The Road toward Smart Cities: A Study of Citizens’ Acceptance of Mobile Applications for City Services

Jinghui (Jove) Hou, Laura Arpan, Yijie Wu, Richard Feiock, Eren Ozguven and Reza Arghandeh
Additional contact information
Jinghui (Jove) Hou: C.T. Bauer College of Business, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA
Laura Arpan: School of Communication, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
Yijie Wu: CVS Health, Scottsdale, AZ 85260, USA
Richard Feiock: Askew School of Public Administration and Policy, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
Eren Ozguven: Florida A&M University—Florida State University College of Engineering, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
Reza Arghandeh: Department of Computing, Mathematics, and Physics, Faculty of Engineering and Science, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, 5063 Bergen, Norway

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 10, 1-15

Abstract: Many local governments have started using smartphone applications to more effectively inform and communicate with citizens. This trend is of interest, as cities can only be smart if they are responsive to their citizens. In this paper, the intention to use such a mobile application among adult residents (n = 420) of a mid-sized city in the southeastern United States was examined using hierarchical linear regression analysis. The regression model that was tested indicated significant predictors of the intention to use the app in order to report municipal problems, such as power outages, and to request services for one’s home or community, including: Performance expectancy (e.g., citizens’ beliefs that the app would be efficient, helpful, convenient), effort expectancy (citizens’ beliefs about difficulty of using the app), social influence, perceived cost (e.g., privacy loss, storage space, unwanted notifications), and prior use of city apps. Consistent with current research on technology adoption, performance expectancy had the strongest influence on app-use intentions. Additionally, citizens’ trust in their city government’s ability to effectively manage an app was a weak, positive predictor of app-use intentions; general trust in the city government did not predict app-use intentions. Implications for city governments and city app developers are discussed.

Keywords: smart city applications; technology acceptance; mobile government (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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