sustainability

Article
Empirical Examination of Intention to Continue to
Use Smart Home Services
Wei Gu 1,2, * , Peng Bao 2, * , Wenyuan Hao 3 and Jaewoong Kim 4
1 School of Business, Jinling Institute of Technology, Nanjing 211169, China
2 Electronic Commerce, Kongju National University, Kongju 32588, Korea
3 Xiamen Academy of Arts & Design, Fuzhou University, Xiamen 361000, China; [email protected]
4 Computer Science & Engineering, Kongju National University, Cheonan 31080, Korea; [email protected]
* Correspondence: [email protected] (W.G.); [email protected] (P.B.);
Tel.: +86-153-1804-0320 (W.G.); +82-010-7265-0925 (P.B.)




Received: 31 July 2019; Accepted: 9 September 2019; Published: 23 September 2019


Abstract: With the continuous expansion of sub-ecological problems, it is the question of how
to effectively reduce environmental pollution and improve energy efficiency that has become a
major challenge. At the same time, the energy consumption of family homes accounts for a large
proportion, and whether smart homes can become a part of sustainable development is getting more
and more attention. Although there are hundreds of smart home products and many investors on
the market, consumers are relatively less accepting of this technology. How to make consumers
adopt and continue to use has become a key issue in the development of smart homes. From the
perspective of consumers, this study aims first to explore the relevant factors that affect the sustainable
use of smart homes, and second empirically analyze the hypothetical model by using structural
equation modeling. The empirical analysis results are based on the sample data of 488 Chinese
respondents with experience in smart home use. The results showed that the service quality and
perceived usefulness of smart home services positively impact users’ degree of satisfaction, and a
higher degree of satisfaction, in turn, contributes to users’ formation of habits. Users’ desire to
continuously use smart home services is influenced by perceived usefulness, degree of satisfaction,
and habit; among them, habit is the key factor affecting users’ willingness. These findings expand our
understanding of users’ desire to continuously use smart homes and provide theoretical support for
the sustainable development of the smart home industry.

Keywords: smart home; service quality; perceived usefulness; satisfaction; habit; continuance
intention

1. Introduction
Secondary ecological problems, including climate anomalies and air pollution, have been
worsening. Humans are trying to more wisely use energy in an attempt to achieve higher energy
use efficiency [1]. With the growing maturity and integration of technologies, such as the Internet of
Things (IOT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and 5G, the era when household appliances provide services
for people via the network has arrived, of which the smart home system, in particular, has been the
subject of growing attention.
No agreement has yet been reached on the definition of a “smart home”, which mainly
includes digital sensing and communications equipment [2,3]. Such equipment can realize mutual
communications in an ideal smart home system. Compared with traditional household appliances
that users have to manually operate and manage in terms of energy consumption, smart homes can
remotely electronically control and manage smart household appliances (e.g., heaters, air-conditioners,

Sustainability 2019, 11, 5213; doi:10.3390/su11195213 www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability

Sustainability 2019, 11, 5213 2 of 12

and washing machines), as well as control and manage the current household equipment through
the installation of sensors and intelligent switches (e.g., ZigBee single-line intelligent switch) [4].
The smart home system provides user-oriented practical and functional services, and the intelligent
management of household energy sources to reduce users’ energy consumption and promote the
sustainable development of the environment [5,6].
Smart homes, which can conveniently manage household appliances through the network, have
become a new market segment for Internet communication and technology (ICT) companies to create
new income sources, considering the saturation of the smartphone market. The main enterprises in the
ICT ecosystem are striving to launch smart home services/products, such as Google Home (Google
Corporation, Mountain View, USA) and Amazon Echo (Amazon Corporation, Seattle, USA). According
to the Statista research report [7], the trading volume of the global smart home industry is projected
to reach USD $15.30 billion by the year 2023, and the prospects for the future smart home market
are promising [8]. However, the penetration rate of smart homes across the world was just around
7.7%, and consumers’ overall acceptance of smart home was still relatively low, which had directly
influenced the sustainable development of the smart home industry [9].
Determining whether smart homes can contribute to sustainable development has gained growing
attention from academic circles [6,10,11], but research into smart homes has been limited to theoretical
concepts and technologies [12,13], and little attention has been given to consumers’ post-acceptance
continued intention to use smart homes. Therefore, exploring how to optimize consumers’ cognition and
acceptance of smart home products will have a far-reaching influence on the continued intention to use
and the industrial development of users. To address this current research gap, we attempted to analyze
the factors influencing consumers’ smart home use continuation intention using structural equation
modeling (SEM) to provide theoretical support for the sound development of the home industry.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows: Section 2 provides a literature review and proposes
the hypotheses. Section 3 outlines the methodology used in this research and data collection. Section 4
provides the empirical results of the model analysis. Finally, Section 5 concludes the study and the
implications of this work.

