Value recognition and intention to adopt smart city services: A public value management theory approach

Smart city, which employs information and communication technology (ICT) to resolve urban problems, is gaining more research attention in the innovation research. However, most previous studies regard citizens as merely passive accepters of the smart city services, focusing on individual private values. The present study aims to expand existing limited perspectives by applying public value management theory. Drawing from the literature review, we developed a dual perspective that a smart city service should encompass: private and public value. Then we set up a causal relationship between the value recognitions and intention to adopt smart city services. We further related antecedent variables to the dual value recognition in terms of citizens’ characteristics: prior knowledge, personal innovativeness, and citizenship. Two case subjects among currently operating smart city services in South Korea were selected to empirically investigate our hypothesis. Results confirm the recognition of both public and private value is significantly related to the citizens’ personal characteristics and resultant attitude towards acceptance and support for diffusion of the smart city services. This study is expected to provide useful implications for a new angle for the recipient of the smart city services, value orientation of the services, citizen’s participation, and method selection for promotion.