دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی مطالعه اکتشافی درباره ی اینترنت اشیا، پذیرش تصمیمات در آمایش و مدیریت زنجیره تامین - امرالد 2017

Purpose – The Internet of Things (IoT) envisions a global infrastructure of networked physical objects that render radical transparency to supply chain management. Despite the perceived advantages of IoT, industry has still not widely adopted IoT-enabled logistics and supply chain management. To understand the incentives and concerns behind firms’ decisions to adopt IoT, the primary purpose of this paper is to explore the determinant factors affecting IoT adoption in logistics and supply chain management. Design/methodology/approach – This study uses mixed methods research to explore the determinants of IoT adoption intention in logistics and supply chain management. Qualitative analysis using the grounded theory methodology reveals the underlying perceptions regarding logistic innovation with IoT. Quantitative hypotheses are then developed based on qualitative investigation and adoption literature. Survey data were collected from the managerial staff of Taiwanese firms across various industries. Structural equation modeling with partial least square is used for data analysis. Findings – The results of the qualitative study identify uncertainties and issues regarding firms’ intention to accept or reject IoT technology in logistics and supply chain management, including the benefit and cost aspects of adopting IoT, uncertainties about the trustworthiness of IoT technology, and the external motivating force to embrace IoT. The resulting quantitative model shows that perceived benefits, perceived costs, and external pressure are significant determinants of IoT adoption intention, while technology trust is not. However, technology trust does indirectly influence IoT adoption intention through perceived benefits. Practical implications – The empirical findings of this study provide some guidelines for logistics and supply chain managers to evaluate IoT adoption in their firms. Likewise, IoT solution providers can also benefit from this study by improving their solutions to mitigate the IoT adoption concerns addressed herein. Originality/value – This paper is among the first known to examine IoT adoption intention in logistics and supply chain management using mixed methods research. The mixed methods approach offers a better insight in understanding incentives behind firms’ decisions to adopt IoT versus the use of either a qualitative or quantitative method alone.

6. Discussions and conclusions

The major contribution of this paper is that it is among the first to examine the issue of IoT adoption in logistics and supply chain management using mixed research methods. The mixed method strategy offers a better insight in understanding incentives behind firms’ decisions to adopt IoT than just the use of either the qualitative or quantitative method alone. This section first employs meta-inference analysis to develop a consensus between the qualitative and quantitative findings and then presents managerial implications and concluding remarks.

6.1 Meta-inference

To evaluate the research findings obtained in the previous section, meta-inference analysis is applied with the bridging approach in the following discussions to develop a consensus between qualitative and quantitative findings (Venkatesh et al., 2013). The qualitative data analysis in Phase I reveals that technology benefits have a positive effect on IoT adoption; however, the uncertainties about IoT technology could compromise the perceived benefits of IoT and might lower the adoption intention of an organization. The qualitative results also indicate that organizational level concerns (such as cost concerns) might become barriers to adoption, and the most influential factor affecting IoT adoption of an organization might be the external motivation force. The qualitative findings in phase I are mostly confirmed by quantitative data analysis whereby perceived benefits, perceived cost, and external pressure have a significant impact on the IoT adoption intention. The fact that perceived trustworthiness of technology has a positive influence on perceived benefits is also supported and echoes the qualitative finding that uncertainties (less trust) lead to lower perceived benefits of IoT, and vice versa.