2. Research Background and Hypotheses

2.1. Smart Home Service

Although academics have not agreed on a definition of “smart home”, the definition suggested
by Gram-Hanssen and Darby has been widely accepted [14]: A smart home is a home with digital
sensing and communications equipment. Based on this definition, they divided smart homes into four
categories: (1) safety and control, (2) activities, (3) relation and continuity, and (4) reflection of identity
and social status. As a physical network system, smart homes are connected with household networks
via sensors and intelligent electric appliances, and through human–machine interaction between the
Internet and intelligent electric appliances, the user-oriented intelligent network housing services can
be realized [3,12,13,15–17].
Generally, smart home systems are composed of the IoT cloud end, smart home platform
(e.g., mobile application), terminal devices (e.g., intelligent electric appliances, home gateways, and
intelligent sensors), and a communications network (e.g., link layer, network layer, transmission layer,
and application layer) [18]. As shown in Figure 1, intelligent sensors can achieve remote monitoring,
visit, and control of household appliances and be divided into different categories according to
different user needs (e.g., security guard, life assistance, health, entertainment, communications,
and energy control). Smart home suppliers, through the collection and analysis of users’ household
appliances, can offer personalized and intelligent services to satisfy user needs [10,18,19].
Since 2011, academic circles have investigated smart homes more frequently [20].
Technology companies, such as Google, Amazon, Samsung, and Alibaba, from different parts of
the world, have been actively developing and providing integrated smart home services and products.
Sustainability 2019, 11, 5213 3 of 12

At the same time, smart homes can analyze and recognize users’ daily use habits, thus, benefiting
users with memory deficits [21]. In terms of household energy consumption, smart home services
can directly help house owners reduce energy demands, automatically save energy according to
increases or decreases of indoor energy consumption, and also indirectly provide real-time energy use
information and bills for users [22–24].
Though smart homes have considerable potential and offer various benefits, issues, such as the
system learning cost, safety, and service quality of suppliers, they still require further research to address
consumers’ concerns affecting their continued intention to use. Therefore, while encouraging users to
adopt smart home systems, scholars should study the opinions and behaviors of users after their initial
acceptance of the smart home system, to effectively help suppliers to expand and optimize services.

2.2. Continuance Intention

Bhattacherjee [25,26] stated that initial acceptance is the first step for the success of an information
system, and maintaining users’ continued intention to use is more critical. At different use
periods, users have different demands, resulting in differences in their continuance intentions and
behaviors [15,26]. The exploration of users’ continued intention to use is vital for home smart services.
The smart home industry has been actively improving service quality and seeking user expansion and
the continued growth of the industry [27]. Frequent use of smart homes, once users have a continued
intention to use their services, is crucial to smart home suppliers’ maintenance of user engagement. The
following section introduces a model that can be used to study the factors influencing the continued
intention to use smart homes.

