderly individuals in Saudi Arabia

Smart home technologies (the Internet of Things [IoT]) are increasingly being implemented in human life, and a growing body of evidence demonstrates their usefulness for people with disabilities and elderly people. To fully benefit from their use, these individuals must know the different existing tools and their potential and be trained and motivated to use them. The current study aims to evaluate the factors that promote the use of smart home technologies (IoT) in people's lives. Data were gathered from 130 Saudi individuals via a survey questionnaire. Mean, standard deviation, and MANOVA were calculated. According to the results, the participants showed a moderate perception toward IoT technologies, with a mean score of (M = 2.06 and SD = 0.328). Moreover, no statistically significant differences were found in the perceived usefulness of the IoT and its dimensions (usage, skills, obstacles, and inclusion) among participants, based on gender, education level, category, experience, and devices used. While elder participants demonstrated higher perceived usefulness and perceived obstacles than the younger participants, as evidenced by the statistically significant differences in the results (MS = 0.432, F = 4.197, Sig0.017 < 0.05; MS = 0.545, F = 4.615, Sig0.012 < 0.05), the usage, skills, and inclusion dimensions showed no significant differences by participants' ages (MS = 1.080, F = 3.035, Sig0.052 > 0.05; MS = 0.584, F = 2.882, Sig0.060 > 0.05; MS = 0.255, F = 1.939, Sig0.148 > 0.05, respectively). The results support the relevance of providing knowledge and enhancing skills, thereby fostering a positive perception of IoT technologies. This study is one of the few addressing IoT technologies in special needs settings in the Middle East region. It has the potential to support evidence that IoT technologies are especially significant for people with special needs and elderly individuals.

Usage and impact of the internet-of-things-based smart home technology: a quality-of-life perspective

The aim of this paper is to explore the usage and impact of the Internet-of-Things-based Smart Home Technology (IoT-SHT) in Malaysia. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with a total of eleven IoT-SHT users who had a minimum of 2-year usage experience. The semi-structured interview consisted of six questions which were compartmentalised into two sections. Common themes were identified through constant comparison of the inductive data in the coding process. The in-depth interview uncovered six uses of IoT-SHT. Mainly, it was used for real-time remote control, surveillance, sensing, home automation, entertainment, and family communication. It seems clear that the IoT-SHT helped people to save time, changed their lives, improved security, safety, environment condition, fun, convenience, and comfort within the home ground. It also facilitated better health tracking, family care, and energy conservation. Psychologically, the IoT-SHT also enhanced one's image, offered better companionship, and improved the sense of belongingness, and closeness within the family. This study fills the research gap by providing insights into how the IoT-SHT was used, thereby benefiting users in Malaysia. With the arrival of industrial revolution 4.0, a comprehensive knowledge on the usage of IoT is pertinent. The findings of this study may also serve as a foundation for future research in IoT-SHT adoption. Practically, this study accelerates IoT-SHT diffusion by providing insights to vendors in designing better IoT products and services, based on the popular usages and impactful benefits.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10209-022-00937-0.

Smart energy systems beyond the age of COVID-19: Towards a new order of monitoring, disciplining and sanctioning energy behavior?

The Corona pandemic has led to the increased use of online tools throughout society, whether in business, education, or daily life. This shift to an online society has led social scientists to question the extent to which increased forms of control, surveillance and enforced conformity to ways of thinking, attitudes and behaviors can be promoted through online activities. This question arises overtly amidst a pandemic, but it also lurks behind the widespread diffusion of smart energy systems throughout the world and the increased use of smart meters in those systems. The extent to which forms of monitoring, disciplining and sanctioning of energy behavior and practices could come to reality is thus an important question to consider. This article does so using the ideas of Michel Foucault, together with research on smart energy systems and current trends in energy policy. The article closes with a discussion of energy democracy and democratic legitimacy in the context of possible effects of smart technologies on community energy systems.

Drivers of digital transformation adoption: A weight and meta-analysis

The advent of the global pandemic has accelerated the growing need for product and service transformation, highlighting the emerging importance of technology and creating the opportunity to update the digital transformation (DT) domain through empirical-quantitative research. This weight and meta-analysis enabled the synthesis and integration of previous literature on the scope of individual DT adoption, evaluating the state of the art and filling a void on the subject. Athwart 88 studies and 99 datasets by international sources, our results demonstrate that attitude and satisfaction are relevant predictors of behavioral intentions and promising outcomes, including compatibility and personal innovativeness. Behavioral intentions, satisfaction, and habit are the best predictors for DT use. Usefulness and ease of use are critical for DT adoption intention and use, being moderated by individualism, as a cultural factor, human capital, and knowledge-technology, as innovation indicators. We present a conceptual model of promising and best predictors for future research on DT individual adoption.

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An update of digital transformation (DT) through a weight and meta-analysis.

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Contribution to DT literature by surpassing biases and limitations of size estimates.

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Identification of promising and best predictors for further DT adoption research.

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Behavioral intentions, satisfaction, and habit are best predictors for DT use.

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Usefulness and ease of use are pivotal, being moderated by culture and innovation.

Enhancing Smart System Platforms

Smart systems are going to transform the social life of modern society. Notwithstanding the benefits of these systems, its use is still low in developing world including Jordan. This study aims to construct a novel model to identify the factors that affect people’s intention to use smart systems in their homes. A survey was conducted on 650 individuals among which 550 valid questionnaires were considered in Jordan. The collected data were analyzed for descriptive analysis and further to valid the hypothesis using Structural Equation Modeling. The findings showed that there is a significant relationship between individuals’ attitudes related to PU and PEOU with their intention toward using smart systems in their lifestyle. It indicated that the research model explains 68.6% of the variance in the individual’s intention to use smart systems in their residence. Practically, it fruitful to the top management of IT companies that offers smart systems. Moreover, enhancing the current systems and organizing a strategic plan for implementation within best practice.