The social acceptance of collecting and utilizing personal information in smart cities

Abstract

In recent years, active efforts to implement smart cities have increased worldwide. In smart cities, a large amount of personal information is captured, and urban development is based on these data. In Japan, implementations of smart cities continue to gain momentum, but the issue of social acceptance has become apparent, as smart cities are not fully accepted by citizens because of concerns about data leaks and misuse of personal information. This study examines the social acceptance of collecting and utilizing personal information in smart cities in relation to a variety of factors such as trust and perceptions of risk, justice, benefit, and necessity. An online survey was conducted wherein participants (N = 568) were presented with a vignette depicting an overview of a typical smart city. The results of structural equation modeling showed that perceived justice was positively related to trust and trust was negatively related to perceived risk and positively related to perceived benefit and necessity. Trust, perceived benefit, and perceived necessity were significantly related to social acceptance, with trust having the greatest relationship. The model obtained in this study contributes to practical efforts for the implementation of smart cities, and future directions are discussed.