2.3. Research Hypotheses

2.3.1. Service Quality

Service quality refers to users’ perception of the extent to which suppliers can satisfy users’ needs.
Parasuraman et al. [28] divided service quality into five dimensions: tangibility, reliability,
responsiveness, assurance, and empathy, and the five dimensions indicate that suppliers should
provide timely and efficient services for consumers to receive user recognition of service quality.
Excellent service quality directly improves users’ continued intention to use and indirectly improves
user satisfaction with services. Delone and Mclean held that service quality is a critical factor affecting
users’ acceptance of the information system, and that high service quality positively influences user
satisfaction [25,26,29,30]. Jahng and Ramamurthy [31] pointed out the importance of the system quality,
information quality, and service quality in user satisfaction. The degree of fit can positively influence
users’ perception of the intelligence information system. This viewpoint has been verified by Gu and
Lee [16]. As an upgraded product of traditional household appliances, smart homes require users to
spend time learning how to use them. During the process, complete service projects can decide users’
perceived usefulness of the service itself, which indirectly and positively influences the formation of
user satisfaction. Therefore, we formed the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis 1 (H1). Service quality significantly and positively influences the perceived usefulness of a
smart home.

Hypothesis 2 (H2). Service quality significantly and positively influences the satisfaction with a smart home.

2.3.2. Perceived Usefulness

The concept of perceived usefulness was first proposed by Davis in the technology acceptance
model (TAM), defined as the ability of users to improve performance by fully using the enhanced
system, thereby reflecting users’ willingness to accept [32]. The perceived usefulness has been proven
to significantly and positively impact users’ initial desire to use smart home services [33], whereas the
Sustainability 2019, 11, 5213 4 of 12

degree of satisfaction and habits play a mediating role between perceived usefulness and willingness
to continuously use these services [34]. A higher degree of usefulness perceived by users contributes
to a higher degree of satisfaction of users with smart home service providers [16]. This is mainly
manifested as users’ positive emotional reactions to the systems through which they can improve their
productivity or performance [26,32,35]. Users’ recognition of the positive role of the systems, in turn,
increases their degree of satisfaction and desire to use [34,36]. In addition, some studies support that
habit formation may be driven by external forces, such as cognitive misunderstanding, uncertainty,
and psychological commitment, whereas users’ perception of system usefulness can effectively facilitate
their habit formation [34,37]. Therefore, the following hypotheses are introduced:

Hypothesis 3 (H3). Perceived usefulness significantly positively influences the satisfaction with a smart home.

Hypothesis 4 (H4). Perceived usefulness significantly positively influences smart home habits.

Hypothesis 5 (H5). Perceived usefulness significantly positively influences the intention to continue to use a
smart home.

2.3.3. Satisfaction
Expectation confirmation theory (ECT) holds that users’ degree of satisfaction with use is an
important factor influencing their repurchase or reuse. Bhattacherjee et al. [26] explained the willingness
of information system users to continuously use by combining TAM and ECT and concluded through
empirical analysis that the degree of satisfaction significantly positively impacts users’ willingness to
use. Other researchers argued that favorable use experience is also a key condition for developing use
habits [38], since they can increase users’ tendency to repeat the same activities [39]. With the growing
accumulation of use experience, the impact of users’ degree of satisfaction on habits will increase
over time [37]. Hsiao et al. [34] concluded that the degree of satisfaction and habits play a sufficient
mediatory role between perceived usefulness and the desire for continuous use. Given the above, we
propose the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis 6 (H6). Satisfaction significantly and positively influences smart home habits.

Hypothesis 7 (H7). Satisfaction significantly and positively influences the intention to continue using a
smart home.

2.3.4. Habit
Habits generally reflect users’ previous use experience and are considered as one of the
factors driving the repetitive behaviors of users [2,40,41]. Once users have developed the
use habit, their dependence on the use will continue to increase and even be difficult to
suppress [39,42]. The UTAUT 2 (Unified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2) model
built by Venkatesh et al. [43] holds that users’ technology use habits directly affect their intention
to use. For the use of smart home services, the stronger the IoT or smart home services use habit,
the more intense the desire to continuously use them [2,43]. Wilson et al. [44] concluded that habit
strength directly influences users’ desire for continuous use. Likewise, Chou et al. [45] found that habit
is the continuation of users’ unintentional actions, which in turn is transformed into the automatic
behaviors that positively impacts users’ desire for continuous use [46]. Therefore, this research makes
the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 8 (H8). Habit significantly and positively influences the intention to continue to use a smart home.
Sustainability 2019, 11, 5213 5 of 12

Sustainability 2019, 11, x FOR PEER REVIEW 5 of 12

2.4. Research Model

2.4. Research Model
Combining the above
Combining research
the above hypotheses,
research hypotheses,we
wepropose
propose aa research
researchmodel
modelasas shown
shown in Figure
in Figure 1. 1.

