IoT as societal transformer: improving citizens' continuous usage intention in digital society through perceived public value

Abstract

PurposeThe public sector use of the internet of Things (IoT) technology is an emerging field with a potential for a variety of institutional applications in the fields of information gathering and policy implementation to establish resilience for modern society. In this context, we aim to investigate the success factors which can positively influence the continuous usage intention of IoT service with the mediation effect of perceived public value.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual model based on the strong literature and theoretical background is tailored to provide factors for IoT services success in the public sector. A quantitative survey was conducted through 381 citizens using IoT services to validate the proposed conceptual model using structural equation modeling approach in order to examine the influence of identified constructs on the continuous usage intention.FindingsThe results highlighted that the proposed model successfully accounted for about 59% perceived variance in public value creation and 63% perceived variance in citizens' continuous usage intention. IoT services success is best dignified by the perceptions of citizens who use the services, therefore, this study identifies the positive role of digital society affinity in context of social sustainability and it climaxes that the real value of IoT in public sector comes from establishment of services on top of the service delivery and that's where the public value is going to be created.Practical implicationsThe use of IoT technology in public services will fetch much benefit to the citizens as well as to the government. The study findings are significant in identifying good practices for generating public value in digital society affinity.Originality/valueThe integrated conceptual model explores the driving factors of citizens' inclination towards IoT technology in a social context. Through this study, we can analyze the role of perceived public value in enhancing the citizens' engagement with IoT services. The government policymakers and ICT managers take help from this study to designing IoT public services with making the government more responsive to citizens.