Digital transformation of Tabriz, Iran by IoT adoption

Abstract

The society's digital transformation reshapes both of the private and public sectors and covers technology, organizations, and people aspects. The Internet of Things (IoT) as a fifth generation technology plays a significant role in digitalization and creation of a smart city. Tabriz metropolis is one of the five selected pilot cities for implementing smart city projects in Iran. On the other hand, municipalities have the biggest contribution in transforming a city into a smart city by utilizing the new technologies in urban management, in the other words digitalization. Hence, this study examined the successful IoT adoption in Tabriz Metropolitan municipality in the developing country of Iran by combining the information systems’ success model and TOE framework. Aimed at collecting data on the IoT adoption process, the electronic questionnaire link was distributed among ICT experts and managers of the organization, and 74 valid answers were received. The collected data were analyzed using the regression method. The obtained results proved the positive and direct impact of system quality, ICT infrastructure, enterprise financial and human resources, and external support. In addition, the results showed that information quality and service quality factors did not affect the IoT adoption process significantly. This research can help the senior managers of Tabriz metropolitan municipality in policymaking and launching this technology successfully by identifying the influential factors in IoT adoption.