PU
H5
H1
H4
SQ HT H8 CI
H3
H6
H2
H7
SAT

Figure 1. Research
Figure model.
1. Research SQ:
model. SQ:service
servicequality,
quality, PU: perceivedusefulness,
PU: perceived usefulness, SAT:
SAT: satisfaction,
satisfaction, HT: habit,
HT: habit,
and CI:
andcontinuance intention.
CI: continuance intention.

3. Research Methodology
3. Research Methodology

3.1. Questionnaire andand

3.1. Questionnaire Pre-Test
Pre-Test
Based on a thorough
Based review
on a thorough of research
review findings
of research by scholars,
findings either
by scholars, abroad
either or ator
abroad home, we designed
at home, we
designed
an initial an initial questionnaire.
questionnaire. Questions
Questions related related to
to service serviceare
quality quality
basedareonbased on the questionnaire
the questionnaire designs of
Park designs
and Choi of[27]
Park and
and Choi and
Delone [27] Mclean
and Delone andQuestions
[29,30]. Mclean [29,30].
relatedQuestions
to perceived related to perceived
usefulness are based
usefulness are based on the questionnaire designs of Davis [32] and Shin et al. [33].
on the questionnaire designs of Davis [32] and Shin et al. [33]. Questions related to user satisfaction Questions related are
to user satisfaction are based on the questionnaire design of Bhattacherjee [25,26]. Questions related
based on the questionnaire design of Bhattacherjee [25,26]. Questions related to user habit are based on
to user habit are based on the questionnaire designs of Venkatesh et al. [43] and Baudier et al. [2].
the questionnaire designs of Venkatesh et al. [43] and Baudier et al. [2]. Questions related to continued
Questions related to continued intention to use are based on the questionnaire design of
intention to use are
Bhattacherjee based on the questionnaire design of Bhattacherjee [25,26].
[25,26].
To ensure the the
To ensure feasibility and
feasibility andcredibility
credibilityofof this research,experts
this research, experts andand professors
professors fromfrom the smart
the smart
homehome
fieldfield
discussed
discussedwhether
whether anyanydeviation
deviation existed withthe
existed with thequestions
questions posed
posed in the
in the questionnaire.
questionnaire.
FromFrom
10 March to 18 to
10 March April 2019,2019,
18 April a preliminary survey
a preliminary was was
survey administered
administered to PhD
to PhDcandidates of Kongju
candidates of
Kongju National University. Under the prerequisite of maintaining the original
National University. Under the prerequisite of maintaining the original meaning of the questions, meaning of the
questions,ofthe
the wordings wordings
some of some
questions were questions
modified,wereandmodified,
the finaland the final questionnaire
questionnaire was designed. was designed.
All questions
were All questionsanalyzed
statistically were statistically analyzed Likert
using a five-point using scale,
a five-point
where, Likert scale, where,
“1” indicated “1” disagree”
“strongly indicated and
“strongly disagree” and “5” indicated “strongly agree”. The measurement items specifically used in
“5” indicated “strongly agree”. The measurement items specifically used in this study are listed in
this study are listed in Appendix A.
Appendix A.
3.2. Data Collection and Methodology
3.2. Data Collection and Methodology
Chinese consumers with a smart home service user experience were adopted as the research
Chinese
object forconsumers with a smart
this questionnaire. home service
Questionnaires user
were experienceeither
administered were adopted
online oras the research
offline, from 28object
for this questionnaire. Questionnaires were administered either online or offline, from
March 28 to 18 April 2019. A total of 488 valid questionnaires were collected. The questionnaire 28 March
data to
18 April 2019.were
collected A total of 488 analyzed
statistically valid questionnaires
using IBM SPSS were collected.
v25.0 The questionnaire
(IBM Corporation, New York, data USA)collected
and
were IBM AMOS v25.0
statistically (IBM using
analyzed Corporation,
IBM SPSSNew York,
v25.0 USA).
(IBM Frequency analysis
Corporation, was USA)
New York, first performed
and IBM to AMOS
v25.0quantify the demographic
(IBM Corporation, Newcharacteristics
York, USA).ofFrequency
the respondents.
analysisSecond, confirmatory
was first performed factor analysis the
to quantify
was conducted
demographic to evaluateof
characteristics the internal
the consistency
respondents. and appropriateness
Second, confirmatory of the evaluation
factor analysis was items, and
conducted
appropriateness of the concepts was examined. Finally, SEM was used to verify the model’s degree
to evaluate the internal consistency and appropriateness of the evaluation items, and appropriateness
of fitting and research hypotheses.
of the concepts was examined. Finally, SEM was used to verify the model’s degree of fitting and
research hypotheses.
3.3. Sample Characteristics
The
3.3. Sample demographic characteristics of the questionnaire show that 56.4% respondents were male
Characteristics
and 43.6% were female. The respondents were concentrated in two age groups: 20–29 years old
The demographic
(28.7%), and 30–39characteristics of theInquestionnaire
years old (55.7%). show that
terms of academic 56.4%
degree, respondents
54.3% were male
of respondents had and
43.6% were female. The respondents were concentrated in two age groups: 20–29 years old (28.7%),
and 30–39 years old (55.7%). In terms of academic degree, 54.3% of respondents had graduated with a
bachelor’s degree, followed by 31.5% graduating with a postgraduate degree or above. In terms of
Sustainability 2019, 11, 5213 6 of 12

