The impact of the internet of things on the perceived quality and customer involvement of smart product-service systems

Abstract

Despite emerging business trends reshaping the business strategies through disruptive digitalization technologies, there is a notable lack of research evaluating the customer's experience and quality attributes in Smart Product-Service Systems (SPSS) and their connection with the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. To address these challenges, this paper proposes and tests through six application cases, and eight use cases a novel methodology supporting firms to (i) assess the impact of IoT technologies on the perceived quality of SPSSs and (ii) assess the intensity of customer engagement through the IoT in the SPSS lifecycle to enhance the perceived quality of customers and stakeholders. A mixed-methods approach was used as the research design of the study. Overall, our findings show that the methodology supports SPSS scholars and practitioners in enhancing customer experience, prioritizing investments in adopting cutting-edge technologies, identifying the main quality determinants affected by the IoT in SPSS business and the critical technical factors related to the perceived quality of customers. The study bridges the current knowledge gap between quality determinants and emerging IoT technologies in SPSS business, proposing a methodology to assess the perceived quality determinants in SPSS enabled by IoT technologies.