Occupant Adoption of IoT Based Environment Service in Office Spaces: An Empirical Investigation

Abstract

Occupant behavior influences energy savings in intelligent buildings over and above the advanced technologies deployed. IoT based interconnected sensors, along with personal devices such as mobile phones, wearables and virtual assistants, can assist building management systems with occupant behavior information paving the way for personalized comfort coupled with energy savings. This work investigates the occupant adoption of such an IoT climate control service in the context of Indian office spaces by examining four theories viz., TRA, TPB, TAM and VAM. The results indicate that TAM and VAM have higher explanatory power among the models considered. Further, TAM's constructs 1. perceived benefits, viz., improvement in comfort, productivity and wellbeing, and 2. Perceived ease of use, viz., access convenience to climate control in offices are identified as the most significant causal constructs. The results can pave way for IoT players to formulate business and technology strategies for product management and targeting specific customer segments.