professions, 48.6% of respondents were company staff, whose average monthly salary mainly ranged
from 4999 to 8000 yuan (53.1%). The sample characteristics generally coincide with the actual smart
home user group. Therefore, sample data were considered suitable for empirical analysis.

4. Data Analysis and Results

4.1. Measurement Model

Since research in the field of social sciences involves abstract concepts, the credibility of variables
should be ensured. We adopted internal consistency to judge the credibility of variables, namely
Cronbach’s α. George and Mallery [47] found that in the field of social sciences, a Cronbach’s α
exceeding 0.8 indicates favorable credibility. The Cronbach’s α values of the five variables studied here
are all larger than 0.8 and therefore acceptable. To examine the convergent validity of various concepts,
IBM AMOS 25 was used to complete the maximum likelihood estimation. Generally, composite
reliability (CR) and average variance extracted (AVE) are indicators used to evaluate the measurement
model. AVE is larger than 0.5, and CR is larger than 0.7, suggesting that the sample data have a high
validity [48]. As shown in Table 1, the values of AVE and CR are all acceptable, and the factor loading of
all concepts is larger than 0.60, which meets the requirement of the structural convergent validity [49].

Table 1. Convergent validity and reliability.

Construct Item Factor Loading SMC CR AVE Cronbach’s α

SQ1 0.763 0.582
SQ2 0.766 0.587
SQ 0.862 0.609 0.861
SQ3 0.817 0.599
SQ4 0.774 0.668
PU1 0.762 0.581
PU2 0.757 0.573
PU 0.856 0.598 0.856
PU3 0.806 0.650
PU4 0.768 0.590
SAT1 0.781 0.610
SAT2 0.847 0.718
SAT 0.877 0.641 0.876
SAT3 0.761 0.580
SAT4 0.811 0.658
HT1 0.830 0.689
HT2 0.863 0.746
HT 0.899 0.690 0.899
HT3 0.797 0.635
HT4 0.832 0.691
CI1 0.848 0.719
CI2 0.886 0.785
CI 0.913 0.723 0.911
CI3 0.840 0.705
CI4 0.826 0.683
Note: CR = composite reliability; AVE: average variance extracted; SMC: squared multiple correlation. SQ: service
quality, PU: perceived usefulness, SAT: satisfaction, HT: habit, CI: continuance intention.

