Unlocking the Smart Home: An Examination of Factors Influencing Smart Lock Adoption Intention

Abstract

The adoption of smart home technologies is a growing trend in modern society. While various smart home technologies promise many potential benefits, such technologies can also expose the adopters to new information privacy and security risks. Relatively little is known about the salient factors that affect the adoption intention of the ambivalent smart home technologies that offer a range of benefits, but also entail risks. To address this gap in research, we explore the factorial structure of salient perceived benefits and concerns associated with smart locks. We examine the effects of the emergent factors on the adoption intention and we find that while potential adopters express a broad range of perceived benefits and concerns associated with smart locks, only the perceived relative advantage of smart locks vis-a-vis conventional locks in providing safety and security is significantly correlated with adoption intention. Our results indicate that this perceived relative advantage is a critical consideration in the adoption of smart home technologies that replace existing solutions. We also find that while the potential adopters voice concerns about privacy and security in relation to smart locks, these factors have no statistically significant effect on the adoption intention.