A Research Framework to Identify Determinants for Smart Technology Adoption in Rural Regions

Despite rural regions cover a significant portion of the world's land, they remain overlooked entities within scholarly discourse as well as in a broader socio-economic context. However, their integration into sustainable development efforts is gaining relevance and should be considered as a strategic priority. This paper presents a research framework to identify determinants for Smart Technology adoption in rural regions. The main goal is to support organizations in rural areas to better understand and analyse the challenges with a scientific focus. It is expected to contribute to unlock new opportunities for innovative solutions, as well as to improve performance and enhance business sustainability in their unique context. The framework results from the combination and in-context interpretation of three different theories to define integrated strategic solutions: Diffusion of Innovation theory (DOI), Technology Organizations-Environment (TOE) framework, and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). This approach ideally provides support to mixed methods to enable research in fact within real organizational contexts. Such a conceptual asset is expected to contribute in practice by facilitating (i) the formulation of theories as a response to open research issues, (ii) the development of appropriate integrated strategies, and (iii) the identification of major determinants to establish a consistent road map. The combination of chosen theories contributes to better investigating the causes of the research problem through a set of factors targeting the technology adoption in the rural context, providing a clear insight into solutions for decision-makers.