Discriminant validity shows that the largest correlation coefficient among the potential variables
is 0.574, and that the square error is 0.329, which is smaller than the AVE value, meaning that the
research data have high validity (Table 2.). All the results meet the requirements of the recommended
value [50], implying a favorable degree of fit of the research model presented in this paper.
Sustainability 2019, 11, 5213 7 of 12

Table 2. Discriminant validity.

Construct SQ PU SAT HT CI
SQ 0.609
PU 0.258 0.598
SAT 0.492 0.524 0.641
HT 0.560 0.446 0.495 0.690
CI 0.470 0.470 0.498 0.574 0.723
Note: Bold numbers on the diagonal indicate the AVE of latent constructs. SQ: service quality, PU: perceived
usefulness, SAT: satisfaction, HT: habit, CI: continuance intention.

4.2. Structural Model and Hypotheses Testing

In the social sciences research findings, if a = 0.05 (95% of the confidence level), p-value < 0.05, and
the value of critical ratio (C.R.) ≤ ±1.96, then the research hypothesis has a significant influence [51].
In IBM AMOS 25, the CR (critical ratio) of the regression weights is used to judge whether the research
hypothesis can be accepted. The degree of fitting of the hypothesis verification model in this research is:
χ2 /df = 2.531, GFI = 0.930, AGFI = 0.909, NFI = 0.933, IFI = 0.959, CFI = 0.958, RMSEA = 0.056;
all indexes meet requirements. The results of the empirical analysis suggest that service quality
significantly and positively influences perceived usefulness (β = 5.166) and user satisfaction (β = 8.170).
Service quality most strongly influences user satisfaction, and perceived usefulness has a significantly
positive influence on user satisfaction (β = 8.266), user habit (β = 4.286), and continued intention to
use (β = 3.534). Among them, perceived usefulness has the strongest influence on user satisfaction.
User satisfaction has a significantly positive influence on user habit and continued intention to use, and
the influence path coefficients are β = 6.190 and β = 4.037, respectively. We observed that user habit
most strongly influences continued intention to use, and the influence path coefficient is β = 7.159. All
hypotheses in this research are supported, as demonstrated in Table 3 and Figure 2.

Table 3. Influence paths and hypotheses results.

Hypothesis Path Estimate S.E. C.R. p-Value Result

H1 SQ → PU 0.280 0.054 5.166 *** Supported
H2 SQ → SAT 0.427 0.052 8.170 *** Supported
H3 PU → SAT 0.428 0.052 8.266 *** Supported
H4 PU → HT 0.267 0.062 4.286 *** Supported
H5 PU → CI 0.245 0.069 3.534 *** Supported
H6 SAT → HT 0.422 0.061 6.910 *** Supported
H7 SAT → CI 0.282 0.070 4.037 *** Supported
H8 HT → CI 0.443 0.062 7.159 *** Supported
Note: SQ: service quality, PU: perceived usefulness, SAT: satisfaction, HT: habit, CI: continuance intention.
*** p < 0.001.
Sustainability 2019, 11, x FOR PEER REVIEW 8 of 12

PU
H1: 5.166 H5: 3.534
H4: 4.286
H3: 8.266 H8: 7.159
SQ HT CI
H6: 6.910
H2: 8.170 H7: 4.037
SAT

Figure 2. Results ofFigure

the 2.research
Results of themodel. Note.
research model. Note. SQ: service
SQ: service quality,quality, PU:
PU: perceived perceived
usefulness, SAT: usefulness, SAT:
satisfaction, HT: habit, CI: continuance
satisfaction, intention.
HT: habit, CI: continuance intention.

