Information Management in Smart Cities: Turning end users’ views into multi-item scale development, validation, and policy-making recommendations

Abstract

Smart-cities research has established itself as one of the most dynamic fields in research today, accommodating scholars from diverse disciplines, including engineering and computer science as well as social sciences. Even if only tacitly, the resultant debate increasingly oscillates around how the effective use of information and communication technology (ICT) might render cities and urban space better places. This article responds to this imperative by suggesting how to capture users’ views and perceptions of smart city services and applications and in this way enrich the decision- and policy-making processes. It is argued that by developing appropriate scales these otherwise subjective views and perceptions may be objectivized and hence made of great use to managers and policymakers. Accordingly, in this research, a process of scale development is conducted in four phases of both inductive and deductive methods. Following initial rounds of focus groups and assessment by experts, an international survey was conducted with 295 participants from Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Arab Peninsula, and other regions. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS 24 and AMOS 20 tools. The study proposes a 20-item scale in five distinct dimensions: Technology anxiety; Work–life interface; Engagement orientation; Support orientation; and Quality of life. The significant theoretical and managerial implications are discussed to demonstrate how to manage information for the benefit of all stakeholders involved in the making of a smart city.