I Want It Anyway: Consumer Perceptions of Smart Home Devices

Smart home devices form a significant part of the Internet of Things market and can provide benefits such as convenience and energy efficiency. They also have potential privacy and security risks as they collect information constantly. In order to examine how benefit and risk factors influence individuals' intentions to adopt smart home devices, we developed a net valence model that integrates both positive factors and risk factors. The model was tested using data collected using an online questionnaire. The results show that individuals tend to ignore the potential risks and focus more on potential benefits resulting from using smart home devices. Performance expectancy and compatibility were found to be positively related to perceived benefits. However, neither effort expectancy nor image were. Among the proposed dimensions of risk, only privacy risk, performance risk, and time risk significantly influenced perceived risk. Security risk and financial risk did not influence it.