5. Conclusions and Discussion

5. Conclusions and Discussion
With the constant reform and development of smart homes, people’s energy consumption
behaviors and daily lifestyles are changing. The sustainable development of smart homes depends
With the constant reform
on users’ acceptanceand
degreedevelopment
of smart home servicesof andsmart homes,
products and people’s
tangible benefits. energy consumption
To better
predict consumers’ user behaviors, identifying critical factors influencing users’ intentions to
behaviors and daily continue
lifestylesto useare changing.
the smart home systemThe sustainable
is essential. On the basisdevelopment ofwesmart
of theoretical research, built a homes depends on
model that can be used to study the intention to continue to use smart homes. Questionnaires were
administered to smart home users to collect corresponding data. SEM was used to verify the
theoretical model.
Our major research findings are as follows. First, service quality has a significantly positive
influence on perceived usefulness and user satisfaction. Therefore, more attention should be given to
user expectations and practical functions when service providers develop new smart homes and
services or perfect the existing ones. Thus, when any problems occur in the use process, solution
plans can be immediately provided. Differentiated services should be provided for different user
Sustainability 2019, 11, 5213 8 of 12

users’ acceptance degree of smart home services and products and tangible benefits. To better predict
consumers’ user behaviors, identifying critical factors influencing users’ intentions to continue to use
the smart home system is essential. On the basis of theoretical research, we built a model that can be
used to study the intention to continue to use smart homes. Questionnaires were administered to
smart home users to collect corresponding data. SEM was used to verify the theoretical model.
Our major research findings are as follows. First, service quality has a significantly positive
influence on perceived usefulness and user satisfaction. Therefore, more attention should be given to
user expectations and practical functions when service providers develop new smart homes and services
or perfect the existing ones. Thus, when any problems occur in the use process, solution plans can be
immediately provided. Differentiated services should be provided for different user groups, and the
critical role of smart home services in increasing the convenience of daily life should be considered.
Secondly, perceived usefulness has a significantly positive impact on users’ degree of satisfaction
and willingness to continue use; the degree of satisfaction also has a significantly positive impact on
users’ continued use of smart home services. This finding is consistent with the conclusions reported
by Bhattacherjee et al. [26] and Ambalov [15], suggesting that smart home services are the same as
other technical services, and perceived usefulness and degree of satisfaction both can enhance users’
willingness to use smart home services. The structural model results suggest that the perceived
usefulness of smart homes has the most significant impact on users’ degree of satisfaction compared
with other research variables. As long as the use of smart home services can effectively improve users’
life or work efficiently, users will maintain a positive attitude toward the services. Therefore, service
providers and application developers should consider these factors to increase users’ desire to use
smart homes.
Third, perceived usefulness and satisfaction have a significantly positive influence on user habit,
and user habit has a significantly positive influence on continued intention to use. This research shows
that user habit has the most significant influence on continued intention to use smart home services.
The practicability and usefulness of smart homes in daily life can effectively promote user habit.
Compared with user perception, user satisfaction can more directly lead to the formation of user habit.
Habit strength playing the most critical role in driving users’ continued intention to use has been
substantiated many times [2]. Through empirical analysis, however, we found that user habit during the
continued use period of a smart home can most directly exert a positive influence on users’ continued
intention to use. Therefore, before launching new smart home products and services, developers
can start with the most commonly used electronic devices to achieve breakthroughs. This empirical
analysis results show that among the three crucial factors influencing users’ desire to use smart home
services, habit is regarded as an important antecedent that drives users to use services spontaneously
if they have had a certain use experience.
The main contributions of this study are as follows. First of all, this is the first empirical study to
use structural equation modeling (SEM) to detect users’ desire to continuously use smart home services,
thereby enriching the smart home service literature. Secondly, we focused on users’ mentalities after the
actual use of smart home services. Users’ psychological perceptions of smart homes change once they
have a certain use experience. Our research suggests that perceived usefulness, degree of satisfaction,
and habits serve as good predictors for users’ desire to continue to use smart home services. However,
users’ attitudes toward the continued use of smart home services after the initial experience and
subsequent experience depend heavily on user habits, which was also confirmed by Baudier et al. [2].
This finding deserves special attention, and the influence of habit should be particularly highlighted in
future research on users’ desire to continue to use smart home services.
From a practitioner’s perspective, this study highlights the importance of the development and
management of smart home services. Firstly, excellent service quality is the antecedent that will help
smart home services to win users’ recognition and satisfaction. Therefore, service providers should first
develop a fast and effective user response mechanism to ensure that the problems occurring in the use
process do not affect users’ overall experience. Smart homes are services that are based on the direct
Sustainability 2019, 11, 5213 9 of 12

