Investigating the public's willingness to participate in the construction of smart cities: evidence from China

Abstract

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to investigate the factors influencing citizens' willingness to participate in the development of smart cities.Design/methodology/approachCitizens drawn from 30 second-tier cities in China were chosen as the research object for this empirical research. Based on citizenship behavior theory, research hypotheses were tested and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM).FindingsThe results indicated that information publicity has a direct and positive effect on residents' participation behavior. Perceived benefits, personal responsibility and subjective norms are positively associated with residents' citizenship. Additionally, citizenship was found to affect residents' participation intention positively. Finally, the moderating effect of information credibility in this context was also verified.Originality/valueAs one of the first empirical studies on this topic, this paper offers important guidance for future research regarding residents' participation in the development of smart cities. On this basis, the implications of this research with respect to policies that aim to encourage residents to participate in the construction of smart cities are discussed.

Public participation in the social sustainability evaluation of smart city infrastructure in the context of big data: a critical review

“…It is found that public participation is a key factor for the future development of smart city related components (including smart infrastructure) toward sustainability. In practice, this study suggests using big data to stimulate public participation in smart cities, influencing residents' perceptions and judgments through data information, thereby influencing their behavioral tendencies and increasing their willingness to participate (Wang et al, 2023). In the sustainable governance of smart cities and their related components, it is necessary to construct sustainable dynamic information exchange and evaluation mechanisms, build sufficient information communication platforms and improve the openness of information based on public needs while ensuring safety (Sarker et al, 2021), rather than relying solely on simple methods such as platform comments.…”

“…It is found that public participation is a key factor for the future development of smart city related components (including smart infrastructure) toward sustainability. In practice, this study suggests using big data to stimulate public participation in smart cities, influencing residents' perceptions and judgments through data information, thereby influencing their behavioral tendencies and increasing their willingness to participate (Wang et al. , 2023).…”

“…Another article points out that the transformation of urban infrastructures toward wisdom has started with the help of advanced information and communication technologies, which also creates a new feature and requirement for urban governance: namely, public participation (Bouzguenda et al, 2019). This is also an important issue that must be emphasized in the context of the development of smart cities based on citizen theory (Wang et al, 2023). On the basis of collecting and reading a large amount of literature, this article aims to explore the following questions: What is the level of social sustainability of smart city infrastructure today?…”

“…, 2019). This is also an important issue that must be emphasized in the context of the development of smart cities based on citizen theory (Wang et al. , 2023).…”