عنوان المقالة:1. An empirical study of the acceptance of IoT-based smart meters in Malaysia: The effect of electricity-saving knowledge and environmental awareness 1. An empirical study of the acceptance of IoT-based smart meters in Malaysia: The effect of electricity-saving knowledge and environmental awareness
Today’s increasing demand for electricity requires solutions that better align with energy
demand and supply. Innovative technological solutions such as smart metering applications are gaining
popularity among electricity providers. Despite numerous benefits, smart meters, a part of the technology
on the Internet of Things (IoT), continue to struggle for widespread consumer acceptance due to limited
knowledge on electricity savings and environmental awareness. These factors were examined in isolation
and have not been theoretically incorporated or examined. Hence, this study investigates the factors that
influence residential consumers’ acceptance of smart meters by integrating electricity-saving knowledge
and environmental awareness with the second generation of ‘‘unified theory of acceptance and use of
technology’’ (UTAUT2). The literature revealed an important link between users’ behavioural intention
and users’ use behaviour. Well-established theories of acceptance like ‘‘technology acceptance model’’
(TAM) and UTAUT, incorporate the behavioural intention variable in the nomological network of technology
adoption determinants. This study highlighted the impact of users’ behavioural intention on users’ use
behaviour, which was not examined previously by any of the smart meter acceptance models. The data were
collected from 318 consumers of residential smart meters in Putrajaya and Malacca, the cities in Malaysia,
and were statistically tested using SME-PLS The study confirms that adding electricity-saving knowledge
and environmental awareness to the UTAUT2 leads to a significant increase in the explained variance in
consumer acceptance of smart meter.