Assessing Critical Factors Affecting the Mass Adoption of IoT in Bangladesh

Internet of Things (IoT) is a system in which objects can exchange data among themselves by being interconnected with the help of the internet over a wireless connection without human intervention. IoT is a buzz word in the modern era. A developing country like Bangladesh may face different problems while trying to adopt IoT due to the lack of technological knowledge, underdeveloped infrastructure and deficiency of relevant resources. But to stay apace with the fast-growing world, Bangladesh should also cast aside existing systems and accept IoT with open arms. This research aims to find out the most important factors which might be responsible for IoT adoption in Bangladesh keeping in mind about its socio-economic conditions. Some hypotheses were formed to create a questionnaire for the survey. Indicator variables found from the survey were grouped into 5 (five) factors using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). A measurement model was created based on the hypotheses formed previously. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) technique was used to find out the estimates of different factors associated with IoT adoption. From the structural model, it was found that Affordability and Ability had the highest regression weight. This suggests that in developing countries like Bangladesh people give priority to products being affordable rather than thinking about its usefulness or the positive changes it would bring to society. Besides a huge portion of people are not highly educated because of which they have expressed concerns over their ability to use IoT devices efficiently and safely. So all these factors were incorporated in this study which explains its significance and relevance