The Use of Smart Home Technologies: Cognitive Dissonance Perspective

Smart homes deliver services that help people in their daily routine and bring
societal benefits. Despite the importance of smart homes for users, the utilisation
of the technology is under-researched, especially in the event of the technology
not performing as expected. This study adopts the cognitive dissonance theory to
examine a) cognitive inconsistency and emotions associated with disconfirmed
expectations of smart home technology performance, and b) the strategy that
people use to reduce this inconsistency. To test the research model, we used the
data of 474 former and current users of smart homes, which was collected through an online survey. The findings of the study confirm the positive relationships of dissonance with feeling anger, guilt and regret. It was found that cognitive dissonance reduction was predicted by the feeling of guilt and negatively affected by the feeling of regret. A positive correlation of dissonance reduction and satisfaction with purchase decision and technology performance was established. The results contribute to the technology acceptance and cognitive dissonance literature by providing evidence about the behaviour of users when the technology performance does not meet expectations, shedding light on the interrelationship between cognitive dissonance arousal, negative emotions and dissonance reduction.