Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Doctor of Business Administration

Major

Business Administration

Date of Defense

7-18-2022

Graduate Advisor

Joseph Rottman, DSc

Committee

Joseph Rottman, DSc

Dinesh Mirchandani, PhD

Douglas Smith, PhD

Abstract

Smart appliances will be a significant part of the annual $300 billion smart-home market by 2025. Their use is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 31% for the foreseeable future. Currently, 12-16% of households use smart-home products in the U.S., including thermostats, TVs, refrigerators, coffee machines, garage door openers, and vision-equipped doorbells. Smart appliances provide significant benefits to us over traditional appliances. Smart appliances simplify our lives by automating various tasks in our homes and allowing us to monitor and control them remotely from our offices, grocery stores, and wherever we may be.

Despite the usefulness and popularity of some smart appliances, recent research has shown that their adoption rate may not be increasing as expected. Every day, manufacturers rush to make appliances smarter through increased automation and connectivity without paying attention to consumers' concerns about their use. However, if the manufacturers do not address consumers' concerns about their smart appliances, they may not readily be adopted solely based on their features.

Scholars have explored technology adoption through various sociology, psychology, and information science theories. The universal theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) combines these widely researched theories into a framework that can be used to explore the technology adoption process. This research qualitatively explores the critical factors antecedent to consumers' adoption behavior of smart appliances using the UTAUT framework.

The findings from this research have expanded the application of UTAUT to address the adoption of smart-home appliances. Further, to aid the adoption process, this research makes important suggestions to practitioners involved in developing, manufacturing, and marketing smart appliances: the need to focus on interoperability, the need to lower the consumers’ effort, and the need to handle consumers' data ethically. Finally, the research also offers remedies to counteract consumers’ resistance to adopting smart appliances: providing an acceptable level of automation and connectivity in appliances.

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