Should Internet of Things Be Human-like? Exploring Social Media Users’ Acceptance on Anthropomorphic Internet of Things

Abstract

This study examined how anthropomorphism of the Internet of Things (IoT) influences users’ accepting IoT services. The objective was to explore uses’ mental model of IoT, and develop an IoT mental model compatible with users’. A laboratory experiment was conducted with 36 college students. The independent variables were hierarchy of things (non-hierarchy, location-based hierarchy, function-based hierarchy) and level of anthropomorphism (no anthropomorphism, language anthropomorphism only, language and appearance anthropomorphism). Users’ ratings on acceptance, trust, and satisfaction were measured after interacting with IoT systems with different characteristics of anthropomorphism. Results indicated that uses’ mental model was more compatible with the one involving anthropomorphism of language than appearance. Compared with non-hierarchical structure, users’ mental model was more compatible with structure with hierarchy, and no significant difference between functional and locational hierarchy was observed.

Keywords: The Internet of Things, Anthropomorphism, Hierarchy, Acceptance.

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe100557