The Role of Culture in Adopting Smart Home Technologies

With the increased attention to independent living and healthy aging, smart home technologies are widely adopted in various communities. Technology adoption is a first step to successful diffusion of proven technologies; however, there are still challenges to the adoption of smart home technologies among older individuals or people with disabilities who are a main target user group. Also, there is a growing interest in using smart home technologies in various cultural groups in Western countries and the developing world. However, we do not know what factors influence user perceptions of and preferences for smart home technologies in these diverse populations. There is a need for examining the role of cultural context in the acceptability of smart home technology. This chapter proceeds as follows. Definitions of culture and national cultural theories are reviewed. The technology acceptance models and their limitations are discussed in the context of culture and smart home technology. This chapter reviews studies that examine the relationship of cultural factors and technology acceptance in general IT field and health-related disciplines. Then we present a case study as an exemplar to show how the context of culture can be critical to the successful adoption of smart home technology. Finally, recommendations for future work are provided.