Influencing Factors of Smart Community Service Quality: Evidence from China

Abstract

Smart community is an important constituent part of a smart city and an extension and deepening of the concept of the latter. When it comes to smart community, the digitalization upgrading of traditional community service is conducted via information technology, in an effort to improve the service experience of community residents and elevate their happiness index. From social functions, smart community also has the advantages in facilitating the smart transformation of cities, promoting the harmonious society construction, and improving governmental efficiency and image, among others. However, various problems persist in the construction and development process of a smart community, such as mismatching service contents and low service quality. To explore the influencing factors of smart community service quality, a total of 16 influencing factors were extracted from 5 dimensions: service object, service subject, government role, management system, and service content. The relationships among the influencing factors were analyzed via the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL)-interpretative structural modeling (ISM) composite model, and a multi-order explanation model was constructed for these influencing factors. Result shows that the legal guarantee is the root cause influencing the smart community service quality. Development standard, basic service, and expected service are deep influencing factors that play mediating roles. Middle-layer factors such as service and operating systems have a direct bearing on quality perception. The surface-layer factors directly decide residential assessment on the smart community service quality. This study has also manifested the feasibility of the integrated DEMATEL-ISM method in analyzing the action mechanism of influencing factors for smart community service quality, providing a new analytical idea and modeling method for the smart community service quality.

CRITIC-TOPSIS Based Evaluation of Smart Community Governance: A Case Study in China

“…With the development of urbanization, the smart community, which is the fundamental unit of smart cities [1][2][3][4][5][6][7], has been seen as a promising solution to urban problems [8][9][10]. Generally, a smart community is a community that applies the Internet of Things (IoTs), cloud computing, big data, and other new information technologies to digitize and coordinate community residents' daily lives [3,11,12].…”

Understanding and Enabling “Communities” Within Smart Cities: A Literature Review

“…The key to choosing the correct services is prioritizing and analyzing the needs and perceptions of community residents who differ according to age, living standards, and physical characteristics (Wang, Zhang and Zhang 2021). Communities have many physical (e.g., buildings or infrastructure) and virtual (e.g., computing and data-sharing) goals, and SCC projects need to provide added benefits and improved services to attain these goals.…”

“…Legal security and guarantees are important contextual factors for, among others, setting rules of the game or resolving market failure issues. Wang, Zhang and Zhang (2021) investigated the role of legal guarantees (i.e., a well-functioning legal system ensuring adherence to standards and contracts) as an influencing factor for SC development in China. They found legal guarantees to be an important positive factor, and in fact, a root influence on the SCC's service quality and future development.…”

“…Moreover, subsidies can increase the community's capability of acquiring better devices and services. Wang, Zhang and Zhang (2021) describe resource support through the provision of data, education, oversight, or coordination services as the most important government function in smart-community projects. Deguchi (2020) explains that governments (e.g., in Japan) can relate their SCC visions to sustainable development policies in general and provide support programs for local initiatives within public-private partnerships.…”

“…Another approach is suggested by Ciaffi and Saporito (2017) through smart regulation as practiced through a shared administration and local regulation based on cooperation between citizens and municipalities. With regard to governance, the literature seems also to stress more innovative and broader modes of rule-based collaboration enabled by technologies, for example, concepts such as multilevel governance, diffused decision-making (Ciasullo et al 2020), citizen-centric e-governance (Chatfield and Reddick 2015), or participatory governance systems involving various actors and covering different aspects of SCC projects (Esmaeilian et al 2018;Wang, Zhang and Zhang 2021).…”