Military acceptance of the Internet of Things: a research model

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to examine the perception of military people regarding the use of a network of various intelligent objects, the Internet of Things (IoT), in the future battlespace. Design/methodology/approach A research model that analyzes military acceptance of the IoT is proposed. The model is created by integrating the technology acceptance model and diffusion of innovation theory. Then an empirical study is conducted through a survey, and the proposed hypotheses are tested. The findings are obtained thanks to the structural equation model (SEM), which clearly reveals the overall dependency relationship among independent and dependent variables even when a dependent variable is an independent variable in another relationship. Findings The study clearly reveals the significant factors effecting the attitude toward the use of IoT in the military. It also uncovers potential barriers to the adoption of IoT in the military domain. Especially, risk factor seems to have no significant impact on the acceptance of IoT, and also, there seems to be a positive relationship between risk and trust contrary to an expected negative relationship. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first research analyzing the acceptance of IoT in the military domain through hypotheses in a SEM.