Evaluating Perceived Smartness of Product from Consumer's Point of View: The Concept and Measurement

Due to the rapid development of IT (information technology) and internet, products become smart and able to collect, process and produce information and can think of themselves to provide better service to consumers. However, research on the characteristics of smart product is still sparse. In this paper, we report the systemic development of a scale to measure the perceived product smartness associated with smart product. To develop product smartness scale, this study follows systemic scale development processes of item generation, item reduction, scale validation, reliability and validity test consequently. And, after acquiring a large amount of qualitative interview data asking the definition of smart product, we add a unique process to reduce the initial items using both a text mining method using 'r' s/w and traditional reliability and validity tests including factor analysis. Based on an initial qualitative inquiry and subsequent quantitative survey, an eight-factor scale of product smartness is developed. The eight factors are multi-functionality, human-like touch, ability to cooperate, autonomy, situatedness, network connectivity, integrity, and learning capability consequently. Results from Korean samples support the proposed measures of product smartness in terms of reliability, validity, and dimensionality. Implications and directions for further study are discussed. The developed scale offers important theoretical and pragmatic implications for researchers and practitioners.