interaction of multiple smart devices with users, and these smart devices are generally commonly
used by family members [52]. As a result, special attention should be given to the human–computer
interaction at the beginning of smart home design. Considering the frequent communication and
interactions between users and smart home devices, service providers may authenticate users, thereby
reducing potential security risks and providing personalized services according to user needs. However,
more in-depth research is needed to determine how to conduct multiuser authentication and how to
grant different users individualized access right schemes.
Users’ functional requirements for services should be highlighted because users’ perception of
product usefulness can positively influence users’ the satisfaction degree with the product and their
formation of behavioral habits. Smart home services are not a single system, so service providers should
adopt the smart home device communication protocol with universal standards to accommodate
the ever-increasing varieties and functions of smart home devices [53]. The universal standard
communication protocol promises the cooperative work between multiple devices, while users can
customize the interconnecting rules between devices according to their own needs. Service providers
should attach importance to the practical functioning of products in the design and development stage
to meet customers’ needs. By tracking users’ frequency of use of a certain smart home service, service
providers can identify which of the existing services have evolved into a user habit, thus providing
personalized solutions according to user habits and improving users’ efficiency in daily life and task
scheduling, with the goal of increasing the attractiveness of smart home services. The research results
show that the key factor driving users’ continued use of smart home services at this stage is habit.
For this reason, when launching new smart home products and services, service providers should
first select frequently and daily used electronic devices’ use as a breakthrough point for product
development to better help users to form use habits. A case in point is smartwatches, which can
be used to work together with smart home services due to their pre-existing number of users and
high-frequency daily use in an attempt to increase users’ dependence on smart home services.
This research is not without its limitations. First, this research, as is the case with any research
applying the survey-based method, is vulnerable to the fixed limitations of measurement errors [54].
However, this study only focuses on Chinese consumers, leading to the possibility the findings may
not be applicable to the smart home industry of other countries. Therefore, future studies shall take
consumers from different countries into consideration, so as to further verify the universality of the
theoretical model proposed in this study. Further, qualitative survey methods are better to be adopted to
identify newly appearing acceptance conditions and dimensions and to examine the correlation among
analysis factors from a deeper perspective. Second, the model introduced ignores user features and
cannot be used to examine social influences and factors affecting personal innovativeness. In the future,
a deeper empirical analysis should be conducted from the perspective of user features. Third, due to
cultural differences among different countries, future research can integrate cultural factors into this
model to gain a better understanding of users’ opinions of smart homes.

Author Contributions: W.G. and P.B. developed the idea, motivation, and research question of the paper and
contributed to the discussion. W.Y.H. and J.W.K. outlined and revised the manuscript. W.G. substantially
contributed to the design of this study.
Funding: This research received no external funding.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Sustainability 2019, 11, 5213 10 of 12

Appendix A

Service Quality
• I am satisfied with the customer support provided by the smart home service.
• I am satisfied with the after-sales service provided by the smart home service.
• The smart home service understands my problems and requests.
• The smart home service responds to my requests fast enough.
Perceived Usefulness
• The smart home service benefits me.
• The advantages of the smart home service outweigh the disadvantages.
• Using a smart home service helps me accomplish tasks more quickly.
• Overall, using a smart home service is advantageous.
Satisfaction
• I am extremely pleased with the smart home service.
• I am extremely contented with the smart home service.
• I am extremely satisfied with the smart home service.
• I am absolutely delighted with the smart home service.
Habit
• Using the smart home service has become automatic to me.
• Using the smart home service is natural to me.
• I could become addicted to using smart home service objects.
• When faced with a particular task, using the smart home service is an obvious choice for me.
Continuance intention
• I intend to continue using smart home services rather than discontinue its use.
• I intend to continue using smart home service rather than other alternatives.
• I strongly recommend others to use smart home services.
• If I could, I would like to continue using a smart home service as much as possible.

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