User Acceptance of 'Smart Products': An Empirical Investigation

Smart Products pose a new class of IT artifacts based on sensors, ID-tags, haptic user interfaces, and other technologies usually subsumed under the notion of 'ubiquitous computing'. Such devices differ in many ways from traditional computers, e.g., with regard to their physical shape, computing power, and interaction paradigms. While a substantial body of literature already exists on underlying technological design challenges, only few researchers have attempted to quantitatively explore factors influencing user acceptance of Smart Products. Against this background, the present study is concerned with the use of Smart Products in a kitchen environment. Based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), we develop and empirically test a structural model of technology acceptance including five moderating factors. Our results indicate high overall acceptance of the proposed scenarios, corroborate the applicability of the UTAUT model for smart home environments, and confirm significant effects for two moderators.